By ANNA WILLARD

Capital Press

AURORA, Ore. -- Sustainable and organic veterinary treatment and prevention tools were the topic of a July 6 seminar at the North Willamette Research and Extension Center.

Veterinarian Paul Detloff conducted the seminar titled, "Alternative Herd Health for Goats, Sheep and Cattle." He has practiced veterinary medicine for 35 years and worked with organic treatment methods for the last 20. Detloff is one of two veterinary consultants with the Organic Valley cooperative and owns a company, Dr. Paul's Lab.

"There were 25 herds in my practice that switched to sustainable agriculture," Detloff said. "The cows got healthy and I noticed those guys had started working on soils."

This turn of events sparked Detloff's interest in their methods, especially since this was a large portion of his client base. He began studying the principles of soil quality and how that can influence ruminant nutrition. Detloff's methods take the effects of soil quality on the quality of feed and relate it back to maintaining an animal's health.

"We have got to get away from expensive inputs that go with monoculture agriculture," Detloff said.

Many of Detloff's tools are commonly used products like aloe vera and apple cider vinegar. Aloe, for example, is used with other products for treatment of retained placenta, minor cases of mastitis and shipping fever.

Detloff compares using products like aloe vera, apple cider vinegar and garlic in his methods to "rediscovering the wheel."

"Some of this was trial-and-error, but the majority of this information was known," Detloff explained. "Now it has been refined and there is more science behind it."

An example of this trial-and-error was an instance where a cow had a retained placenta. He decided to try what is now his current method of aloe vera and water, to heal epithelial tissue, garlic as a natural antibiotic and blue cohosh to make the uterus contract. Initially, Detloff made way too much solution, and after a couple tries, landed on using a much smaller amount of ingredients.

Aside from the animal health principles of the seminar, Detloff focused on soil and forage quality.

According to a recent USDA rule modification, organic dairy producers must pasture their animals 120 days per year and 30 percent of a cow's dry matter intake must be from grazing. By balancing the soil minerals, increasing organic matter, and lowering the carbon-to-nitrogen ratio, producers can increase pasture quality.

For ruminants on a high-forage ration that does not rely on the use of grain, high-quality pasture is key. Forage needs to be highly mineralized, full stemmed, and have a high sugar content, Detloff said.

The take-home message: "Find a balance by getting back to the basics."