It is obvious to anyone who spends time with animals that each is an individual with a unique personality. Experts define personality as an individual’s behavioural traits that are related and remain unchanged throughout time and situations. The term is sometimes used interchangeably or slightly differently than temperament. As with many things in science, personality […] Read more
Tag Archives Animal Health column
Caution needed when feeding brassica forages to cattle
Polycrops have become a more commonplace method of feeding beef cattle in Western Canada over the past number of years. They may also be known as intercrops, cover crops or cocktail crops but all involve a mixture of plant species that may range from three to more than 20 species. Polycrops can provide grazing when […] Read more
Products to relieve stress in cattle continue to evolve
Reducing stress on cattle should take pressure off the treatments for respiratory disease. Less stress results in less shrink, so cattle performance may improve, but it also reduces morbidity and mortality due to disease. Cattle will do better if we can calm them down at the stressful times of their lives, such as weaning, showing […] Read more
Study finds bat population crash increases insecticide use
I’ve written before in this column about the bat disease that has decimated North American populations. As a brief refresher, white nose syndrome is a disease caused by a fungal pathogen that was introduced into the state of New York in 2006. The fungus causes a skin infection, making a characteristic white fuzz around the […] Read more
Veterinary medicine makes use of artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence and machine learning are becoming part of everyday life very rapidly. From smart watches that track your sleep to apps on your smartphone that use artificial intelligence to provide information in seconds, AI is becoming more and more commonplace. My simplified understanding of AI is that this field of computer science is developing […] Read more
Swelling under the jaw in cattle requires close attention
I recently dealt with a bovine case of swelling under the jaw, and it wasn’t what I expected. As a result, I would like to go through several things to look for when dealing with cases like this. Don’t assume anything. Look closely for clues and remember that treatment may be different in each case. […] Read more
Mosquitoes can spread significant animal pathogens
As with my previous column on flies, it is hard to come up with anything positive to write about mosquitoes. In an optimistic take on these tiny insects, Ned Flanders from the TV show The Simpsons commented, “sure are fun to scratch — satisfying.” There are approximately 3,600 known species of mosquitoes ,and scientists classify […] Read more
Study looks at modified live vaccine interference in calves
Vaccines for cattle can be categorized in several ways. We can categorize them by the pathogen that they are designed to protect the animal from (bacterial or viral), or we can categorize them by their route of administration (injectable or nasal). For viral vaccines, we also can split them into modified live or killed vaccines. […] Read more
Study shows deadly horse parasite alive and well in Alberta
A recent Alberta study of horses found that a particular parasitic infection is more common than previously thought. The parasite, Strongylus vulgaris, was considered to be well controlled by modern deworming medications. However, veterinary pathologists at the University of Calgary undertook the study after noticing an apparent increase in the number of horses affected by […] Read more
Watch for copper, selenium deficiencies in beef calves
Weaned calves have a lot of changes to deal with around the time of weaning. They may be transported to an auction and then mixed with other sources of cattle into truckloads to go to a feedyard. On top of that, they are expected to adapt to a new ration and are often vaccinated and […] Read more
