In cattle, Salmonella may cause disease in older animals, although most cases occur in the young calf. Of critical importance to the dairy producer is that treatment or therapy is usually unsuccessful.
Prevention is the key.
Participating producers could elect to have fecal samples from a number of preweaned calves tested for Salmonella. Shedding means that the organism is found in the animal's feces, but the animal may or may not become sick. While positive results were found all over the U.S., the prevalence was highest in the south. In the Southern region, 34.1 out of 1,000 calf fecal samples cultured had evidence of Salmonella. The Northeast had the lowest prevelance at 15.0 positive per 1,000 samples.