New advancements and the imminent value of these calves make this discussion even more critical.

When calves are born and the pairs are mothered up, it is a wise investment to carry out certain procedures and, in some cases, lump them together for when the calves are older.

Producers have become very receptive to anything that will promote health, disease prevention and/or growth in these newborn calves.

Vaccines and vitamins

One of the biggest additions has been the implementation of intranasal vaccines as an aid to pneumonia prevention.

They are easy to give and provide quick immunity that lasts the first couple of months or so until parental shots are given.

Most calves are given vitamins and selenium at birth.

The biggest change here has been a very unreliable supply of injectable vitamins A and D.

They are being replaced by an oral product that contains vitamins A, D and E and selenium.

Their advantage is that they replace two needles and the supply seems consistent in Canada. It has become a great improvement.

We once saw some calves get nerve damage when injections were administered too close to the sciatic nerve.

Castration pain control

For those who castrate their bull calves using the little cheerios, they can now come impregnated with lidocaine, which means essentially a painless castration.

They are more costly than the old bands, but you need to be the one to decide whether to try them on your calves at birth.

It definitely reduces stress, and the lidocaine (freezing) works until the bands fall off.

Best possible colostrum

With all these procedures, it is still really important to let the pairs mother up and get a good sucking reflex from a vigorous calf.

Make sure to have a good supply of the colostrum substitutes, such as Headstart, and don’t hesitate to supplement early if there is any indication of a slow calf or difficult birth with twins or if the milk production of the cow is in question.

Producers can ensure the best possible colostrum from their cows by focusing on good nutrition and vaccinating for scours at the best time possible before calving.

If the calf doesn’t suck in time or does not take the required volume, then extra supplementation is imperative. Use an esophageal feeder dedicated to just colostrum so that it is kept clean.

Lock out disease

Most producers in Western Canada are using the toltrazuril pills or liquid, which is prescribed by their veterinarians. It also has become commonplace over the last decade or so.

This product prevents the protozoal diseases cryptosporidiosis and coccidiosis most times.

There is even an oral liquid toltrazuril that comes straight or with meloxicam. You get the pain killer anti-inflammatory effect along with the treatment.

Spending more time on colostrum management and taking these preventive measures can hopefully keep scour cases and antibiotic reliance to a minimum.

There are other products such as intranasal corona vaccines, and an oral vaccine given during the same time frame as colostrum to prevent rota and corona virus.

Other products are given orally as a paste, such as First Defense, within the first 12 hours of birth.

They are great in a scours outbreak situation or if you are wanting to boost the calf’s protection.

The First Defense product is upward of $30 a dose. Only you and your veterinarian know if these products will increase calf survivability, depending on past years’ experience and what may have been diagnosed on your farm.

Another key ingredient is biosecurity practices that reduce exposure to infectious organisms.

Overwhelming exposure to clinical cases can overwhelm any protective protection that a farm may have put in place.

When looking at producers with more scours problems than average, veterinarians can often easily identify breaks in biosecurity.

It may take a visit to your farm or ranch to visualize first hand and provide a list of best practices to make things better.

Prevention is the key to all diseases and always has been. There is very often no magic bullet.

It is always good to review biosecurity practices at calving time, such as cleaning the cow well during calving, good bedding, creep areas for calves and keeping your clothing clean and dry. These can go a long way to preventing bad organisms from building up on the farm.

I like a boot dip or disinfection mat as a reminder to minimize visitors, especially during calving season. Don’t be the one spreading disease.

Newborn calf health

Navel treatment requires cleanliness, plenty of dry bedding and adequate colostrum consumption.

If any of these areas are neglected, navel infection may start. The calves born in unsanitary surroundings are the susceptible ones.

Wincing in pain while the navel area is palpated is a telltale sign that infection is present.

Some producers use alcohol or diluted iodine to dry up the navel, although I don’t know many who actively do this.

Infection may require several treatments of antimicrobials and NSAIDs, but ways to prevent the next case should be paramount in your mind.

Navel infection may indicate failure of passive transfer, so again, colostrum quality and quantity need to be examined.

Calves born backward have their navels broken off short, making them more susceptible.

One twin is often born backward, which increases the need to take extra care with colostrum.

If both twins survive, one is often grafted to another cow, creating an additional stress in their lives.

Pay extra care and attention to twins for all these reasons.

Ear tags

Calves also get their ear tags early in life, and the newer taggers have better leverage and are made for smaller hands. They have breakaway pins, so ears are not split.

For any of those still needing to dehorn, remember that it is a painful procedure, so NSAIDs are in order.

As well, follow the beef code of practice, which is to dehorn before horn bud attachment occurs, so preferably before two months of age.

The new beef code of practice is almost ready to be released.

The last one came out in 2016, so everyone should give it an informative read, especially for the changes that have happened in this new version.

The code is what sets us apart from other cattle-producing nations, along with the national identification system.

Here’s to a great calving season and healthy calves.

The market is expected to remain high, so let’s give each and every calf that is born the care they deserve it. 

The post CALVING 2026: Keep those newborn beef calves healthy appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

Producing cattle has changed a lot in the past few decades in Canada.

Organizations such as Alberta Beef Producers, the Canadian Cattle Association and the many purebred breed associations provide leadership and help guide where the industry is headed.

Professionals such as nutritionists, veterinarians and the pharmaceutical industry add to the production of wholesome, nutritious, affordable and safe beef in Canada.

4-H clubs and their members learn and act on the same methods and management strategies that have made producers successful in producing cattle.

As a former 4-H member myself, the motto of “Learn to do by doing” is never truer than in the organization’s beef projects.

The industry uses terms such as preconditioning, stress-free cattle handling, one health, antimicrobial resistance, antibiotic free and animal welfare, but they can be misconstrued and confusing to the general public.

I want to provide some clarity about where the cattle industry is progressing and how 4-H beef projects highlight this.

The sector has been able to produce more quality beef with less resources using improved genetics, crossbreeding and selection for traits such as calving ease, longevity, milking ability and carcass characteristics. This is an environmentally good story.

Increased feed efficiency has improved the feed-to-gain ratio to four pounds of feed for one pound of gain.

The largest cost in cattle production is feed, so any improvement is economically beneficial.

Balancing feed rations to maximize health and growth has also helped.

Of course, cattle raised for meat and growth are fed differently than the heifers and cows fed for reproduction.

Anything that affects health affects growth, which is why routine treatments are undertaken for internal and external parasites.

Many 4-H calves come from farm-raised stock, where true preconditioning is practiced, which means calves are immunized before weaning and then weaned with minimum stress.

Increased use of vaccines for respiratory disease and other common cattle diseases such as clostridial diseases are routinely practiced, which helps ensure minimal antibiotic use.

Please note that there are no antibiotic residues in meat.

The antibiotics and vaccines that producers use are approved for cattle and have recognized meat withdrawals, which producers closely follow.

Trying to raise cattle totally without antibiotics could become an animal welfare issue.

Much like people, if they have severe pneumonia and it is caused by a bacterium, we need to give antibiotics or they will die.

All medically important antimicrobials are under the supervision of veterinarians. This is to ensure producers know when to use antibiotics and which ones to use.

Dosage and withdrawals are also reviewed, as are vaccination protocols to help ensure healthy cattle are produced.

Cattle producers are fully educated as to what their cattle need and are very aware and follow animal welfare guidelines, including the beef code of practice.

If they do need to administer antimicrobials, they make sure to use the right drug for the right condition and at the right dose.

Veterinarians can always be asked about these decisions.

They are also on the lookout for antimicrobial resistance, which results in antibiotics that no longer work.

A lab test can be done to confirm if resistance has developed.

Human medicine does this routinely, and the development of easier and quicker tests will likely result in more testing to determine which antibiotic will work best.

Growth implants are used in 99 per cent of the cattle produced in Canada.

They are extremely safe and have been around for more than 50 years. Because the implant is placed in the ear, there is zero withdrawal for the meat.

We castrate calves in this country to prevent unwanted behaviour in intact bulls and a condition called dark cutters in the meat.

Growth implants simply replace some of the hormones lost from castration. This results in cattle that do better and have improved feed efficiency, which means meat can be produced more economically.

A tremendous amount of progress has been made in reducing and treating pain.

Veterinarians have at their disposal a vast array of NSAID’s (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) to prescribe for painful conditions.

In most instances, painkillers are prescribed for disease or injury recovery, hard calving, lameness, castration and dehorning.

There may not always be economic gain, but it is simply the right thing to do, and recovery is quicker.

The beef code of practice, which we all live by, is based in large part on animal welfare. There are codes of practice for all the farm animal species in Canada, including bison, veal, and dairy cattle.

More advancement in products and earlier disease detection will help producers identify and treat sick cattle quicker.

Together with the medical profession, they are using all the advancements in cattle production to reduce antibiotic resistance so that medication use, when necessary, will have a better response in either veterinary or human medicine.

From handling cattle to loading and processing, producers are finding new techniques to reduce stress on cattle. Better handling facilities make processing a very efficient, worthwhile and safe event for cattle and farm workers.

Consumers should be very confident in the quality, safety and stress-free conditions in which cattle are raised.

Meat protein will continue to be in high demand, and the next generation of cattle producers, including former 4-H members, will help ensure this.

The cattle industry has great potential in the years ahead to help feed the world with this high-quality meat protein.

Cattle prices have never been higher, and I hope they bode well for the next generation of producers.

The post Canadian cattle industry has wins to shout about appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

These take on many forms, and I was involved in many when I was with the pharmaceutical industry.

I always encouraged the local veterinarians to speak on topics specific to their area because producers trust their local veterinarian’s knowledge, thoughts on new advances and opinions on what they read about.

The latest meeting that I was involved with was in Westlock, Alta., as one of several speakers. Many important points were raised that may have helped the clinic’s producers.

This meeting is generally held every other year, so attendance is good.

The display booths are well attended and good questions.

As well, there is always great networking among the progressive clients who attend.

Having many of the pharmaceutical companies in attendance, as well as banks and other distributors allows producers to ask questions and pick up information.

Their presence says they support the clinics, and they are able to provide information about their products.

This is good because we need many companies serving the veterinary cattle sector, and it’s valuable to know about alternative products in case others are in short supply.

Cattle vaccines

One veterinarian presentation was about vaccines.

Producers were told that the diseases they need to vaccinate for and the timing of administration as well as handling of the vaccine is much more important than the brand name.

Many vaccines can be interchanged, and while companies understandably promote their products, they can be substituted for another.

This is why it’s critical to have yearly conversations with a veterinarian about vaccine protocols.

Clinics may change vaccine lines or have two available because of short supply.

Calving occurs generally over two months, so producers try to hit peak immunity in the first third of calving season.

Producers always like to hear about the new advances, especially if they benefit their herds.

There was a presentation about the appeasing products — FerAppease, CattleZen and DeStress — from an objective third party (the veterinarian), which went over well with producers because they can compare the advantages of all three products.

Clients trust the products recommended by veterinarians because of the nature of their work.

Third-party veterinary experts

Veterinarians are sometimes told we are in a conflict because clinics sell the products that they recommend. In the presentations at the Westlock meeting, veterinarians provided good, better and best vaccination scenarios so producers could see the difference in the products.

One veterinarian at this clinic does embryo transplant work as well as some in vitro fertilization, so clients have that possibility.

The narrative was really about producers helping their best cow produce many more calves in her lifetime.

Semen and embryos are the mainstay of “frozen” sales, and the purebred industry has evolved away from export and import of live animals and toward exporting and importing frozen genetics.

Some clinics are offering more reproductive services, including synchronized breeding.

Another veterinarian has a real interest in feet and hoof issues and has a tilt table, which is important for clients to know.

Some clients phoned in their queries, which were answered during a question-and-answer session.

Questions ranged from what to do with an abscess to what is the most frequently used treatment for pneumonia to what to do or not do about warts and ringworm.

The answers came from practising veterinarians who do these things every day.

Other presentations included lots of examples of practice tips, such as paying attention to where claw amputations could extend a productive life and how deworming and lice treatments and their application are changing.

Other topics included handling vaccines properly, the safety of implants, how to implant and the accuracy of pregnancy checking cows and the value of this information for clients.

I hope other clinics considering holding their own producer meetings and spreading the word about services they offer, new developments and the expertise that is available.

They can partner with nutritionists, the pharma industry, banks, foot trimmers and provincial and federal veterinarians.

This networking creates trust with clients, and I hope other clinics and producers use this article as motivation to have a producer function in their area.

The post Don’t blow off that beef producer meeting appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

Sometimes there are new products that have a definite place in cattle production, or we find easier ways to do things.

Products are changed due to developing resistance or the need for alternatives.

It’s a global market, and Canada can occasionally find itself on the outside looking in.

Regulatory changes can make our lives more complicated as more paperwork is introduced, and sometimes the speed of commerce slows down.

In this column, I am going to provide a variety of tips that can work on western Canadian cow-calf operations, both commercial and purebred.

Stomach ulcers are blamed on a number of factors, but research by Dr. Murray Jelinski has found they always happen in the transition from milk to grass consumption at around six weeks, resulting on one per cent death loss.

Some producers are creeping calves with very soft palatable grass hay and access to their own minerals to decrease incidence.

Clostridial vaccination is a possible prevention method, but whether it is or isn’t, the vaccine is a core one for young calves.

Speaking of clostridial vaccination, a new broader spectrum product has just come on the market.

It is called Covexin 10 but includes clostridium perfringens A.

This is pretty rare in beef cattle and is seen more in mature dairy cows, but I did talk to a purebred producer who had it diagnosed in younger calves that were dying.

Discuss it with your herd veterinarian because like all vaccines that have tetanus, it does not include histophilus somnus.

Vaccination success

The latest information released by the Beef Canada Research Council is worth looking at.

It’s a review of proper vaccinating techniques, which is always nice to have, not only for new employees or producers but also for those who have been in the business for a long time because over time, we can develop bad habits.

Producers pay good money for vaccines, so it’s important to look after them and take a little more time and thought to administer them properly.

Vaccination is still a huge part of producers’ biosecurity program, so keep abreast of new developments.

The BCRC put out information on core vaccines necessary in the cattle industry, and I would say pretty much all veterinarians would agree with 80 to 90 per cent of it.

Histophilus somnus should be considered a core vaccine because it is added to a lot of clostridial vaccines, and I remember when we saw the brainers and heart forms of it in our calves, especially in feedlots post weaning.

If we do see it now, it’s because there is a lack of a booster shot at the proper time.

Industry learning

We sometimes need to pat ourselves on the back for how far the industry has come in the last two to three decades, from much less navel infection and joint issues in young calves by improving colostral consumption and hygiene to far fewer calving issues because of proper selection for birth weight and body type in our herd sires.

Almost no dehorning is necessary now due to polled genetics, and cancer eye has a super low incidence because of dark pigment in almost all the breeds. Even Charolais animals have a darker pigment, resulting in a super low incidence.

We used to perform a lot of surgeries for this condition at our clinic because of the complete white faces, and now they are a rarity.

We now try not to over-treat lameness because we know that NSAIDs, in a lot of cases, are a better choice. In bad cases, we can get a diagnosis before treatment.

Each case is different and may simply require convalescence, trimming, surgery or, if something is incurable, shipping.

I used to do a lot of claw amputations. They are easy to recognize and worth doing, depending on the value of the animal and stage of pregnancy. It might even make sense in feeder animals.

The success rate is very high.

Some feedlots have trimming tilt tables because they have recognized the recovery success rate and the growth potential, not to mention the animal welfare implications.

If this service is required, look for clinics that will do them.

The procedure is preferably done on a tilt table, but occasionally they can be done in a squeeze chute with good access, depending on which claw is involved.

Your veterinarian will tell you their comfort level.

Record high cattle prices are helping speed up the decision to ship or treat as producers weigh the prognosis for success based on past experience.

Both producers and veterinarians are more engaged now on the animal welfare side of livestock production.

Again, treating often involves NSAIDs.

A multitude of options are on the market, and veterinarians have their preferences as to which ones they want to use in each situation.

Any NSAID is likely better than no NSAID in almost all situations, but producers must pay attention to withdrawal times.

We are fortunate in Canada that in most places, winter frosts and frozen yards and fields prevent transmission of lots of problems, eliminating the need for year-round treatment for internal and external parasites.

This slows the development of resistance.

We still need to be cognizant of this and not over-treat.

As well, treat for flies only when they reach the economic threshold. One life cycle in the summer may likely do it for most climates.

Major cattle diseases

Foot-and-mouth disease and bovine tuberculosis have received a lot of attention lately because of recent outbreaks.

Prevention needs to focus on border security, and our cattle organizations need to continually lobby the federal government on this.

I have great faith in our canine friends and the work they do, not only in drug detection but all citrus fruit, plants and meat. They are specialists and get lots done.

I am not a trained epidemiologist, but it appears that a new strain of bovine TB has been found in these last few outbreaks that hadn’t been detected before and aren’t found in surrounding herds, trace-outs, trace-ins or wildlife.

Where is it coming from?

We have one of the best surveillance systems in place during slaughter, which is how we find these cases in the first place.

I also realize the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s handling of reportable diseases is always under scrutiny from our trading partners.

Equipment and the beef farm

My last couple of points involve equipment.

When buying applicator guns, look for ones that can be used on different products.

Clean them out and maintain them like you do your vaccine guns. All things will wear out, so parts should be replaced often.

For those just starting out in the cattle business, chutes, alley systems, maternity pens and calf chutes are available at auction.

Any squeeze chute or maternity pen is better than nothing because they will help you treat your animals appropriately and on time.

Some may need a bit of repair, but I see chutes that are 50 years old or older that are still functioning well if maintained.

This will make your life easier as well as maximizing animal welfare and minimizing injuries when handling.

Equipment can be upgraded as your herd grows, and herds larger than 200 head warrant a hydraulic chute. Expanding producers will seldom sell older chutes because they will be moved to a pasture to be be used out there.

I hope that at least a couple of these points will resonate with you.

As well, if you ever feel a health area should be covered in these columns, plant the seed with one of the veterinary writers. Your idea or question will likely help others.

The post Hot tips for cow-calf beef farmers appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

Producers will often ship these cows, but any veterinarian will tell you this isn’t a heritable trait and should not reoccur. If the cow rebreeds, there is no greater likelihood it will prolapse again.

Uterine prolapses seem to increase in harder calvings and when cows get positioned with their back ends pointing downhill. The pull of gravity may help the uterus push out the back. If the animal is left quiet or caught ever so gently in a maternity pen, treatment results are usually favourable.

However, it is sometimes a much more serious situation, with severe tearing, ripping and bleeding. Sometimes cows continue to push and rip the prolapse stitches.

Sometimes the veterinarian faces the choice of saving the cow and calf, but eliminating the cow’s reproductive ability. We still lose some animals, but the success rate has risen by doing complete uterine amputations.

Most amputations are done when the uterus is badly ripped or abraded and we are concerned about external or internal blood loss. Most deaths occur when the large uterine arteries rupture internally, causing a huge amount of blood to accumulate in the abdomen.

That is why many uterine amputations are done as a life-saving procedure. Veterinarians will first check to see if any small intestines have gotten inside the uterus before starting the amputation. Various procedures can be used. Some go in internally through an incision and ligate vessels close to the ovaries. Others use elastic rubber i.v. tubing or umbilical tape or huge zap straps to basically tourniquet the uterine stump.

It is then amputated and the stump automatically falls inside the vagina so there is no need for a purse string suture on the outside. As long as there has not been too much blood loss and the tourniquet holds, the cow should recover, although it cannot be kept for breeding.

On one occasion I was called to preg check a cow that a client had bought as a cow-calf pair, and it took some head-scratching to determine its uterus had been amputated. We often see freemartin heifers without a uterus when preg checking but I was not expecting it in this cow. But, she raised the calf and there was a healthy live cow in the fall to sell as well.

The only time I will amputate a healthy uterus is in a cow that continues to push and rip sutures despite having a long-acting epidural (spinal block).

The local veterinarian who mentored me often spoke of a crazy cow that caught her uterus in a bush, ripped it off, kept running and never looked back. This is possible, but rare. I’ve worked on one uterus that was holding on by a thread. I amputated the rest and that cow survived.

If you see a prolapse that appears smooth, without the many red cotyledons, it is likely the uterus presented right side out, not inside out. It is coming out most likely from a tear in the vagina and is a much more serious situation.

This will involve careful examination by the veterinarian to make sure other vital structures like the bladder are not involved. The uterus may be replaced and the tear sutured or in some cases a uterine amputation will be performed.

Each case is unique and needs assessment. Uterine amputations are rare but should your veterinarian advise one, don’t think all is lost. A common treatment would be NSAIDs or steroids prescribed by your veterinarian to counteract shock.

Uterine amputation is a lifesaving procedure that could probably be explained over the phone to an experienced producer if veterinary care was inaccessable. If no treatment can be given, emergency slaughter may be contemplated, but again, a discussion with a veterinarian is needed.

A prolapsed uterus will occur once every several hundred calvings and a badly damaged and torn uterus is a low percentage of that. It is not a situation we run into every day, but be prepared.

Here’s to a trouble free calving season for everyone.

The post Uterine amputations a routine occurrence in calving season appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

For the spring calver, great observation skills combined with the ability to go the extra mile will generally be rewarded. It pays to check for bad feet, eye problems, lame cattle and teats that aren’t sucked out or could have mastitis.

I hope everyone is entering the new season having preg checked and removed open and very late cows. This eliminates a lot of unnecessary spring labour in checking open cows and getting cycling animals away from soon-to-be mothers. Cycling cows can raise havoc by fighting, pushing and stepping on newborns. Late cows need to be in a separate pen and sold.

There is no question in my mind that cow-calf pairs should be removed to their own separate, quiet area as soon as calving has occurred. It makes checking easier and keeps the calving ground cleaner.

I wish experienced producers could share or teach the little things they do when checking cattle. Does blood from the vagina indicate a problem? What about meconium in the water bag? Does that indicate the calf is stressed and must be extracted? Has one animal been “nesting” with no progress? How many in the herd will try to steal a newborn?

The latter question becomes easier to answer if there are cameras monitoring the calving herd, and its critical information for the purebred operation. Cross adoption or abandonment (in the case of heifers that are not closely watched) is another issue.

A cow entering the first stage of labour may claim a newborn, driving the true mother off. In this case, good producers will let both cows follow the calf into the barn, knowing one is the mother and the other should calve soon.

If it’s unclear which is which, a good maternity chute will allow an internal exam of the one that likely hasn’t yet calved. If the producer can’t feel a full-term calf, it’s time to check the other cow. The presence of the placenta can also help determine which one is the actual mother.

Without intervention, you might have a situation where the calf gets claimed, only to have that cow deliver a stillborn calf later in the day.

Proper pairing

Extra effort to ensure proper mothering will pay off. The more we pair cows up with their calves directly after birth, the greater chance calves will get up to properly nurse and pass meconium.

I have not seen hard data, but I believe that keeping a newborn calf and its mother in a separate pen for the first 24 hours will reap huge benefits.

Cold weather makes it essential to get the cow and calf into a pen, dried off and warmed up. Once warmed, it’s amazing how quickly most calves will suck on their own.

A good suck of colostrum will make the calf less susceptible to pneumonia or scours. Producers should not hesitate to give a colostrum replacement to newborns that are slow to rise, lack vigour, have trouble finding the teat or don’t have a good suckle reflex within 10 minutes of birth.

You usually get what you pay for when it comes to these products, so check the quality of the colostrum supplement you use. If using a feed tube, use a new feeder separate from any that are used for sick or scouring calves.

Sick calves should be put in a separate area isolated from others. This is critical to prevent spread of illness in the herd.

I like to insist on boot dips by the maternity pen to keep producers aware of biosecurity. It is most critical at calving time. All supplies should be stocked and ready and the calving area kept as clean as possible.

The post The importance of pairing up at calving appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

Alberta has developed an emergency network because of the huge numbers of cattle transported to feedlots and packing plants. While this network is invaluable, there’s also an important role for producers and veterinarians who are near the scene of these accidents.

Just as someone with medical training may come across a vehicle accident, you as a producer have more experience than anyone else with handling and containing animals. You’re also likely to know who has a livestock trailer nearby or know other things that may be necessary to help animals in need.

Let me be clear. In an accident or roll over, call 911 before doing anything else. That gets first responders to the scene. There is a chain of command for getting things done and that always comes down to firefighters. They direct the police, paramedics and other personnel so they do their jobs pertinent to each case.

If there is livestock involved here in Alberta, the emergency livestock handling equipment trailers are requested. There are 18 locations for these in the province and firefighters in rural locations know where they are. The trailers come with the necessary panels, emergency lighting and other necessities to make the salvage operation easier and safer.

Alberta has also trained many first responders, and some producer groups have teams trained in emergency preparedness. J. Woods Livestock gives courses if there is interest in your area or with your group. This course also deals with helping animals in fires and in other scenarios.

As you can imagine, animals in these situations may not act normally. They are stressed so human safety is a huge consideration.

J. Woods has researched the best way to safely extricate cattle from a rolled cattle liner without excessively damaging the liner. It starts with the fire department and tools such as the jaws of life, spreaders and what I call the huge metal snips. Firefighters are the best trained in this scenario.

Unless there is a fire, extrication for cattle now involves setting up secured panels that guide animals into another trailer. Cattle at large, especially at night, pose a real danger.

With today’s modern technology, firefighters can find people trained in emergency preparedness. Even if they can’t attend the scene, expertise over the phone may help.

In provinces that don’t have emergency trailers, responders need local expertise and livestock trailers. This is where your help as an experienced producer could be invaluable.

One must always follow the chain of command and then gather needed expertise locally. This may be in the form of the local veterinarian, producer or extension staff.

I know of one incident in which a large animal veterinarian, along with a vet student, came across a rollover of a load of broiler birds. They stayed at the scene and worked with the first responder team to get it sorted out.

We all know accidents with livestock are a nightmare scenario, so anyone with livestock handling experience may be a first responder’s best resource, but don’t do anything rash. Keep local contacts, including the veterinary clinic, in your phone.

I’ve only had to help out a couple of times, in a minor way, but it’s an advantage to know the first responders, who are excellent to work with. However, they must deal with human safety first before working on animal safety and that is totally understandable.

The farm animal care groups in each province are also good resources and they often have an alert line. In Alberta, most trailers are located at either firehalls or county offices so they are easily accessible.

The Alberta Farm Animal Care Council is willing to share information with other farm animal groups in Canada about the makeup of the emergency trailers and the logistics and infrastructure necessary.

Livestock auction facilities in the country are other resources that may have trained personnel or facilities one could utilize. The same can be said for groups that handle other species. Trailers would have a fit for pigs in Manitoba or chickens in British Columbia, as an example .

Those of us involved in the livestock sector – producers, veterinarians and veterinary technicians – should be ready to help.

The post Be ready to help if livestock involved in accidents appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

Dart guns have their pros and cons but the Beef Cattle Research Council has some great resources that can help. It offers guidelines on usage decisions, staying within beef quality guidelines, safety and avoiding drug residue issues.

Producers and veterinarians advocate the need when animals can’t be caught or timing is critical for a favourable outcome. There are also times where a severely fractious animal makes it unsafe for the handler. Roping or other restraint may be impossible.

Dart guns are here to stay, and as with regular vaccination methods, users must consider drug residues, food safety, animal welfare and accuracy of administration.

The level of use is already high but it’s good to have an easily accessible reference source to help decide whether to use a dart gun.

Some may still have a workable crossbow or pole syringe, but the dart gun definitely meets more of the criteria of beef quality assurance. It administers a more accurate volume in the best manner – subcutaneously. It is accurate and doesn’t cause too much damage to surrounding tissues.

It’s also critical to know when not to use a dart gun. Because they are so easy to use, they might be over-used or used simply for convenience and before a proper diagnosis.

A decision tree developed by BCRC (see below) helps determine whether to treat the animal and if so, when to use a remote delivery device. One must stick closely to beef quality guidelines so the decision tree really helps.

Before darting, one must have a diagnosis, then a treatment plan and then record the animal in case slaughter withdrawals come into play.

Pneumonia, foot rot and occasionally pinkeye are common maladies treated by producers. Veterinarians generally go by the adage that everything given by a dart gun must conform to the label, so it is critical to have a veterinary-client-patient relationship. The goal is to give the product the same way as we would in a squeeze chute or if the animal was caught.

There is a do and don’t list and a pamphlet available, and the BCRC website has both the decision tree and a review of drug delivery.

There are a few absolute no-no’s. For example, do not use tilmicosin (Micotil) because of human safety concerns and know that a product like Excede must be given behind the ear.

The pharmacology industry is very much behind decisions of never using these specific products in dart guns.

BCRC’s list is easy to follow and captures most points when it comes to darting. It should be done as a last resort and use should be avoided on calves under 200 pounds because they don’t have much neck area to work with. Such calves can often be caught by other means.

Try to retrieve as many darts as possible. Don’t use them in the feedlot unless a severely stressed and fractious animal is compromising his and your safety.

The simplest way to find the BCRC resource is to visit its website. There you’ll find a video with an overview of where and under what conditions an experienced producer and veterinarian will use a dart gun and when they should never be used.

Watch the video a couple times because there are many great points and it is only five minutes long. It was filmed in Alberta under ranching conditions with a cattle family and a good roping horse.

The U.S. manufacturer of the dart guns called Pneudart also has an excellent website with training videos and information.

I encourage anyone that has used a dart gun to review these informational tools for their own safety and for the health and welfare of the animals under their care.

The post Are remote drug delivery devices the right choice for your cattle operation? appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

There has been steady growth in the number and size of wildfires since the 1980s. Drought, global warming and storms are generally the culprits and there has been plenty of smoke this summer.

The weather people talk about air quality for humans but what about the health of our production animals? I will try to extrapolate from a study conducted in Idaho about the effect of fires and smoke on dairy cattle production.

In that study, animal science researchers saw milk production decrease, which lingered after the smoke was gone. I believe this also offers insights on what may be happening to beef cattle under similar conditions.

There is no doubt smoke is affecting them but to what degree and what can we expect in the future? We can all see local weather station readings, and with air quality being part of those measurements, we can compare the degree of particulate matter week to week and make some assumptions about health changes and growth changes in our cattle.

Depending on the length of exposure to poor quality air, the degree of particulate matter in the air gives an idea of the effect. There are ramifications if mature cattle are exposed to high smoke levels during calving, milking and rebreeding. Younger cattle are always at risk of pneumonia or other diseases with stress.

In some fire and smoke situations, we may be able to move cattle but in most cases, there is no option. If differences in potential growth or reproductive rates and chronic infection can be somewhat quantified, we may know what to watch for. Then if there is compensation or insurance, you have talking points. These events need to be quantified in the same way as flooding, tornados and other natural disasters.

Immediate death or destruction can be measured but the long-term exposure and production losses shown in the Idaho study were enlightening.

We all know smoke affects the respiratory system and, depending on the type of fire, there are often toxins emitted that affect breathing. Particulate matter in the fire is often also measured. Fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) is the stuff that gets breathed in and essentially clogs up the lungs, sets up inflammation, and does lots of the long-term damage.

Researchers found that about 35 micrograms of PM 2.5 was the level considered too high and for every 100 micrograms of increase, there was a 1.2 kilogram decrease in milk production.

They found other changes, such as reduction in blood hemoglobin and an increase in inflammatory indicators. The bottom line is that the cattle’s immune systems were affected and milk production declined.

This information comes from dairy cows housed inside for seven days with high levels of smoke in the area. Researchers found it took about a week for the cows to recover milk production after the smoke had decreased to acceptable levels.

What can we expect to happen in our beef cattle? They are living outside and the degree of air quality and length of time exposed will all take a toll.

Milk production will likely drop and be less available to the calf. Cattle with low lung capacity will have greater chance of respiratory disease. Calf growth will be affected as the animals deal with smoke and less milk production from their mothers.

In herds exposed to wildfire smoke over extended periods, I worry that fertility rates could be lower. We may see permanent lung damage in some animals, leading to long term production issues.

We all know a treated calf that recovers from pneumonia often has permanent lung damage, so lifetime productivity goes down.

This smoke is beyond our control and I know it seems like common sense, but beware of having extra pneumonias to treat and realize that reproduction may suffer. If this does occur, be sure to document it.

I often wonder if the effects we see in our production animals are the same for wildlife, in addition to habitat loss. Worries about methane production from cattle that leads to global warming must pale in comparison to millions of hectares of forest burned every year in North America.

The post Smoke inhalation can affect cattle appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

It is not uncommon for two or more vaccines to be given twice a year. There has been lots written about proper vaccination techniques, vaccine storage, maintaining the chain of refrigeration and other things that affect the way these vaccines perform.

I want to discuss the most important equipment: our automatic or multidose syringes.

It is imperative to use the right syringes, maintain them and keep them calibrated, and select the right type for the job.

From saving labour to minimizing spillage to ensuring the proper amount and minimizing air in the syringe, it adds up to a proper dosage in the proper place. The result is a better immune response. One pays very good money for vaccines, and good automatic syringes help ensure they work.

Newer generation syringes are well worth the investment and will last for years. I still see a few people who fill plastic syringes multiple times but they are prone to breaking and your fingers and hands get sore filling them.

Get away from that habit. Everyone in cattle production should have multiple automatic syringes to deliver accurate amounts of vaccines or other medications. Many producers, including feedlots, use automatic guns for certain antimicrobials. They may be supplied by the pharmaceutical company and may be calibrated for a specific antibiotic by weight.

Keep an eye on calibration with all syringe types. This may be as simple as making sure a 50-dose gun giving two cc’s of vaccine does 25 calves. The calibration of newer guns is seldom off until the gun starts to wear and the plunger rod gets worn out.

Barrels sometimes break or crack. Most are made of strong plastic rather than glass and are less prone to breakage.

Bottle-mount syringes take a full bottle of product, and there are also standard automatic guns where the product is drawn up. These are nice because the rest of the vaccine bottle can be put in the cooler.

Standard guns will also fit in the syringe slots of commercially constructed storage units that are now on many modern farms. These keep products and syringes from freezing in winter or overheating in summer. It is a good way to ensure the quality of the vaccine right up until it is injected. The type of automatic gun used depends on preference.

Mark your vaccine guns with the product used, to avoid mixing products in different guns. As an example, modified live vaccines will be destroyed by clostridial vaccines.

Some guns have coloured knobs that can be put on the push rod, or you can simply write on the barrel. This helps tell the syringes apart. Other syringes have half-cc increments. That is rarely needed except for things like hormones.

Some have smaller diameter barrels so one can easily feel the product going in. I prefer the standard syringes, and one gets used to the two cc increments in which most vaccines are dispensed.

All the newer syringes have mechanisms that don’t allow air back inside and are a vast improvement over the older metal and glass syringes. Those older syringes have done their duty and should be retired.

Maintenance of syringes involves a simple wash with warm water and drying. Adding a small drop of cooking oil to the rubber rings keeps everything well lubricated. Keep them clean because the last thing we want is vaccine guns causing infections.

You can use antibiotics in syringes but then continue to use that syringe for antimicrobials and clean them after use. Some products cause issues with the O-rings unless cleaned right away. It’s always good to have spare parts or even a spare gun on the farm in case of damage to the gun or parts wearing out at inopportune times.

Use automatic guns, keep them maintained, labeled and cleaned, and learn or teach everyone the one-handed injection technique to avoid hand injuries. Better guns will facilitate quicker processing, accurately dispense product and result in better response from vaccines.

The post Automatic syringes a better solution appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.