VERDA MEETINGS 2011-12

Its time for our winter meetings to start.
Meetings will be held on the second Tuesday of the month from November to April. The meetings will be at the GMHA members room with food being served at 6:30 and the meeting starting at 7:00. The November meeting we will supply Pizza and the other meetings will be pot luck. The Febuary meeting will be replaced by the awards banquet. If you around we would love to see you there!

First meeting Tuesday November 8th 2011

Leland passes on

Anne Marie Savino had to put Leland down after the GMHA 50. She assisted in the AERC mandatory necropsy and they found he suffered from a partial twist in his small intestine. It shows you can do everything right and still suffer a loss. If you would like to send Anne Marie a donation to help with these expenses please make out a check to VERDA and send them to 374 Coon Club Rd W. Windsor Vt 05089. You can also bring a donation to the Eatathon .

Our hearts also go out the Boyers who had to put Sparker down just before the weekend.

Eatathon in on the 29th

The eatathon will be in Cornish NH and will be on Saturday the 29th with a rain date of the 30th.
Contact Ruth Ferland ruthfrlnd@aol.com or Joy Axten ( Secretary ) axten@yahoo.com

recommendations from Agency of Ag

The Agency of Agriculture has received inquiries from veterinarians and livestock owners regarding feeding livestock feed that has been contaminated by flood waters. Please see below the Agency of Agriculture's current recommendation regarding feeding livestock flooded feed or allowing them to graze on flooded pasture. Hopefully, this information will be helpful to you when communicating with your clients.

At this time, the Agency of Agriculture is recommending that people not feed livestock (horses included) feed stuffs that have been inundated by flood waters. Additionally, allowing livestock to graze on pastures that have been flooded is not recommended. The Agency of Agriculture has received inquiries from livestock owners who have historically allowed their animals to graze on pastures that flood seasonally. People should remember that this flooding is different than seasonal flooding that has happened in the past because Irene flood waters are potentially contaminated with pesticides, hydrocarbons, pathogens (E. Coli, salmonella, etc), heavy metals, etc due to the involvement of waste water treatment plants and other facilities that may contain these substances under normal circumstances. Certainly, consumption of these materials by horses does not represent a potential (although as of yet, poorly defined) human health concern the way that consumption by food producing livestock does, but it certainly represents a potential threat to the health of that individual animal. We have heard recommendations like letting the pastures sit through several rain events to help "wash off" contaminants and mowing pastures and removing the cut grass to help minimize contamination. Unfortunately, we know from experiences in midwestern states that even after allowing soybean crops to undergo several rain washings, the obvious and micro-contamination is not fully removed. So, based on all of this info, the Agency of Agriculture is advising against feeding any flood-affected forage and feedstuffs. The Agency of Agriculture has submitted to FDA a proposal for mitigation of contaminants in feedstuffs including mycotoxins (aflatoxin, vomitoxin,zearalonone, ochratoxin), heavy metals (cadmium, mercury, lead), pathogenic bacteria and associated toxins (Salmonella, E. coli 0157:H7, Clostridium perfringens, botulinum), pesticides (organophosphates, chlorinated hydrocarbons), and PCBs. Once we receive feedback from FDA, additional recommendations from the Agency of Agriculture pertaining to the management of feed materials such as haylage, corn silage and pasture will be forthcoming. Please contact the Agency animal health office at (802)828-2421 if you have any questions on this update.

Please see the following recommendations for livestock owners that have been generated by the Livestock Care Standards Advisory Council (veterinary members on that Council include Dr. Kent Henderson, Dr. Ruth Blauwiekel, and Dr. Haas). Please feel free to forward this information as you see fit.

* All farmers, regardless of size or classification, are advised to contact their Farm Service Agency county office ASAP in order to gain time sensitive information on financial loan and grant programs, as well as information on USDA’s Livestock Indemnity Program.

* All livestock owners should be reviewing their herd health and vaccination protocols in consultation with their herd health or large animal veterinarian as these recommendations may have changed in light of the significant flooding seen with Hurricane Irene.

*All livestock farmers should be reviewing their business plans and identifying potential risks. If feed shortage is identified as a risk, then consider culling marginally productive animals or other outliers while beef prices are strong.

*All livestock owners should assess feed inventory and plan now for alternative feed supplies for the upcoming fall and winter.

* All farmers should communicate with their feed representatives regarding proper harvest and storage protocols to minimize losses between harvest and storage and to maximize feed productivity.

* All farmers should communicate with their financial lenders in order to investigate potential financial opportunities that may exist.

* Please visit the Vermont Agency of Agriculture’s website at www.vermontagriculture.com> to review other resources that would be helpful during the Irene-recovery period.

After Irene

Windsor County took a bad hit from Irene. Many roads and bridges in the area were washed out. GMHA's C & D barn were undermined and the cross country is covered in mud. They hope to open back up mid September. I haven't heard of any members with any great losses so I hope you are all OK. Ed Renolds did loose his well and told me he saw someones barn float by his kitchen window. Shirley Ouelette's pasture had a lot of mud added to it. Ruth Ferland's horse's made it in to the paper with an aerial shot of them stuck on an island in the middle of her pasture.

Most important is that the VERDA 30 trails are in good shape and will be held on the scheduled date of Sept. 17th. It is easy to get there from I-91. You may need to check on road closing if you are taking back roads to get there.

March Madness

We held the March Madness ride and drive to make up for the canceled January Thaw. It still looked like a January thaw with 4 foot snow banks, 2 feet of snow in the fields, but boy did we have mud! Many sections of road were almost impassible. Doug and Allen came close to sinking the water while Judges Dr Lisa Hanelt and Linda Glock looked for solid ground to observe the horses. Greenalls found us a great almost dry spot for the halfway hold. We had 10 horses start and 9 finish. 4 from Wendy Bejarano's barn plus Jeff Gardner stayed at Wendy's too!
Results

G.C. Wendy Bejarano on Biekin
Res. Connie Walker on VSC Otis
1 Gene Limlaw on Toby Bartlet's Windrush First Call
2 Ruth Ferland on Wendy's Zambisy's Red Comet
3 Jenny Kimberly on Dixie Dee
4 Joy Axten on Wendy's Jake
5 Yarrow Farnsworth on Wendy's Mecca Bey
6 Jeff Gardner on Gazelle

Thank You Thank You Thank You

At the last members meeting we presented the VERDA wish list and 3 members stepped right up and filled the list. So at the Brown Bag and Bare Bones rides VERDA will be using these great new toys.
A Big Thanks goes out to :
Lee Alexander who donated 4 new walky talkies
Linda Glock who donated a new ez up shelter
Jenny Kimberly who donated her 250 Gal. sap tank and a 300 gal water trough.
What a great bunch of members we have!