As time goes on, more vaccines, treatments and preventive options are available for our cattle. As well, nutritional needs of cattle are coming under more study, and we use post-mortems and laboratory assistance to diagnose and advise. Recommendations based on an accurate diagnosis generally yield favourable outcomes. But there are times when we need to […] Read more
Stories by Roy Lewis, DVM
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
Preconditioning, BVD vaccines are ideal in perfect world
There are different sectors of the cattle industry with different needs and objectives. By raising points on what certain management practices are ideal, perhaps we can collectively work toward those practices. It’s not easy but if better outcomes can be achieved for all, so much the better. We know preconditioning, which includes preimmunization and on-farm […] Read more
How to reduce antimicrobial use on cow-calf operations
Every cow-calf producer probably has situations where they use antibiotics unnecessarily, or use the wrong ones for the problems at hand, or use the wrong ones in situations where a lower class antibiotic would get the job done. Recently, I have been changing the advice I give as the beef industry makes adjustments for how […] 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
Lots to think about when considering surgery on a calf
In my career, there have been many instances when surgery has saved a calf and the animal went on to live a productive life. When considering surgery to a calf, one must also consider that if cows are not raising a calf, they are often culled, which is another loss to the producer. The outcome […] Read more
Tick paralysis increasing in cattle
Ticks are being found in increasing frequency in our food-producing animals and domestic pets. They cause concerns because some species carry transmissible diseases that can affect humans, such as Lyme disease. Others cause blood-loss irritation and others cause paralysis. The most commonly found tick on cattle in Western Canada is the Rocky Mountain wood tick […] Read more
