2023 Convention Abstracts

Low-Stress Animal Handling 

Guy Glosson

Guy Glosson aims to teach participants the art of handling cattle, emphasizing efficient and quiet movement in various settings such as pastures, pens, alleys, and squeeze chutes. Guy will explain the techniques he employs in the arena and delve into the underlying reasons for their effectiveness. Additionally, he plans to educate participants on training cattle to respond to pressure, effectively controlling their movement direction, speed, and ultimately alleviating stress. The objective is for participants to acquire enough knowledge to continue honing their skills long after the event concludes. Guy emphasizes his extensive experience in training individuals worldwide, encompassing different types of cattle and diverse environments, including everything from open pastures to brushy bottoms. Throughout, he emphasizes the importance of keenly observing and listening to the animals to determine the most appropriate actions.

One Health, Hawaiian Style

Dr. Billy Bergin

We begin our series on cattle parasites with Dr. Billy Bergin who will start with the first commercial anthelmintic for cattle (Phenothiazine), which then led to the benzimidazoles and avermectins and beyond. Listen to the stories of decades past and how disease and parasitism is part of animal make up, even in untouched circumstances, remote from modern ranching.

Current State and New Frontiers of Beef Cattle Parasite Management

Catherine Maguire Dowling, DVM, Beef Technical Services Senior Veterinarian Zoetis

Internal parasitism affects virtually each and every operation spanning the beef industry world-wide. Some of the challenges the gastrointestinal parasites bring to beef operations are magnified in Hawaii ranches, which presents an opportunity for stakeholders to take a close look at our current strengths and weaknesses of modern approaches to parasite management. Fortunately, new opportunities have become available to mitigate what have, in recent years, become significant obstacles in the realm of parasite management such as parasiticide resistance.

Traceability and Transparent Labeling

Todd Wilkinson, President, National Cattlemen’s Beef Assocation 

The President of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association will discuss the priority of ensuring consumers accurately know the difference between real beef and cell-cultured products through transparent and accurate labeling. He will also discuss the important of animal disease traceability, and encourages the use of electronic identification as an insurance policy to protect against the rapid spread of unwanted disease.

Panel: Improving Our Response To Ag Crimes and Legal Issues

A better system is needed to address agricultural crimes and legal issues. This panel has been working to understand the barriers to reporting ag crimes and to streamline a more effective response to these criminal actions. Hawai’i Island is leading the way on remedying this issue, and will serve as a template for other counties to adopt. Input from Hawai’i ’s ranchers will help guide what the program looks like.

Pest status, seasonal abundance, and management of the twolined spittlebug in Kona 

Shannon Wilson, Rangeland Ecology & IPM Graduate Researcher—USDA-ARS PBARC

The twolined spittlebug (TLSB) is a major economic pest of forage grass and turfgrass. Native to the southeastern U.S., it impacts rangelands and the landscape trade by damaging pastures, golf courses, urban landscapes, and lawns. Due to the rapid spread and severe impacts of TLSB, it is a major economic threat to Hawaiʻi’s livestock industry. Greenhouse studies were conducted to investigate the effectiveness of host plant resistance as a management strategy and evaluate the impact of TLSB feeding on kikuyu. Hawaiʻi’s existing kikuyu pastures are severely threatened, but the incorporation of resistant grasses is a promising management strategy. Information on TLSB habitat associations and seasonality under local conditions improves the effectiveness of pest management to suppress populations below economic thresholds and sustain livestock production. 

ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF WILD UNGULATES ON RANCHES 

DR. MELISSA PRICE, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES & ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII

Invasive ungulates like wild pigs, deer, feral goats, and feral sheep are known to cause damage to agriculture, property, natural resources and many other commodities. Most of the information regarding the economic impact of wild ungulates is from the contiguous 48 US states. To evaluate invasive ungulate damage to livestock producers in Hawai'i, a survey was distributed to livestock producers across the state. Results from the survey describe how the total annual costs are distributed between damage, mitigation and repair. The estimates from respondents reveal an annual cost of over $1.5 million. The large cost contributors include damage to property, pastureland repair, mitigation costs (including fencing), supplemented feed, and predation by wild pigs. The majority of the costs come from the Islands of Hawai'i and Moloka'i. Study results reveal substantial damage to livestock producers in Hawai'i due to wild ungulates and are useful in determining an invasive ungulate management strategy that can appropriately aid the most impacted sectors of Hawai'i.