The main tranquilizer I am talking about is acepromazine, a member of the phenothiazine tranquilizer family. It is not a prescription product and producers can be trained in its usage and in the way it is delivered.

Since the dosage is pretty low (although effects last a long time) and the cost per dose is minimal, it has many uses in cattle production in my opinion. Whether it’s calving, tie breaking, clipping or simply transportation, if we can get cattle calmer, it always goes better.

Even when using low-stress handling techniques, cattle can get worked up in certain situations and can benefit greatly from tranquilization.

The withdrawal on the 25-milligram product is seven days. This tranquilizer will work on most species on the farm, but I am going to focus only on cattle at this time.

This product will cause a lowered heart rate and blood pressure, and dosage will vary depending on the method of administration. Many give it orally or intra-nasally but I recommend in the tail vein because it goes right into the bloodstream — so the dose can be kept low and it acts fast.

Uses around calving include cows being overly aggressive towards their newborn calves or kicking at their calves when trying to suck as tranquilization may make them passive enough to change this behaviour.

We have all had to try and graft a calf on to a cow. Methods range from using products such as Calf Claim or rubbing placenta on an adoption calf to skinning a dead calf and putting the hide on a substitute calf. These all can be effective ways to get a mother to adopt a calf, but also tranquilizing the cow will improve success rates. The calf will be taken quicker by the new mother and she is unlikely to hurt it from bunting or kicking at it when it is time to nurse.

Bull sale season leads to bulls being clipped or torched to get them all looking good. The first time through the chute, using a slight bit of tranquilizer can make the process easier (on the bull and for the person clipping). If the bulls are calmer, the procedure goes by quicker and they have a good experience setting them up for an easier pass through next time. Showmen may even use this when just halter breaking for the first time.

There is no doubt tranquilizers have a place and what I like about acepromazine is you can visibly see the effects from the sleepy eyes and slightly staggered gait. In bulls we can have a prolapse of the sheath so watch when using it in bitterly cold weather. That is why most veterinarians, if they don’t get protrusion of the penis in semen evaluating, may use tranquilization to visualize the penis and make sure there aren’t other things wrong.

Veterinarians may use acepromazine for anything from settling down cows for C-sections to claw amputations to cancer eye removals. They may also use other products in combination with this tranquilizer as well as a local anesthetic. Younger veterinarians have gotten into using other tranquilization products but as you can see there is still a place on our farms and ranches for products such as this.

I have used this product for anything from marker bull surgery to a rumen fistula. If you titrate the dose properly, they can still ambulate and load well.

If shipping cattle a fair ways away, there is a natural type product that has no withdrawal that can be fed to cattle. It is a product called DeStress which has among other things an amino acid called tryptophan, which has naturally a slight tranquilization effect. It is fed to cattle and can also be used on bison (but at a higher dose) and has a tranquilization or calming effect which owners can visibly see.

This of course makes it easier to load and transport plus shrink is greatly reduced. Not only is there an animal welfare benefit but also an economic one as live weight and carcass weight will be higher on slaughter animals given this product.

Producers with interest should be taught how to give tranquilizer products like acepromazine in the tail vein. Also you can also get blood samples this way if your veterinarian needs them.

I know producers may have other uses for things like acepromazine in livestock production, anything from dehorning to prolapse repairs.

Effects last several hours and only are repeated in rare occasions I would say. Keep this in mind for any of the procedures listed above. It may take some time before we realize how this can fit into your operation.

The post Often a tranquilizer makes things easier for cattle and their owner appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

“It’s about how we set animals up to interact with humans — any time you interact with them you’re training them how to respond and what to expect from humans,” said Christy Goldhawk who did her doctorate work on cattle transportation and is now a global adviser for animal health and welfare for Elanco Animal Health.

Proper handling will train an animal to remain calm, she said.

“If you can, train them to move away from people, expect low stress, (and not to) freak out, when it comes time to put them through a handling system or get them to go on a truck, you’re probably going to be better off,” she said.

• Read more: The lowdown on how buyers calculate shrink

Dr. Karen Schwartzkopf-Genswein agrees.

Rough and excessive handling, along with working animals in extreme conditions can all increase shrink, said Schwartzkopf-Genswein, senior research scientist on beef welfare and behaviour at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Lethbridge Research Centre.

“Although most good cattlemen know those things anyway, we don’t have numbers to show that if you do things ‘this way’ the shrink is less (or) if you handle less, the shrink is less,” she said.

When it comes to loading, give animals time and don’t put people in situations where they can get hurt, said Goldhawk.

“When it comes time to load, be cautious about what you’re doing,” she said. “Be kind about it, give the animal some time to investigate. You need to be conscious of where your body is and what it might be blocking from that animal or what you might inadvertently be asking that animal to do.”

You should also assess whether an animal is fit for transportation.

“Complaints about transport are still the greatest number of complaints to the minister of agriculture,” said Schwartzkopf-Genswein. “It’s a highly visible thing the industry does.”

“Make sure they are well hydrated and they’ve had water and feed and that kind of support before they get on the truck for the type of journey they are going on,” Goldhawk added.

The type of feed provided prior to transport will also affect the amount of shrink. A Montana study found cattle on grass or fed silage shrunk more than those fed concentrates, and cattle on free-choice feed and water had lighter morning weights than evening weights.

The study also found cattle not familiar with enclosures shrunk more than five per cent when held in dry lots overnight, prior to transport. It is recommended that cattle have good dry hay rations before being shipped and to avoid extreme washy, lush feeds.

The temperature inside the trailer is important too. One of Goldhawk’s studies compared temperature and humidity inside the trailer.

“What was actually happening was open boarding pattern (no boards) had more humidity within the trailer than something that had partial boards,” she said. “The boards are actually allowing a better air exchange as the truck is moving, reducing the humidity level. With cold weather transport, it comes down to what they’re used to and the change in what they are used to.”

Another of her studies found shrink was higher for calves hauled in trailer temperatures below 5 C.

Other factors

In a recent collaboration on the winter transport of finished cattle with the University of Manitoba, Schwartzkopf-Genswein and her colleagues found shrink increased by an additional one per cent for journeys of more than 300 kilometres. And when load densities increased from one animal per square metre to 2.5 animals per square metre, shrink increased by 2.7 per cent. And when the temperature/humidity index approached 0 C, shrink increased by 2.3 per cent.

As well, different classes of animals handle transportation differently.

“The research indicates the pre-conditioned calves and fat cattle shrink less,” said Goldhawk.

For feeders, cull cows, and calves ‘weaned on the truck’ (sent to market immediately after being removed from their mothers), it all comes down to how those animals are prepared for the trip.

Some calves weaned on the truck come out the same with shrink, if not better than pre-conditioned calves, but others don’t handle the transportation very well, said Goldhawk.

Once again, it comes back to how the animals were managed ahead of time, she said.

“Were they prepared for that journey in terms of nutrition, hydration, and handling? And how were they managed during that journey — was there a factor in there like really high temperatures that they aren’t used to? Did that cause them to not cope with those conditions so well?”

Many studies on shrink focus on fat cattle but well-conditioned cattle are “very robust in how they can manage stress,” said Schwartzkopf-Genswein.

“We didn’t see significant amounts of shrink or any amounts of major hardships for those animals.”

However, feeder cattle are another story.

In one study, Schwartzkopf-Genswein and a colleague found shrink levels for feeder cattle to be 7.9 per cent (well above the level for fat cattle, which typically have shrink of five per cent or less).

The study also found that shrink was greater for feeder cattle loaded at the farm, ranch, or feedlot versus the auction market.

The time of day when loading and driver experience also affect shrink, according to the same study. Cattle loaded in the afternoon and evening exhibited more shrink than those loaded in the night or morning. Shrink was also lower on loads where the truck driver had six or more years of experience hauling livestock.

The bottom line is that there are ways to reduce shrink — and put more money in your pocket.

“It comes down to thinking about ‘What is shrink?’ And being active about how you apply it,” Goldhawk said. “Shrink is really happening because there is nothing going in and energy going out. So what can you do to reduce that cost of the energy going out?”

The post You need to think about shrink long before the transport truck arrives appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

“Actual shrink can be made up of two components,” said Sheldon Wilcox, manager at Direct Livestock Marketing in Edmonton. “One is gut fill (sometimes called excretory shrink) — which is the feed and water the animal consumes. The second one is tissue shrink.”

• Read more: Think about shrink long before the transport truck arrives

When gut fill shrink is excessive — whether from handling or transportation — tissue shrink will begin.

“Tissue shrink is not something that recovers as soon as the animal takes a drink of water or begins to eat — it is a non-recoverable shrink,” said Wilcox.

There is also “pencil shrink” — which uses a formula buyers use to calculate a net weight.

“It might be zero per cent, it might be four or even as high as five per cent,” said Wilcox.

For example, a cull cow that is bought on offer at $90/cwt with a two per cent shrink will net the seller $88.20/cwt.

But pencil shrink isn’t meant to ding producers, he said.

“All that pencil shrink is used for is to arrive at consistent weighing conditions,” he said. “If you weigh cattle at 4 p.m. versus weighing them at 8 a.m. there’s going to be a huge difference. The idea behind a pencil shrink is trying to get back to an average or mean weighing condition for everybody’s cattle.”

If pencil shrink wasn’t used, you could have cattle weighed after a five-kilometre haul fetching a lower price than cattle weighed after a 500-kilometre haul.

“With pencil shrink you are evening out the prices and reflecting on that animal’s body condition. We don’t want to pay for hay and water.”

But that doesn’t mean buyers want cattle that are hungry or thirsty, he added.

“That’s the misconception. Everyone thinks a cattle buyer wants to buy cattle that are grossly empty. No, that animal is compromised and stressed, and I’m worried about the health of that animal.”

The post The lowdown on how buyers calculate shrink appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

“If you don’t understand the cattle to start with, you can’t ever build a facility that’s going to be 100 per cent foolproof,” said Jack Nester of Nester Livestock Equipment.

Good flow centres around two “absolutely predictable cattle behaviours,” Nester said at a Foothills Forage and Grazing Association workshop this fall.

First, use cattle’s natural urge to move away from pressure.

“We’re human beings. They’re dumb cows. We can put a man on the moon, so we can certainly apply the pressure to drive a cow out of the chute.”

And second, cattle “always want to go back to where they came from.”

“We run them into a pen, and they’ll turn around and want to go back that same way,” said Nester, adding you want to position the cattle so they think they’re going back to where they came from.

When you combine those two things — pressure and positioning — you create flow, he said. But in a lot of cases, handling facilities are designed to work against those cattle behaviours.

• More on the Alberta Farmer: Are your livestock facilities in the wrong spot?

The problem starts with crowding tubs.

“Crowding tubs are operated backwards. We’re loading cattle in the wrong side of a crowding tub if we expect them to flow out,” said Nester, adding that producers need to “push them in where you want them to come out.”

“If I want to take the cattle out the right side, I want to load the right side. If I want to take them out the left side, I want to load the left side. I don’t want to load them on the right and take them out the left because they’re going to want to come back out the right.”

Alleys are another example of flow devices that, well, “don’t create flow.”

“There’s not an alley been built that I’ve seen yet that creates flow,” said Nester. “We’ve developed left-curving alleys, right-curving alleys, S-alleys, double alleys — all under the pretence of creating flow.

“But the problem I see in all of that is the cows never got the memo. The cows still want to go back to where they came from.”

The most important thing you need to look for in an alley is whether it will prevent the cow from turning around, he said. And S-alleys don’t necessarily do that.

“The S-alley is marketed as a wonderful thing because cattle want to go around curves all the time, but I question the actual benefit that you’re receiving by having your alley in an S,” said Nester. “If I stand at the back of an S-alley and I look forward through that alley, I will see the back of the chute. Unless that cow’s blind, she’s likely going to see what I see.

“And what I see when I look at an S-alley is a very expensive crooked line.”

Tapered alleys (or V-alleys), which narrow at the bottom, are a better bet, he said.

“If you can keep it narrowed up and keep their head up, they’re going to flow. There’s only one place to go, and that’s ahead.”

While a V-alley won’t necessarily keep a cow standing, it does the trick for most cows.

“You can put the bottom much narrower than most people realize,” said Nester, adding cows can “easily” walk in widths as small as 12 inches. “That will keep most cows up.”

And once the cows are in the alley, you need to keep the right kind of pressure on to get them moving.

“Cows go down there because of what we do alongside an alley — what conditions we create to make them move forward. It’s usually vision and noise,” he said. “They need to see an exit point where they imagine they’re going back and getting out of the pressure.”

A lot of flow problems come from cows seeing and hearing people working alongside the alley.

“What we’re telling the cow when we’re standing in front of him is ‘go back,’” said Nester, adding simple things — such as sheeting to block the view — can make a difference.

“Anything that we can do to reduce the stress that we put on our livestock when we’re bringing them through is going to be a net benefit in our pocket.”

The post Pressure and cattle positioning promote flow in handling systems appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

“Just like in people, when bison step on a scale, sometimes they have quite a harsh stress response,” said Josh Perryman, a University of Alberta student who spoke at the Wildrose Bison Convention earlier this month.

Bison are notoriously flighty animals, and reducing stress when handling them is the main goal of a project by Perryman and fellow students Elyse Semchuck and Nicky Lansink. The trio is working with the Bison Producers of Alberta to study a remote bison-weighing system and develop a guidebook based on their findings.

“Bison haven’t been domesticated for very long, so there are setbacks when handling the animals,” said Semchuck. “The stress adaptation in the bison can be a problem when they’re in enclosed spaces, so the current system of squeeze chutes can cause problems, like bruising and depreciation of the animal.”

And that has a direct impact on the bottom line, she said.

“We know that, per animal and per stressful event, it can lose up to 10 pounds over a week. That means more days on farm to gain that weight back.”

But bison producers still need a way to weigh their animals.

“Not being able to weigh your animals can be problematic because bison require feed appropriate for their stage and rate of growth,” said Semchuck. “You’re going to maximize profits by sending the animals away at the optimal finishing weight.”

And remote weighing systems using automatic scales could be the answer.

“Automatic scales have been used in other species because they’re less labour intensive and less time consuming,” she said. “There’s less stress on the animals from less handling and restraint, and a low-stress, low-hands-on environment can eliminate trim losses or give you a Grade A carcass.”

Testing underway

Working with bison producer Ivan Smith, the students have installed two Tru-Test Alleyway platform scales at Big Bend Bison Ranch near Penhold.

“We have a platform in front of a mineral trough and a walk-over platform between where the feed is and where the water’s located,” said Perryman, adding that the bison are monitored with trail cameras and RFID readers near the platforms.

So far, the trio has found that the bison will stand still on a platform in front of a mineral trough with “about 70 per cent success.”

“The idea was that the bison would walk onto the platform and stand on the scale,” said Perryman. “The bison would need to stand on the scale to get the minerals.”

Of course, the animals have to want minerals.

“If the bison have a nutritionally complete diet, they might not want minerals, and then they might not stand on the scale,” he said.

The walk-over platform, on the other hand, lies between the bison’s feed and water, making it more likely that they will step onto the scale.

“In the walk-over scenario, there will be more traffic going between the areas just because the drive for water would be strong,” said Perryman. “It’s also open so the bison aren’t going into an enclosed area, standing on a scale, and then having to back out.”

The system was installed March 10, and so far, the preliminary results are promising. With three days of data at the time they presented their findings, the students had 379 total readings from the walk-over platform.

“The bison moved freely over the scale and appeared to be comfortable with it,” said Perryman.

Cost and benefits

But there’s a cost to installing a system like this, said Lansink, who presented some cost estimates at the meeting.

“The main cost of something like this is the cost of the installation of the scale, the scale itself, the RFID reading software, and the maintenance of the system,” she said, adding cost benefits include decreased labour, feed costs, and stress-related losses.

“By implementing this scale, you’d see an increase in your income by being better able to achieve an optimal weight. You’d also have an increase in meat quality, as there will be less stress and less bruising on the carcass.”

The installation and maintenance of one system would cost around $12,000 in the first year, while the total cost benefits would be around $6,200 for a herd of 100 bison. But once installed, the only cost will be for maintenance and ongoing weight monitoring, roughly $1,200 a year, depending on how often the bison are being weighed.

“If you’ve got two cycles of bison going through, you should be able to pay off your scale with just the value of the benefits,” said Lansink.

And the increase in meat quality using a low-stress weighing system is “extremely important,” she said.

“In order to maximize our profits, it’s important that we get that A-grade carcass,” Lansink said. “Stressed animals are more prone to becoming dark-cutters, and a dark-cutter will not receive an A or B grade.”

By using a remote weighing system, rather than putting bison through a squeeze chute, producers can improve meat quality while reducing handling-related stress.

“You’re just that much more likely to get that Grade A carcass and minimize your trim loss by not putting your animal through the squeeze,” said Semchuck.

“You’re going to weigh your bison without them even knowing.”

The post U of A students take the stress out of stepping on the scale — for bison, that is appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

Those are the animals that get the B4 grade and discount, and exhibit the unsightly darker-red colour and associated toughness in the meat, along with reduced shelf life.

Dark cutting shows up more often during the hottest months, and has been on the rise overall recently. It’s no secret that it’s a stress-related condition, but there are some mysteries about the cause and effect. That prompted the Beef Cattle Research Council to fund a study by Heather Bruce at the University of Alberta. The project, which is nearing the halfway point, is a followup to one done under the first Beef Science Cluster, widening the scope of the work back from the processors to include feedlots. It marks the first research focus on dark cutters in at least a decade.

“We’ve had three really great feedlots to work with,” said Bruce, associate professor of carcass and meat science. “Fortunately, feedlots tend to keep records on grading, so we’ve been gathering data from them, as well as from Alberta Agriculture.”

Some physical characteristics may be useful in determining which animals are most at risk, she said.

“For instance, any animal that has eight to 10 millimetres of fat, and is most likely to grade AAA, they are least likely to dark cut. The AA are more at risk of dark cutting, but we’re still in the process of describing those animals more completely.”

The story behind what’s considered ‘classic dark cutters’ is fairly straightforward. The figures show they tend to happen in large numbers, and can often be traced back to circumstantial reasons, such as when a processing line goes down and the cattle are trucked away to be fed and then shipped back again.

• Context from the Alberta Farmer Express: Canada’s dark secret needs to be addressed

“That’s usually a recipe for dark cutters,” said Bruce. “And it’s nobody’s fault. Cattle just don’t do well with loading and unloading.”

Hot weather is another common trigger as animals need to keep eating and drinking to keep energy flowing to the muscles.

“Heat reduces the cattle’s appetite. They’re in an energy deficit because they’re not eating, and drawing on their muscle stores.”

Wet days are also rough.

“You’ll get 30 to 70 per cent dark cutting on the day, if animals get wet and shiver,” said Bruce, adding days with big temperature swings are also harder on cattle.

Both Beef Cattle Research Council studies have focused on three categories of cattle — regular AA, classic dark cutters, and what Bruce refers to as ‘atypical dark’ cutters. They’re ones with muscle pH levels under 6.0, and at times their colour returns to normal.

“We see them every day (at processors), and we don’t understand why they’re occurring. The classic dark cutters, with the pH over 6.0, we understand completely what’s happening there. The animals have experienced too many stressful situations, and you’ve just whittled down their reserves.”

The atypical group holds the biggest potential for improvement, she said.

“I definitely think some on-farm management could be tweaked in order to minimize the atypical population.”

• From the Canadian Cattlemen: Focus on quality

Bruce and her team are also looking at feedlot data to see if there’s more susceptibility in heifers compared to steers. That’s being compared to figures from a large Alberta abattoir as well.

Other aspects being studied include management tools, such as growth promotants and beta-agonists. The genetic factor is also being examined through DNA samples.

“We’ll look at the genetics of animals we consider to be extremes, to see if there are any particular genes that are going to stand out, particularly in the atypical group.”

Dark-cutting animals typically represent about two per cent of the total beef population in a year. So why the focus?

When Bruce first pitched her research idea, the industry cost was in the neighbourhood of $1.5 million annually.

“But it adds up every year, and also, to the producers who are affected, it’s devastating, because the animal’s worth goes from an A grade, to a cow grade’s worth, which is a pretty substantial drop in value.”

The hope is to find a way to identify animals most likely to cut dark, so they could be separated for some extra attention.

Once animals more susceptible to dark cutting can be better described, along with potential contributing behaviours, it will be up to feedlot operators and abattoirs to weigh the economic risks versus rewards of any actions. But the increasing attention on animal welfare is likely to play a role in the discussion.

“The industry is really focused on this, and has been very supportive of our research,” said Bruce. “We’ve learned a lot about dark cutters. Our work is trying to help every stage of the beef value chain to minimize the problem as much as possible, because it hurts everybody.”

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