Calves are born without fully functioning immune systems, making them reliant on passive immunity from maternal antibodies for disease protection. As a result, we assumed for a long time that vaccinating calves at an early age was a complete waste of time and money as the maternal antibodies would attack any pathogens introduced in the […] Read more
Intranasal vaccines get around maternal antibodies
Animal Health: Maternal antibodies unpredictable
Animal health management
Canadian feedlot animal care assessment — Part 3
Animal health management is the foundation of animal care and one of the most detailed sections of a feedlot audit under the Canadian Feedlot Animal Care Assessment Program. It accounts for a possible 85 to 110 points depending on the size of your feedlot and the protocols you follow. Another 70 points are available by […] Read more
Calf implants done right
Slow-release growth-promoting hormone implants for beef calves have been in use since the mid-1960s in Canada. With that many years of research and approval from Health Canada behind these products you’d be hard-pressed to argue that they don’t safely do what the manufacturers say they do — improve average daily gain and feed efficiency. The […] Read more
Pneumonia: the disease that won’t go away
The three categories of pneumonia and how to tell them apart
Environment, germs and immunity are top of mind when thinking of all the risk factors that could set the stage for pneumonia in cattle. The forgotten factor is one beyond producers’ control and the reason why pneumonia will always be a problem — anatomy. Bovine lungs are very small relative to the animal’s oxygen requirements, […] Read more
A feedlot’s commitment to animal care
Canadian feedlot animal care assessment — Part 2
A feedlot’s commitment to animal care evolves around four criteria: ensuring management and employees have access to the Canadian Beef Code of Practice, a written animal care policy, a self-assessment protocol and an emergency response plan. Each accounts for two out of the possible eight points for this section of an audit. The Canadian Beef […] Read more
Pounds pay for preconditioning calves
Tradition is sometimes blamed for the apparent lack of interest in preconditioning calves up to now. For Oliver Schunicht, however, tradition is the very reason he continues to precondition calves on his farm near Strathmore, Alta. “I’ve always preconditioned because I’m gathering 500 calves from seven or eight pastures and I can’t pull them off […] Read more
Sharing the grade
The sharing of grading information is being seen as a necessary step for the future development of Canada’s beef business
Beef industry consultant Charlie Gracey weaves his way through several sticking points to conclude feedlots, and ultimately, packers are out of excuses for not sharing carcass information with cow-calf producers. “Now the industry has the opportunity to move forward. All the necessary pieces are in place. Electronic identification tags make it possible to link carcass […] Read more
Calf price insurance: The tale of two years
Premiums were low relative to rising cattle prices last year during the February-to-May window to buy Western Livestock Price Insurance Program (WLPIP) calf contracts. When market prices fell last fall, WLPIP paid out significant amounts. It did exactly what it was designed to do — protect producers against an unexpected drop in cattle prices, says […] Read more
Looking out for No. 1
Farmers come first at Brussels Livestock
The village of Brussels in rural southwestern Ontario is known for two things not typically mentioned in the same sentence: its quaint Victorian charm and a bustling auction market. Brussels Livestock hosts three sales weekly, with fed cattle and butcher bulls and cows selling Tuesdays, an assortment of veal calves, sheep and goats on Thursdays, […] Read more
The price for serving alternative markets
Cattleland Feedyards is willing to pay it
The days of expecting a constant feeder supply in anticipation of sales for finished cattle are no longer the norm for Cattleland Feedyards, a feedlot, cow-calf and farming operation owned by the Karen and Joe Gregory family of Strathmore, Alta. “Things used to be very easy. We bought the cattle, they’d come into the feedlot, […] Read more
Canadian Cattlemen Presents: Depth of Field
