Livestock Management
Among the more weird and wonderful pathogens that infect animals are the poorly understood algae known as Prototheca (pronounced proto-thee-ca). At about 20 micrometres in diameter (about half the width of a human hair), these are tiny beings. Related to green algae, Prototheca have lost their chlorophyll and thus have no ability to produce energy […] Read more
Livestock Management
Bale grinding – photo essay
Custom bale grinding was the order of the day last month on the Greaves farm near Deerwood, Man. The couple find it to be a good way to mix different quality feeds, such as slough hay, straw and second cut alfalfa, into a ration that is palatable with less waste. | Jeannette Greaves photos
Preparing for the inevitable
The wave of African swine fever continues to wash across the world, growing ever closer to Western Canada’s pig herds. But even if it reaches the Prairies, it doesn’t mean hog farmers will drown, veterinarians, emergency response officials and the pork industry believe. “By preparing and taking the necessary steps, we can minimize the damage […] Read more
Vaccine dream for PED not dead yet
Hog farmers sick of fighting porcine epidemic diarrhea virus have dreamed of having a vaccine to protect their pigs. But those dreams were dashed six months ago when a pharmaceutical company gave up on its attempts to create a PED vaccine. However, the head of the Veterinary Infectious Diseases Organization told Manitoba hog farmers that […] Read more
Off with their wool – photo essay
Lorrie Reed, Chloe Bermejo and Shawn Fajnor arrived at the Rast Ranch near Kindersley, Sask. Feb. 25 for a day of sheep shearing. | Hailey Rast photos
Hog sector meets municipalities
Hogs are one of the main businesses based across rural Manitoba, so you might think municipal governments were well acquainted with hog farms and the pork industry. But that’s not the case, Manitoba Pork Council discovered when reaching out to local governments. “After we met with a few municipalities, we realized many were unfamiliar with […] Read more
IBR abortion storms tough to deal with but preventable
I had a conversation with a veterinarian recently who was trying to deal with an abortion storm in a client’s cow-calf herd. The producer had seven cows abort and most of these abortions were occurring at about six to seven months of gestation. A fetus was submitted to the diagnostic laboratory and it showed signs […] Read more
Cattle numbers slide in Canada
Beef cattle numbers in Canada declined by 230,000 head last year, a drop of about 2.4 percent from January 2022 to January 2023. That figure comes from Statistics Canada, which released the national livestock inventory Feb. 28. The numbers for Jan. 1, 2023, show that a large chunk of the decline came in the cow-calf […] Read more
Weaning does not have to be a stressful time
Options that producers can use to make it a more low-stress experience include nose flaps and fence-line separation
Traditional weaning methods are traumatic for calves and cows but now there are better ways to wean besides rounding up the herd, sorting the calves and taking the cows away. Calves are stressed when suddenly deprived of milk and mama at the same time, and the trauma of losing mom can be even harder than […] Read more
U.S. proposes tougher ‘Product of USA’ labelling rules
(Reuters) — Meat, poultry and eggs labelled as a U.S. product must come from animals raised and slaughtered within the country under a rule proposed by U.S. president Joe Biden’s administration yesterday, in a victory for U.S. ranchers who had lobbied for the change. Existing rules for the label permit its use for meat derived […] Read more
