A Canadian beef quality audit conducted 10 years ago pegged the annual cost at $61 million. But that figure did not account for hidden losses like reduced growth efficiency, increased feed costs and added carcass trim. Modelled against more recent U.S. research (Taylor et al. 2025), the real number could be closer to $250 million.

“The important thing was that most of the losses that were associated with that number were before slaughter. So these are your increased energy maintenance,” said Rob Gruninger of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada at the Alberta Beef Producers’ annual beef research showcase at the University of Lethbridge.

“A pen that has 20 per cent animals with liver abscesses will have four per cent increased maintenance energy cattle with A-plus liver.”

WHY IT MATTERS: With millions of dollars up for grabs in quality of cattle affected by liver abscesses, more proactive research and screening are critical in finding solutions other than antibiotics that may get banned by government eventually.

The per-animal loss ranges from $11 to $275, depending on severity. A-plus livers — severely abscessed with multiple small abscesses — carry the heaviest penalty, while A-minus livers with one or two small abscesses reduce carcass weight by roughly 29 pounds.

The detection problem

One of the biggest challenges is that liver abscesses are nearly invisible until slaughter. Cattle rarely show clinical signs unless severely impaired, and ultrasounds have proven ineffective at capturing the entire liver. Researchers hope a blood-based test using gene expression will soon fill that gap.

“If there was a way to identify it earlier, better (feed) management decisions would be great,” said Gruninger. “The closest thing I’ve seen in data related to that is the beef-on-dairy. Those animals are on feed for an extra 100 days relative to an Angus cow, and you see significantly higher rates of abscesses.”

What drives the condition

Industry estimates put incidence rates at 10 to 30 per cent across North America, with Canada on the higher end. Steers are more susceptible than heifers. More days on feed and more digestible diets both raise the risk. Dairy cattle have higher rates than beef cattle, with summer months worse than winter. Diets heavy on wheat and barley produce higher rates than corn or sorghum, and silage outpaces hay.

“The currently accepted theory of how liver abscess is developed is that it’s related to acidosis, and so the consumption of highly fermentable diets results in the rapid production of volatile fatty acids,” said Gruninger. “The rumen is only able to absorb those acids at a certain rate. So if you’re producing more acid than the animal is able to use for growth, then the pH of the rumen is going to decrease.”

When pH drops far enough for long enough, the rumen wall can be damaged, allowing gut bacteria into the bloodstream — a condition known as ruminitis. Those bacteria travel through the portal vein to the liver, where they can colonize and form infections. Emerging research also points to hind gut acidosis and epithelial damage in the cecum and colon as another possible entry point.

The core bacteria found in abscessed livers are Fusobacterium and Bacteroides. Both exist in healthy livers too, but at lower levels — meaning the triggering factors, including diet, stress and days on feed, are what tip the balance.

Growing pressure on antibiotics

Tylosin is the primary feed additive used to reduce liver abscesses, cutting incidence by 30 to 35 per cent without affecting gain. But federal pressure to reduce antimicrobial use in livestock is mounting, and Gruninger stressed the industry needs alternatives in case Tylosin is eventually banned.

Current approaches — more fibre and forage, yeast products, direct-fed microbials, essential oils and a dated fusobacterium-specific vaccine — have shown inconsistent or inconclusive results.

Gruninger recommended reducing chronic pen overcrowding, avoiding disruptions during diet transitions, choosing grains carefully and managing days on feed — all in combination with Tylosin until a better option emerges.

“I think the most feasible would be, ‘Could we figure out how to make a vaccine that works well enough that is cost effective and makes sense to use’?” he said. “Maybe targeting more than just fusobacteria.”

Why the cost is likely climbing

With beef cattle being pushed to greater finishing weights and more days on feed in recent years, the economic impact has almost certainly grown. Producers in the audience hypothesized the real cost may be five times the figures from a decade ago.

“The goal of the research is can we find some other (effective) ways,” said Gruninger.

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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.

The two-year, $250,000 Veterinary Student Recruitment and Retention Pilot Grant Program is funded through the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (SCAP) and targets practices that provide livestock veterinary services in communities with a current or anticipated demand for veterinarians.

Alberta’s rural veterinary shortage

The demand for veterinarians across Alberta is high, but the shortage is most acute in rural communities.

A 2021 report from the Alberta Veterinary Medical Association and Alberta Veterinary Technologist Association found the provincial vacancy rate for veterinary positions sits at roughly 17 per cent — rising to nearly 19 per cent in rural areas — compared to a provincial average of about three per cent across all jobs. The report estimated Alberta will need more than 1,600 new veterinarians by 2035.

“Rural and mixed-practice veterinarians are essential to the well-being of our livestock and the sustainability of our agriculture sector,” said RJ Sigurdson, Alberta’s Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation.

Lethbridge Polytechnic is also addressing the pipeline with a new pre-veterinary medicine diploma launching in fall 2026.

How to apply

Eligible clinics can apply now for the 2026 intake. Applications for 2027 will open next year. The program is centred around practices that provide livestock veterinary services and demonstrate a current or anticipated need for veterinarians.

The Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership is a five-year, $3.5-billion federal-provincial-territorial investment (2023–2028) supporting competitiveness, innovation and resiliency in Canada’s agriculture and agri-food sector.

The post Rural vet clinics can apply for $10K grant to hire summer veterinary students appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

The two-year science program prepares students for advanced studies in veterinary medicine through coursework in animal genetics, biochemistry, anatomy, physiology and nutrition, with hands-on lab experience throughout.

Transfer pathway to U of C veterinary medicine

A transfer agreement with the University of Calgary’s Faculty of Veterinary Medicine allows students who complete a 10-course requirement to apply directly to the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine program.

Career pathways for pre-vet grads

Graduates also have several other pathways:

• Continue into Lethbridge Polytechnic’s Bachelor of Agricultural Sciences post-diploma degree
• Pursue the MCAT for medical school admission
• Enter the workforce as a laboratory assistant, animal researcher, livestock technician or animal nutrition consultant
• Rural vet clinics in Alberta are also offering paid summer placements through a new SCAP-funded grant program

Apply for fall 2026

For more information or to apply, visit lethpolytech.ca/pre-vet. Prospective students can also attend Lethbridge Polytechnic’s Winter Open House on Sunday, March 22, from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The post Lethbridge Polytechnic launches pre-veterinary medicine diploma for fall 2026 appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

For one thing, it’s good to review what’s available for treatment and prevention and what could happen if they were not allowed.

As well, new diseases will inevitably arise, requiring new treatments and the funding into their research and development.

It’s with a heavy heart that I heard recently of the many agricultural federal research facilities that will be shut down.

How do we test new products or develop new varieties of plants and test and validate growing or harvesting techniques without qualified researchers trying to answer these difficult questions and work doggedly to make the livestock industry safe?

The two protozoal diseases I am referring to are:

• coccidiosis
• cryptosporidiosis

Coccidiosis was once a very common disease in slightly older calves and feedlot animals.

In the past several years of practice, it was getting rarer and rarer to see a case.

The big question is why the improvement?

Both protozoal diseases have a life cycle that starts with an egg or oocyst, and then lives in the intestinal cells, destroying them before the eggs start to appear in the manure.

Coccidia

With coccidian, this whole life cycle takes about a month.

Again, prevention or control starts with treating before animals are likely to start to contract it.

This condition can be largely prevented with ionophore products such as rumensin or bovatech provided in complete feed rations in the feedlot or put into minerals for calves or mixed into pellets.

All cows carry some coccidia, but it is the calves that get clinical disease.

Cows will increase shedding before calving, which is why producers used to treat their cow herd to prevent shedding and infection of newborns.

This has changed considerably in the last 10 to 20 years.

A product called toltrazuril (Baycox) was developed as a specific preventive for coccidiosis. It is given more as a preventive long withdrawal, but also used on young animals, and specifically for cocci in pigs and sheep as well as calves.

Veterinarians often prescribe antimicrobials such as potentiated sulphonamides, if cocci get out of control, but by then the damage has already been done and calves suffer a big setback.

Prevention is key so that less antimicrobials are used.

My big worry is that in these antibiotic-free programs, there was talk about ionophores falling into disregard, which would be a very bad move long term.

Practices such as manure cleaning help with biosecurity, of course, but the oocysts are very small and very resistant in the environment and so a very pesky thing to totally eliminate.

Crypto

The other protozoal disease is cryptosporidiosis, which these days commonly comes to mind if you hear of a bad scours outbreak in a vaccinated herd.

Very bad diarrhea in slightly older calves is hard to treat and recover from and is very contagious because one clinical case quickly spews out millions of eggs that other calves can ingest.

This is also the disease that people can catch from handling calves, and many a technician at a clinic or farm worker has contracted crypto over the years.

That’s another good reason to prevent this disease.

It’s likely the most common zoonosis that people contract from cattle besides ringworm.

Veterinarians in Manitoba figured out about 20 years ago that toltrazuril works to prevent cocci and crypto.

They started compounding the toltrazuril in capsules for oral use and these diseases pretty much disappeared.

I don’t know what percentage of herds have been prescribed this treatment, but it is quite high in many beef-producing regions across Western Canada.

It is now compounded by an Alberta company for veterinarians.

It’s given as an oral pill at birth or shortly after.

This is something that your veterinarian would have to prescribe.

Toltrazuril is the best example I can give of an extra label usage of a product to treat disease that went viral (word of mouth) between veterinarians.

This also means our friends in the medical profession don’t have to treat crypto in people.

The disease is still around and recently made the news when it got into the water supply of an Indigenous community.

It would be nice if research could eventually be done to allow on-label use of this medication.

However, in light of the recent closure of federal research facilities, we may need more products to go extra label through our veterinarians, which puts a lot of pressure on them.

The good news is that these medications are used only on young animals, so the long withdrawal requirement becomes a moot point because they are six months or more away from slaughter.

If you’ve had trouble with either crypto or cocci — even one case — ask your veterinarian for their thoughts on using toltrazuril in its many forms.

The post Beef sector needs more research into protozoal disease appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

Milk fever is a concern not just in the dairy industry, but in the beef industry as well. It can occur when a cow cannot meet the demand for both milk production and colostrum, affecting her calcium levels. It can cause many different clinical signs, such as loss of appetite, muscle tremors and weakness in the early stages, which may progress into the animal being unable to stand.

WHY IT MATTERS: Understanding what causes milk fever could be a game-changer for both the dairy and the beef industry.

Because milk fever is such a prevalent illness, understanding what causes it is fundamental. Burim Ametaj, a researcher at the University of Alberta has proposed a hypothesis he calls the Calci-Inflammatory Network. His scientific model is looking more deeply at the causes behind the condition, and, more specifically, how it may be a biological response to inflammation.

Milk fever

Milk fever is also known as hypocalcemia, which is low levels of calcium in the blood. A lot of calcium is necessary when calving to meet high milk production.

Ametaj says milk fever has been a problem for more than 200 years. It was first documented in 1793, but since then, it has been found in almost every dairy herd. Though it is more common in dairy cattle, it can occur in beef females after calving, more frequently in older cows or cows that have a high production of milk. It is also more common in beef herds when the forage quality is low, like after drought or excess rain, according to research by the University of Manitoba.

“That persistence tells us we’re missing something fundamental,” Ametaj said in an emailed interview.

“But milk fever isn’t just one disease. It’s the tip of the iceberg. Cows with hypocalcemia are at dramatically higher risk for mastitis, metritis, ketosis and displaced abomasum. Fixing milk fever could be the key to unlocking healthier transition periods and more profitable herds.”

Burim Ametaj, researcher
University of Alberta

Currently, milk fever is treated through supplemental calcium, either intravenous or oral, or both. Generally, a veterinarian will start with intravenous calcium and then move to the oral supplement once the animal can stand. Usually, the response is pretty immediate. Risks associated with treatment, in the long term and short term, are minimal. One of the main concerns is relapse.

This is why dairy and beef producers have often been told not to supplement with calcium before calving, because it can exacerbate the chance of milk fever and limit the animal’s natural calcium creation.

Ametaj believes this kind of treatment isn’t necessary if more work is done on the front end — and during his research found himself questioning why things are done the way they are.

“If something is truly a deficiency, you should feed it to cure the health effects of that deficiency. Yet here we were telling producers: ‘It’s a calcium deficiency, but don’t feed calcium.’ No one questioned this paradox.”

This is one of the many reasons Ametaj started looking deeper into milk fever and ultimately came up with the Calci-Inflammatory Network.

Calci-Inflammatory Network

The start of his research began many years ago, when Ametaj was working on his post-doctoral studies in 1999 at Iowa State University. At the time, he wanted to investigate the potential association between milk fever and inflammation and proposed the hypothesis that endotoxin was causing hypocalcemia in cattle.

But it wasn’t until he started at the University of Alberta in 2004 as an assistant professor that he had the freedom to pursue his idea. Over the years he has continued his research on this topic, creating an oronasal vaccine and an intravaginal probiotic intended to prevent uterine infections. From the research with those treatments, Ametaj saw a 50 per cent reduction in milk fever incidence.

“This wasn’t about feeding calcium, it was about controlling inflammation,” Ametaj said.

In 2020, he conducted research showing when you prevent the calcium drop and maintain high calcium levels during inflammation, the inflammatory response actually gets worse.

This is what eventually led to him creating the Calci-Inflammatory Network, his scientific model that suggests calcium can be directly correlated with inflammation.

“The Calci-Inflammatory Network was born from synthesizing a quarter-century of research, starting with my original hypothesis in 1999, validated by experiments in 2003, and developed through my own work over two decades,” he said.

And Ametaj thinks it can change the way milk fever is viewed.

“For a century, the prevailing paradigm has been to treat hypocalcemia as a deficiency. But it’s actually a protective, life-saving response — a withdrawal of calcium to ease inflammation, not a deficiency.”

Potential benefits

Ametaj hopes that as he continues his research, the way milk fever is approached and understood will change. The framework of the Calci-Inflammatory Network is just the first step.

For example, he believes treatment can be adjusted so calcium isn’t used to just fix a deficit, but to better align with the cow’s immune state, genetic profile and stage of recovery in each case-by-case scenario.

Ametaj said there are many new approaches that can be derived from this theory, such as better prevention — like the intravaginal probiotic — and limiting transition diseases, such as mastitis, metritis or ketosis by focusing on inflammation.

“Stop thinking of calcium as just a mineral. Think of it as the brake pedal on inflammation. Inflammation appears during dry-off, weeks before hypocalcemia. When calcium drops, your cow is trying to survive. Forcing calcium up, especially pre-partum, might be cutting the brake lines. Not all hypocalcemia needs treatment. What matters is why calcium dropped — protective response or mobilization failure?”

He said this could help the bottom line of an operation as well. Producers may be able to limit their antibiotic use, improve herd health overall and see fewer losses on their operations.

Future plans

Ametaj said the Calci-Inflammatory Network could benefit not just the agriculture industry, but also diseases that might affect humans. Low blood calcium can be found in many serious human illnesses, and he believes his research will correlate.

This is still speculative, but it is something he is hoping to look into more deeply in the future.

“This isn’t just about cows. Human critical care doctors see identical patterns in sepsis patients. … There’s much more coming in the next few months — several new concepts about both cow and human health that will challenge conventional thinking even further.”

Ametaj is planning on continuing this research and finding more tangible ways to use his findings to create treatment.

“From vaccines to probiotics to immunometabolomics — we’re just scratching the surface. There are exciting developments ahead that will provide producers with better tools and strategies.”

The post Is inflammation the real cause of milk fever in cattle? appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

While iron deficiency is a well-recognized concern in human health, dietary iron deficiency has never been documented in adult horses.

Iron carries a certain mystique in equine nutrition. Its association with blood and performance, particularly in the racing industry, has fostered the widespread belief that supplementing iron can boost energy or enhance oxygen delivery. In reality, the opposite is true for most horses. Chronic iron excess is now recognized as a silent yet pervasive disruptor of health.

Approximately 60 per cent of the body’s iron is bound within hemoglobin, which carries oxygen in red blood cells from the lungs to the tissues. Another 20 per cent resides in myoglobin within muscles, storing oxygen for movement. The remainder exists in storage and transport proteins — such as ferritin and transferrin — and within immune cells in the liver and spleen.

Iron efficiency

Horses are remarkably efficient at recycling and regulating iron.

Red blood cells live about 150 days, after which their iron is reclaimed to form new cells.

Losses are minimal, and the hormone hepcidin serves as the regulatory gatekeeper controlling iron absorption and storage. Under normal circumstances, this system ensures that horses rarely — perhaps never — require supplemental iron.

In nature, horses are surrounded by iron. It is abundant in grasses, hays, grains and even water. A typical 500 kilogram horse consuming 10 kg of timothy hay daily, containing around 250 milligrams of iron per kg, ingests more than 2,500 mg of iron, which is well above the National Research Council minimum requirement of 400 mg per day and comfortably below the upper safe limit of 5,000 mg.

Thus, a horse on a typical forage-based diet will receive sufficient iron.

Iron in feed

It’s important to recognize that all plant-based feed ingredients naturally contain iron, so most commercial feeds already supply more than enough.

If iron is specifically added to a feed product, it appears on labels as iron oxide, ferrous fumarate, ferrous sulfate or ferrous gluconate. These forms of supplemental inorganic iron are best avoided.

Additional sources can include certain salt blocks, which may appear reddish due to iron enrichment. Like fortified feeds, these sources of inorganic iron can contribute to chronic overload.

The problem with iron

The problem with high iron is not just the iron itself but how it disrupts the delicate balance of other essential minerals.

In the small intestine, iron, copper, zinc and manganese all compete for the same transport proteins. When iron levels are excessive, it can “crowd out” copper and zinc, preventing adequate absorption, even when diets appear balanced.

This mineral imbalance often develops subtly, leaving owners unaware of the underlying cause as structural and metabolic issues begin to surface.

Not all sources of dietary iron are obvious.

Pastures grown on iron-rich soil, or on soil acidified by modern agricultural practices, tend to increase the amount of iron available for plant uptake, resulting in forage with elevated iron content.

Horses grazing on such pastures may ingest far more iron than needed, particularly if copper and zinc levels are already low.

Well water containing more than 10 mg per litre of iron can further elevate total intake, and when combined with fortified feeds or multiple supplements, daily levels can easily exceed safe limits.

Collectively, these environmental and management factors make chronic iron excess a more realistic concern than deficiency in the modern horse.

Over time, this slow accumulation takes a toll.

Horses consuming iron-rich forages, feed or water or receiving unnecessary supplementation may show telltale signs such as rusty tips on dark manes, dull or reddish coats, brittle hoofs or recurring abscesses.

These subtle changes reflect underlying interference with copper, zinc and manganese absorption, minerals essential for connective tissue strength, joint health and hoof integrity. Left unchecked, the imbalance can contribute to fatigue, inflammation, weakened immunity and metabolic instability.

Emerging evidence further suggests that chronic iron overload may play a contributing role in metabolic disorders such as equine metabolic syndrome and laminitis.

Excess iron interferes with trace mineral balance and enzymatic function, disrupting insulin regulation and connective tissue health.

Horses grazing on high-iron, high-sugar pastures or consuming iron-rich concentrates may therefore be more susceptible to metabolic stress.

In this context, iron acts as an environmental factor that interacts with diet, water quality and individual metabolic resilience to potentially tip the balance toward insulin resistance and laminitic episodes.

Avoiding a problem

Horse owners can take several proactive steps to safeguard mineral balance.

Begin by testing forage and water, especially in regions with mineral-rich or acidic soils.

Evaluate trace mineral ratios, maintaining Fe:Cu:Zn between roughly 4:1:4 and 10:1:4 to offset excess iron’s effects.

Adjust feeding management as needed by offering tested hay, rotating or blending pastures and sourcing alternative water if necessary.

Under veterinary guidance, blood testing for ferritin and transferrin can help assess stored iron and detect early metabolic stress.

Iron is undeniably essential for equine health, yet for many horses, the challenge lies not in a deficiency, but in maintaining balance and avoiding excess.

The post Beware giving horses too much iron appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

WHY IT MATTERS: Calves are worth much more money than they were five years ago, so taking extra care of calves is not only an animal welfare imperative, but a financial one as well.

Dave Renaud, an associate professor at the University of Guelph, told the recent Dairy at Guelph research day that diarrhea costs an average dairy farm $28,000 per year, and that of 100 calves that contract diarrhea, five to 29 of those will die.

Renaud went through several best practices for calves when they are seen to have diarrhea.

Don’t worry about which pathogen caused the diarrhea. Olivia Gibson, a masters student in Renaud’s lab looked at coronavirus, cryptosporidium and rotavirus and found that resolution happens at the same rate. Salmonella cases take a big longer, but not longer enough to warrant special treatment. Similarly, treatment doesn’t change if the calf is affected by multiple pathogens.

Fluids are critical

“We really need to give this calf fluid, because it’s losing a lot of fluid every single day,” says Renaud. Risk of mortality is reduced significantly.

Research in Guelph professor Mike Steele’s lab showed that a 50 kg calf can be losing two litres of fluid per day due to diarrhea.

A challenge for farmers yet is that there’s little known about what the best electrolyte solution is for calves. Be cautious of electrolytes that are hypertonic as these can exacerbate problems with dehydration, but creating osmotic pressure pulling fluids into the rumen and make diarrhea problems worse, he says.

Calves need intravenous (IV) fluids when their eyes are recessed and they can’t stand. Don’t give up on calves, he says, as IV fluids can have a quick and powerful effect.

Alleviate pain and inflammation

There’s good research that supports treating calves with a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory at the onset of diarrhea, says Renaud. Research shows that calves get better faster, and also improves their ability to consume grain and water when treated with Meloxicam.

Antibiotics as a last resort

Research has shown that not all calves need antibiotics to recover from diarrhea. In fact, “There’s very few cases of diarrhea that truly need it,” says Renaud. About 30 per cent of calves have levels of bacteria in their bloodstream that says they need antibiotics.

If the calves are bright and alert, Renaud says they don’t need antibiotics. However, if the calf is dull and inactive, then it’s more likely that they’ll need antibiotics. It’s a bit of an unknown whether calves with fever and blood in their stools need antibiotics.

Recent research has shown that an treatment based on an evidence-based algorithm showed that targeting calves with antibiotics meant they recovered quicker than calves that had been all treated with antibiotics.

“We need to be really smart and strategic about when we’re providing antibiotics to ensure we’re doing at the right time.”

Colostrum therapy could be an alternative

Research in Renaud’s lab by Havie Carter looked at feed colostrum to calves with diarrhea. Her study included a control group, a colostrum fed group and a group fed half colostrum, half milk replacer. There were also calves that were feed four feedings of colostrum and some fed eight.

Calves fed the larger amount of colostrum recovered two days earlier and weighed more than the control group at 56 days after onset of diarrhea. The control group also had 14 per cent mortality, while the colostrum-fed calves had none.

The post Best tactics for dairy calf diarrhea 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.

In a presentation at the MNP Ag Connections Conference in Medicine Hat last month, she cited a survey showing only 30 per cent of producers isolate new animals and 16 per cent inquire about disease history.

WHY IT MATTERS: With old and new emerging pathogens making their rounds, having a biosecurity plan in place for cattle is important to minimize disruptions in the supply chain.

The Beef Cattle Research Council divides biosecurity into a three-part strategy: bio-exclusion, management and containment.

The council has developed interactive map diagrams for producers to use to list all biosecurity risks and identify major points of entry for disease on their operations.

A common entry point is people accessing the facility, but secondary points must also be identified, such as side rooms where dead stock may be transported, a dead pit or an area where many different species graze.

“Animal movement is probably the most important,” Webster said.

“If you can get your cows from moving anywhere, having everything sourced on farm, you wouldn’t have any mingling. You wouldn’t have that unknown factor of where was this animal, what has it gotten? You don’t have that missing history.”

She said producers increase their risk for diseases by 2.2 per cent if they are buying outside cattle, while another study showed an increased risk factor for calves born in a herd where older mature cows were purchased a few months before calving.

Webster advises two weeks of quarantine for new outside animals coming into the herd. If producers do not have the land space, they can perhaps divide pastures with a temporary wire fence.

“If you don’t know what you’ve got, but you have a sick animal, move it two fence lines away from the rest of the herd,” she said.

“You need to not have that nose-to-mouth contact or nose-to-tail contact with the next fence line because you’re still not isolating them. If you don’t have that distance in the airborne pathogen to separate them, you’re still going to be sharing, so you’ll do all your efforts to try and move them into that spare space you have on the farm.”

Tools and equipment should be another focus.

Webster said it’s critical to do an inventory of what is needed and updated as well as looking at doping best practices and building consistent habits to maximize their efficiencies. It can be something as simple as gloves to minimize zoonotic disease transfer between humans and animals.

“It’s not necessarily that contact area that we’re trying to prevent you from getting something from them, or you’re giving something to them,” Webster said.

“Gloves are just a reminder for you not to touch your face after if you have something on your hands that makes you think you’re not gonna pop something in your mouth.”

She said precautions will end up being ineffective if good biosecurity habits are not formed, such as forgetting to hose off boots or equipment before applying disinfectants or having the spray radius leak from the dirty to the clean zone.

“If you disinfect before you get rid of the debris, you often deactivate that disinfectant. It doesn’t work on organic material.”

She said the contact time needed for disinfectants is often 10 to 30 minutes.

Dividing a farm’s animal areas into “clean” and “dirty” zones helps build habits as well ensuring that biosecurity tools are used for their intended purpose. Simply drawing a line between the two zones is not enough because workers won’t notice it. Instead, a physical barrier is needed as a reminder.

“Like a little boot stock where you sit down, take off your old boots, leave your house shoes over here, hop over and grab some boots on the other side. Something to make you stop and think about what you’re doing.”

Because of a new emerging high pathogenicity avian influenza, dairy producers and their workers would ideally use gloves, goggles, a mask and a hair net along with other protective equipment.

The standard is not as high with cow-calf operations, but erring on the side of caution is always encouraged.

Current pathogens of concern are foot-and-mouth disease, BVD, BLV, salmonella, cryptosporidium, E. coli, coccidiosis, BRSV, IBR, PI3, trich, digital dermatitis, lice/mites, Johne’s disease and neospora caninum.

“Do you have a scouring calf isolation somewhere where you’re going to be going in and nursing a bunch of bottle cows that have scours to get them through?” Webster said.

“We need to have some of this just to protect you, to protect the next calf, and before you go back out again and find the next calf out in pasture, that that second stock can help save another calf from getting that extra dose of scours.”

There are steps producers can take to prepare for the next veterinarian visit, such as helping set up protocols to identify sick animals and training new staff to tell the difference between a depressed and lively calf.

Stay up to date on effective common herd problems and effective medications.

Assessment plan templates can be found online, including at Healthy Farms Healthy Agriculture. There are farm bio-security signs that can be printed off and posted on the farm in both English and Spanish.

Rules of thumb to intervene depends on mortality and morbidity rates.

“Morbidity is how many treatments you have if you have an outbreak. We have defined it as 10 per cent that are treated within recent timeline, not over the course of the full year,” said Webster.

“If you have one dead calf, profitability is on your mind, but you’re also going to be worried about the rest of the heard. You’re probably going to reach out to your vet and you’re probably gonna get you a diagnosis by the time you have a second or third one.”

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