A healthy foal starts with a healthy mare.

Healthy foals need healthy brood mares

Foal well-being starts with a focus on the dam

Reading Time: 3 minutes While significant attention is directed towards the health of foals themselves, understanding the factors contributing to the welfare of the brood mare is equally, if not more, important for development of well-balanced, healthy young horses.

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

Anti-activist bill back before Commons committee

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

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


(Songqiuju/iStock/Getty Images)

Vietnam approves commercial use of first African swine fever vaccines

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

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

Learn to manage disease threats in livestock

Learn to manage disease threats in livestock

Reading Time: < 1 minute The Animal Health Emergency Management project and its industry partners are offering a series of workshops on emergency responses to animal diseases. The three-part workshop series are based on handbooks created by the organization on topics such as “Emergency Management 101” and proactive disease management.  “The one-hour sessions progressively build out important animal disease management […] Read more


Livestock affected by wildfire smoke, too

Livestock affected by wildfire smoke, too

Reading Time: < 1 minute The extensive smoke from this year’s wildfires has prompted the American Veterinary Medical Association to put out an advisory for pets and livestock. “If you can see or feel the effects of smoke yourself, you also should take precautions to keep your animals — both pets and livestock — safe.” It urges animal owners to […] Read more

Elanco Animal Health CEO Jeff Simmons speaks during an interview at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on Sept. 20, 2018. (Photo: Reuters/Brendan McDermid)

Second activist investor buys into Elanco

Reuters — Hedge fund Starboard Value LP has taken a stake in Elanco Animal Health and nominated three directors to the animal healthcare company’s board, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter. The WSJ report did not mention the size of Starboard’s stake in Elanco, which makes treatments for pets […] Read more


Big brown bats are one of nine bat species in Alberta.

The interconnections between species are deep and interwoven

COVID-19 has put bats into the spotlight, and research shows how deeply everything is connected

Reading Time: 3 minutes In the last column I introduced the concept of systems change for the benefit of human and animal health. Fortunately, there is an avenue to work with human and animal doctors, scientists and experts towards a healthy world and it is called One Health. One Health is defined as a “collaborative, multi-sectoral and transdisciplinary approach […] Read more

U of Calgary professor wins cattle welfare award

Reading Time: < 1 minute University of Calgary animal health professor Dr. Karin Orsel has won a cattle welfare award for “her transformational contributions to the advancement of care in the bovine species.” “Dr. Orsel is a world leader in bovine health, and mentor to veterinarians, researchers and producers across Alberta and beyond,” said Jocelyn Dubuc, president of the Canadian […] Read more


Elanco Animal Health CEO Jeff Simmons speaks during an interview at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on Sept. 20, 2018. (Photo: Reuters/Brendan McDermid)

Elanco Animal Health wins U.S. approval to buy Bayer unit

Elanco to shed cattle pour-on brand, others for approval

Washington | Reuters — Elanco Animal Health has won U.S. antitrust approval to buy Bayer’s animal health business on condition that it sell assets to treat three ailments, two in dogs and one in cattle, the Federal Trade Commission said on Wednesday. The deal was valued at $7.6 billion when it was announced in August […] Read more

Chicks atop images from a genetic map of a chicken. (Peggy Greb photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Elanco forgoes Canadian poultry insecticide rights for Bayer deal

Reuters — Elanco Animal Health has decided against acquiring Bayer’s Canadian distribution rights to several poultry insecticides, Canada’s Competition Bureau said on Tuesday, as it looks to complete a $7.6-billion deal. The U.S.-based company will also divest its canine ear infection treatment product Osurnia and Bayer’s feline dewormer Profender to address competition concerns about its […] Read more