The federal government’s CIPARS program studies E. coli in healthy cattle entering packing plants and in retail ground beef. Its surveillance shows that resistance to antimicrobials of the highest importance in human health continues to be very rare in these samples, and multi-drug-resistant bacteria are even less common. The risk of consumers being exposed to […] Read more
Conjugation, and what it means for antimicrobial resistance in livestock
Improving transportation of calves
In 2007, Alberta Beef Producers funded a transportation benchmarking study led by Dr. Karen Schwartzkopf-Genswein of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Lethbridge Research Station. The research team surveyed over 9,000 loads and close to half a million cattle commercially transported to, from and within Alberta over an 18-month period. That study was completed in 2009 and […] Read more
Stretch winter feed supplies with care
Winter feed will be a scarce and costly resource in much of Western Canada this year. Use it carefully, because the management decisions you make now will impact reproductive and economic performance for at least two years. Research conducted 25 years ago by P.L. Houghton and co-workers at Perdue University (J. An. Sci. 68:1438) demonstrated […] Read more
Are ionophore antibiotics a risk for antimicrobial resistance?
Last month’s column talked about Health Canada’s initiative to phase out growth promotion claims for medically important antibiotics by December 2016. This will impact three antibiotics (tetracycline, sulfamethazine and neomycin) that have growth promotion claims in beef cattle in Canada. It will not affect ionophore antibiotics like Rumensin, Bovatec, or Posistac. Ionophores are used widely […] Read more
Do antimicrobial growth promoters for beef cattle really improve performance?
Ionophores (Rumensin, Bovatec, Posistac) are not medically important because the ionophores approved for use in cattle are not used in human medicine. Other antimicrobials used in livestock are medically important. Concerns around antimicrobial resistance in both human and veterinary medicine have led to increased scrutiny regarding how medically important antimicrobials are used in livestock production. […] Read more
Will late-summer swath grazing maintain alfalfa?
Background: Numerous studies have shown that maintaining 40 per cent alfalfa in a forage stand is the most economical way of improving soil fertility, forage yields and animal grazing performance. Unfortunately, alfalfa drops below the 40 per cent threshold level after several years of grazing. Alfalfa drops out of perennial pastures partly due to over-use […] Read more
Hot water treatment of beef trim
Combating bacteria would be simple if they stayed on the surface of beef. In that case, nearly any spray or wash could contact and kill the bacteria or wash them off. But beef isn’t smooth. Shallow cuts and cracks crisscrossing the meat surface can hide and protect bacteria. Killing these hidden bacteria is not simple. […] Read more
Using research funds more efficiently
Canada has many cattle, forage and beef research funders. Some, like the Beef Cattle Research Council and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, fund projects all across the country. Others, like most provincial beef organizations and provincial governments have a more regional focus. Each funder generally operates completely independently from every other. Each funder sets their own […] Read more
Is bloodless dehorning of cattle really painless?
In January 2016, Canada’s Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Beef Cattle will expect beef producers to consult with their veterinarians and use pain control when dehorning calves after the horn bud has attached. In other words, producers will be expected to use pain control when dehorning calves older than four months. […] Read more
Feed barley breeding investments
As a relatively small crop, barley doesn’t attract much interest from private breeding companies. There are roughly 10 million acres of barley in North America, with six million in Canada. Corn is a much larger crop, with 80 million acres seeded in the U.S. alone. Statistics Canada reports that Canada’s barley acreage has dropped by around […] Read more
Canadian Cattlemen Presents: Depth of Field
