livestock diseases Archives | Canadian Cattlemen

In February, veterinarians and industry staff travelled to Uganda to learn more about FMD and how to identify and contain it. Uganda has struggled with FMD for decades.

Preparing for a foot-and-mouth outbreak

Outbreak planning resources, training opportunities and the establishment of a Canadian vaccine bank all in the works to help the cattle industry prevent or respond to the disease

By Piper Whelan September 16, 2020

It’s a nightmare no livestock producer wants to experience; watching as your entire herd is put down. The devastation is written across the hardened faces of the farmers featured in a National Film Board of Canada documentary on the 1952 foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreak in southern Saskatchewan. The emotional toll of your cattle becoming infected […] Read more

The Canadian Beef Advisors have released their first set of goals designed to push the industry forward.

Livestock, News

Texas A&M researchers developing first oral anthrax vaccine for livestock, wildlife

The College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences team is working toward a vaccine that would be easier to deliver

By Texas A&M University August 18, 2020

There may soon be a new weapon in the centuries-old battle against anthrax in wildlife thanks to groundbreaking work at the Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (CVMBS). Anthrax, a disease caused by a bacterium called Bacillus anthracis, contaminates surface soil and grasses, where it may be ingested or inhaled by […] Read more

A disease that transfers from poultry to cattle is more likely to prove deadly than one that transfers between buffalo to cattle.

Livestock, News, News Roundup

Livestock infections deadliest when host species are distant relatives

Research: News Roundup from the May 2019 issue of Canadian Cattlemen

By Canadian Cattlemen Staff May 14, 2019

University of British Columbia researchers have found that taxonomy can help predict infection severity when pathogens or parasites leap to a new species, Bovine Veterinarian reports. Some pathogens can infect multiple species. Researchers Maxwell J. Farrell and T. Jonathan Davies found that when pathogens move between distantly related species, the infection is more likely to […] Read more

Crypto is a major culprit in scours in calves.

Cow-Calf, News, News Roundup

Developing a better diagnostic for cryptosporidiosis

Research: News Roundup from the March 2019 issue of Canadian Cattlemen

By Canadian Cattlemen Staff March 22, 2019

University of Arizona researchers are developing better diagnostic tools for cryptosporidiosis. Cryptosporidiosis, or crypto, is caused by a microscopic parasite. It’s a major culprit in scours in calves. It’s also a zoonotic and can cause serious infections in humans as well as other animals. Because the parasite can spread quickly and cause dangerous infections, early […] Read more

News, News Roundup

Researchers detect prions with skin tests

Research: News Roundup from the March 2019 issue of Canadian Cattlemen

By Canadian Cattlemen Staff March 12, 2019

Researchers have successfully detected prions in inoculated rodents using two methods, Science Daily reports. Prions are protein particles that cause BSE in cattle, chronic wasting disease in elk and deer, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans. Right now detecting the disease is difficult, generally requiring a biopsy or autopsy so brain tissue can be examined. Dr. […] Read more

Livestock, Research

Narrowing in on Johne’s Disease

Research on the Record with Reynold Bergen

By Reynold Bergen March 4, 2019

Johne’s disease is caused by a bacterium (Mycobacterium avium paratuberculosis, or MAP) that was discovered in 1895 by a heavily bearded, bespectacled bacteriologist from Dresden named Heinrich Albert Johne. When a cow develops persistent, watery, smelly hosepipe diarrhea, and progressively loses weight and body condition, even though her appetite is normal and she isn’t running […] Read more

The industry needs to be aware that C. jejuni exists within most herds and feedlots.

Livestock, Vet advice

C. jejuni – an ever-present and often forgotten bacteria

Vet Advice with Dr. Ron Clarke

By Dr. Ron Clarke November 15, 2018

Campylobacter jejuni (CAMP-EE-LO-BACK-TER JE-JUNE-EYE) is the most common cause of bacterial diarrhea in the North America, causing an estimated 1.5 million human diarrheal illnesses annually. Infections are common in young children, and young adults between the ages of 18 to 29. Asymptomatic human carriers are rare. Most human cases are caused through contact with animals […] Read more

Although the efficacy of blackleg vaccines is occasionally disputed in North America, there are few veterinary practitioners who would be comfortable convincing producers to stop using the vaccine.

Beef Cattle, Vet advice

A vaccine that saved the cattle industry

Vet Advice with Dr. Ron Clarke

By Dr. Ron Clarke July 6, 2018

Blackleg, a disease of many ruminants, is universal. It is most commonly seen in sheep, cattle and goats. Outbreaks have been reported in farmed bison and deer. The acute nature of the disease makes successful treatment difficult. Although the efficacy of commonly used blackleg vaccines has been disputed by the occasional academic based on the […] Read more

Beef Cattle, News, News Roundup

Johne’s found in three per cent of cows in Sask. surveillance program

Health: News Roundup from the September 2017 issue of Canadian Cattlemen

By Canadian Cattlemen Staff September 15, 2017

Saskatchewan’s Johne’s Disease Surveillance Program has been very successful in that voluntary participation by cow-calf producers has increased every year to the point where there has been a waiting list the last two years. On the flip side, it has confirmed many participants’ fears of finding positive animals. From November 2013 to March 2017, there […] Read more

Livestock, News, News Roundup

It’s that anthrax time of year

Animal Health: News Roundup from the June 2017 issue of Canadian Cattlemen

By Canadian Cattlemen Staff June 20, 2017

Anthrax spores can lurk in soil for decades and there’s no telling where the disease will pop up from year to year. All it takes is something that brings spores to the surface and the stage is set for an outbreak in cattle that happen to ingest them. Predicting when anthrax will occur in Canada […] Read more

ICE weekly outlook: Canola backs off two-year highs

U.S. livestock: Live cattle futures up ahead of USDA report

CBOT weekly outlook: Harvest pressure to weigh on soy, corn

GFM Network News