As a swine veterinarian, I think of myself as a disease detective. Investigating root causes of poor health on farms, many of which are not obvious, is part of my job. Let’s consider an example of a farm experiencing an increase in scours in newborn piglets. Diseases, including diarrhea, are never a random event. Asking […] Read more
Tag Archives Animal Health column
Grass tetany can have dramatic consequences for cattle
Earlier this spring we had some desperately needed rain in parts of Western Canada. We still need more moisture in many areas but the rain in some locations will at least give the grass a good start in the pastures. However, after a recent phone conversation with another veterinarian I was reminded of a condition […] Read more
Lead poisoning often seen when cattle are put on pasture
I was recently working on a herd investigation that involved neurological symptoms in young calves. We are suspecting that the symptoms are caused by some sort of toxin because there is no evidence of infectious disease. At the time that I am writing this column, I still don’t have a definitive diagnosis, but the case […] Read more
Pain control offers calves some relief following branding
Hopefully the rains will come for your area this spring and it won’t be long until we are turning cow-calf pairs out to green pastures. In many herds, as part of spring turn-out, calves will get processed and vaccinated for clostridial disease and some respiratory diseases as well. As part of processing, sometimes painful procedures […] Read more
Safety needs to be top of mind during calving season
Every year at calving season I see injured and bruised farmers because they’ve had a run-in with an overzealous cow. Most farmers have come up with ways to handle cow-calf pairs in safe and low-stress ways. With bigger herds, I have seen cross-adoption become a problem so want to share my thoughts on the benefits […] Read more
Septicemia linked to cluster of deaths in newborn calves
Our disease investigation unit at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine in Saskatoon is typically busy this time of year with outbreaks of neonatal calf diseases and some abortion storms as well. I’ve worked with several local veterinarians who described calves that were dying in the first few days of life. The typical clinical scenario […] Read more
Pain control in calving offers immediate, long-term benefits
Calving can be painful for the cow and the calf, especially when there is calving difficulty. Several studies have focused on the administration of pain control medication such as a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) to calves that have undergone a difficult birth. Dr. Jennifer Pearson and her colleagues from the University of Calgary demonstrated in […] Read more
Footrot easy to treat but over-diagnosed in lameness cases
In all my writing over the years, I have never tackled footrot, perhaps because the response to antimicrobial treatments is very good. However, it is probably one disease that is very much over-diagnosed when it comes to lameness. With lame cattle, one has to have a good look and diagnose the lameness, whether it is […] Read more
Biosecurity review recommended in latest PED outbreak
Porcine epidemic diarrhea is a viral diarrhea that has a high mortality rate in young piglets and production losses in the range of 10 percent of a farm’s annualized hog sales. Over the past two months, Manitoba has experienced a large outbreak of PED. This is not a new phenomenon for Manitoba, which has experienced […] Read more
Body condition scores determine calf crop productivity
This winter has been difficult for many cow-calf producers. Many ranchers had difficulty harvesting adequate good quality forage because of last summer’s drought and the shorter grazing season. In addition, we’ve had some fairly cold weather across parts of Western Canada recently, which increases the nutritional requirements of our cows. I’ve often talked about the […] Read more
