Tubing a young calf with colostrum, colostrum substitute, electrolytes or for other reasons can be common on cow-calf operations. The procedure must be properly done, keeping in mind biosecurity and that important pledge from the Hippocratic Oath: First, do no harm. This article will outline proper procedures for tubing as well as some treatment parameters […] Read more
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Herd health monitoring can have beneficial results for producers
In beef cattle production, there are essential practices we must do to treat animals, and other practices that vary from region to region, pen to pen, or year to year. On some procedures, monitoring must be consistent to enable the producer and the herd veterinarian to set out specific points as to when to initiate […] Read more
Vaccination timing is important but sometimes needs fine-tuning
Vaccines and parasiticides are most effective in livestock when used at the proper time. Fine-tuning the most appropriate and cost-effective times to apply will achieve the optimum results. Over the years, we have sometimes got away with the cookbook-type approach, which means cattle always get treated with a vaccination, are dewormed and de-liced before entering […] Read more
Stress can open the door for Histophilus somni bacteria
The disease organism known as Histophilus somni can cause many illnesses in feedlot cattle. This bacteria has been linked to pneumonia, arthritis, ITEME (infectious thrombo-embolic-meningo-encephalitis), as well as septicemia and heart failure. Stress can bring on diseases caused by H. somni, which is why the stress of weaning and then commingling and transportation to auction […] Read more
Improvements have been made in ear tag retention
The national cattle identification system has been around for slightly less than 20 years. Developers have gone through lots of growing pains and are starting to fine-tune the system. Producers are deriving more benefits from using the farm management systems linked to readers and scales, which are based on the ability to read the RFID […] Read more
Livestock transportation has seen major improvements
A lot of work has gone into the new transportation regulations. For cattle and bison, previous regulations were working well. Long trailer hauls to packing plants or feedlots in Canada and the United States recorded a success rates of more than 99.9 percent. It’s possible to improve, but a lot of the culture around loading […] Read more
Ways to save time and labour in cow-calf operations
Time and labour are often in short supply at cow-calf operations, but there are ways producers can save both, while also saving a bit of money. Drones should be used on most larger operations for checking cattle, checking fences, checking watering troughs, finding lost cattle and identifying sick ones. Drones are quick and the images […] Read more
Caseous lymphadenitis causes big losses in sheep, goats
One of the most important infectious diseases of sheep and goats is caseous lymphadenitis (also called cheesy gland), a disease caused by the bacterium Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis. As far as bacteria go, it is a tough, nasty pathogen. Infected individuals are not able to clear the bacteria from their system, leading to chronic infections. The bacteria […] Read more
Lice increase in prevalence across Western Canada
For the second winter in a row pharmaceutical companies are hearing lots of complaints about scratching cattle and hair loss. This means that producers and veterinarians may need to change how they routinely treat for lice. First, a positive diagnosis is important. We may handle biting lice, sucking lice and chorioptic mange differently and many […] Read more
Lack of contractions in calving cows has various causes
There have been several instances during my career when an unexplained delay in calving has resulted in stillborn or weak calves because the calving process was too long. I would guess that most producers have run into this problem at one time or another. Although not much research has been done on the subject and […] Read more
