Parasite control in the feedlot

Parasite control in the feedlot

Strategic deworming methods to maximize product efficacy and cattle productivity

If there was a tool available for Canadian cattle feeders to improve both weight gain and disease resistance, what would it be worth to implement? What if that tool was as simple as deworming cattle on arrival?  As simple as deworming is, not every feedyard opts to do it. Whether the perception is that feedlot […] Read more

A no-trespassing sign on pastureland in northwestern Saskatchewan, taken in February 2022. Note the snowmobile tracks and cut wire.

No trespass: High stakes

This is the second in a multi-part series. Read the first story here. It started out much like any other winter day, as Phil hauled in wood to heat his home. But then he heard the rumble of snowmobiles. He could tell they were on his land, even though it was posted with “No-Trespassing” signs. […] Read more


Lice may not be the only culprits causing itching. Environmental sensitivities, premature seasonal shedding and dry skin could also drive cattle to scratch.

Itchy cattle? It may not be lice

Everything from nutritional deficiencies to mites can trigger scratching in cattle

A spike in complaints about its product’s ineffectiveness against itchy cattle drove Solvet, a Canadian veterinary pharmaceutical firm, to investigate the potential causes and to look for relief. “This has become a bigger problem than it used to be,” says Dr. Denis Nagel, a consulting veterinarian with the company, as well as with Alberta Veterinary […] Read more

Checking cattle at a feedlot. Researchers are working on a new test to identify the type of bacteria behind individual cases of bovine respiratory disease.

Eliminating guesswork with an accurate chute-side BRD test

Researchers are working on a simple test that would detect the presence of three common BRD-causing bacteria

Bovine respiratory disease (BRD) has long been the most serious respiratory challenge facing the beef industry, causing half of all cattle deaths from disease in North America. Its identification in individual animals almost always comes after the bacterial infection has established itself, causing an antibiotic response to play from behind. During a networking event in […] Read more


American dog ticks wait for a host to walk by. Ticks carry bacteria that can cause diseases in human and animals alike.

Tick paralysis

Veterinary Case Study: These small insects can cause big health problems in livestock and pets alike

Wyatt managed a community pasture southeast of Regina. Being an excellent horseman, one of the gratuities his job offered was starting young horses for clients, the opportunity to instill cow-sense into green horses while conditioning them, readying them for competition and ranch life.  Wyatt’s call conveyed panic. He had found a promising and expensive filly […] Read more

Calvin Gavelin (centre) is surrounded by field day attendees as he talks about his cover crops during the Prairie South Holistic Management field day.

Saskatchewan family shares passion for cover cropping

The Gavelin family finds their cover crops perform well even under adverse conditions

Dark clouds roll in as a charter bus drives down gravel roads near McCord, Sask. Marla Gavelin, one of the people hosting the field day from the Prairie South Holistic Management group, speaks to the people in attendance. She compares the Gavelins’ farm to the Sahara Desert with a fond laugh, and the 70-plus people […] Read more


A side of beef. The grading system is the common language of the industry, writes Charlie Gracey.

Show us the money, Part 2: Balancing beef carcass quality and yield

Only by sharing grading information can the industry signal market demand to cow-calf producers

In my previous column, our editor kept me on track when she titled it Show Us the Money. That was appropriate because I have noted that cattle producers do follow the money. That is to say, they absolutely do respond to market signals, but when no such signal exists, they can’t. In this column, I […] Read more

Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts taken from a human. Producers dealing with a crypto outbreak should keep in mind that the parasite can infect both cattle and people.

Introducing outside calves heightens crypto risk

Cryptosporidium parvum is a disease that’s easy to introduce and hard to manage in a beef herd

In the cold, wet pastures of a gruelling Manitoba spring near Oakville, Man., Garth McCormick needed a calf to put on one of his cows who had lost her calf, but didn’t have any he could use on his own farm. His hired man brought a calf from his own place to McCormick’s. Immediately, the […] Read more



A steer panting excessively due to heat stress.

Warmer weather boosts ergot risk in cattle

Researchers found symptoms ranging from decreased weight gain to heat stress even though ergot levels in feed didn’t breach CFIA limits

New research has found that feedlot cattle can develop problems when fed ergot even within allowable limits. Ergot is a fungus that can grow on certain grasses and grain plants when moisture conditions are just right. It becomes a problem mainly after a wet growing season. The fungus replaces the seed head with a dark […] Read more