animal health Archives - Page 5 of 11

BRD is the most common reason for administering antimicrobial drugs to cattle and is probably one of the most important economic diseases of beef cattle in North America.

Microbiome research could help in respiratory disease diagnosis

BRD is more complex than just a single bacterial indicator

By John Campbell February 2, 2024

The fall calf run will have finished up and calves will now be into feedlots. Many calves travel to feed yards via auction markets and one of the major disease risks associated with the stresses of weaning, mixing and transportation is the syndrome known as bovine respiratory disease (BRD). BRD is the most common reason […] Read more

Cattleman’s Corner, Columns

Vet product licensing process needs improvement

Canada can miss out on products that take too long or cost too much to register

By Roy Lewis January 4, 2024

Having been both a licensed veterinary practitioner and worked in the pharmaceutical industry for several years, I have seen a few things about how the product-licensing process affects the production animal industry in Canada. While every situation is unique, the process can indirectly affect cost of production in some cases, while in others access is […] Read more

It just takes one colostrum-deprived calf to start a bad clinical case and the rest of the herd becomes highly exposed to infectious scour causing organism and a wreck develops.

Beef Cattle, Cattleman’s Corner, Livestock

Second year for scours vaccine shortage

Animal Health: Preventing disease is always a good place to start

By Roy Lewis November 8, 2023

We live in a world where vaccinology has been one of the mainstays of disease prevention in livestock in general — producers definitely rely on it. This year, one of the main scour vaccines has been absent in the marketplace for the second straight year. There are alternative products, but their use may mean tweaking […] Read more

Conservative agriculture critic John Barlow speaks Nov. 24, 2021 in the House of Commons. (Screengrab from supplied video)

Livestock

Anti-activist bill back before Commons committee

Bill adds protections for biosecurity, farmers' mental health, Barlow says

By Geralyn Wichers, GFM Network News October 6, 2023

A bill to create harsher penalties for unlawful entry onto farms and biosecure zones is back before the House of Commons after a previous iteration died on the order table in 2021. Conservative MP John Barlow brought forward Bill C-275, “an Act to amend the Health of Animals Act (biosecurity on farms),” as a private […] Read more

The Callicrate bander with different sizes of rings has many uses when treating cattle.

Cattleman’s Corner

Banding can be used for more than castration

Properly applied, it’s a safe alternative to surgery, provided veterinary advice is followed

By Roy Lewis October 6, 2023

The Callicrate bander was developed for a safe, blood-free method of castrating larger bull calves in both the beef and dairy industries. It’s a procedure that producers and processing crews can be trained to do, but veterinarians in some clinics still do lots of castrations with the bander or by other surgical methods. We know […] Read more

Whether they are domestic or wild species, producers need to be aware that there can be some risks with the co-mingling of different species with cattle.

Cattleman’s Corner, Columns

The pros and cons of pasturing species together

Thoughts about running cattle, bison, sheep, horses et cetera on the same piece of land

By Roy Lewis September 12, 2023

It can be a challenge to weigh the benefits and risks of running species such as beef cattle, sheep, bison and horses together on the same pastures, especially if feed is short. The pros and cons can be difficult for you and your veterinarian to address. While usually it is not a problem, there can […] Read more

Hogs, Livestock, Reuters

Vietnam approves commercial use of first African swine fever vaccines

U.S. Agriculture Secretary says farmers may purchase as precaution despite no domestic cases

By GFM Network News July 24, 2023

Hanoi | Reuters – Vietnam has approved the domestic commercial use of two home-grown vaccines against African swine fever, the government said on Monday, making them the world’s first commercial vaccines against the deadly disease. The vaccines include NAVET-ASFVAC, co-developed by Navetco Central Veterinary Medicine and scientists from the United States, and AVAC ASF LIVE […] Read more

Cattleman’s Corner, Livestock

It’s best to apply a ‘one health’ approach

If animals are healthy, then humans are healthy and it works vice versa

By Roy Lewis November 3, 2022

This year’s theme for Animal Health Week in October was a good one for the veterinary profession as it blended the idea of “one health.” If we protect the health of our animals and the environs in which they reside, it ultimately protects everyone’s health. This is especially true in farm animal production as our […] Read more

Cattleman’s Corner, Livestock

Be prepared for a natural disaster

Severe weather including lightning strikes, floods and fires appears to be becoming the norm

By Roy Lewis October 5, 2022

With the increased frequency of storms comes more lightning strikes and more cattle being struck, and usually killed. Even though there is little that can be done to prevent such losses, there are still several things to discuss. Questions to be answered include diagnosing the actual cause of death, determining whether there is insurance coverage […] Read more

A macrophage (immune response) cell in early stages of infection with African swine fever virus, magnified about 1,000x. (Keith Weller photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Cattleman’s Corner, Livestock, Sheep/Goats

Be prepared for an animal disease outbreak

Hopefully, infectious diseases don’t appear in Canada but the industry needs to have a plan in place

By Roy Lewis May 25, 2022

Hopefully, infectious diseases don’t appear in Canada but the industry needs to have a plan in place

If there ever is a foreign animal disease outbreak in Canada, we all know it could be devastating to the industry. Contagious pathogens such as foot and mouth in bovines, sheep and swine, or African Swine Fever (ASF) in pigs, can cost individual producers in lost production and animal deaths, as well as closing the […] Read more

U.S. livestock: Live cattle drop as beef prices, packer margins erode

CBOT Weekly: Soybean, wheat futures come down

Masterfeeds to enter new ADM/Alltech feed joint venture

GFM Network News