Modern horse feeding advice frequently recommends adding concentrated feeds to pasture or hay diets. This is often considered essential to meet caloric needs for performance or to ensure sufficient intake of vitamins and minerals. There is growing evidence that paints a different picture. Grain-heavy processed diets may contribute to various digestive and metabolic disorders, including insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, laminitis, gastric ulcers, hindgut acidosis, developmental orthopedic disease, behavioral issues, performance concerns and various myopathies. Numerous feed companies have ..read more

Chicago | Reuters—The U.S. government will require dairy cattle moving between states to be tested for bird flu starting on Monday, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said on Wednesday, as federal officials ramp up their response to an outbreak in herds. Vilsack said all laboratories and state veterinarians in the country must report positive tests, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) would pay for increased testing. The measures aim to boost USDA’s understanding of the virus and contain the spread of the disease that has infected 33 dairy herds across eight states over the past month ..read more

A new report presents the multi-year business performance of cow-calf producers who participated in the AgriProfit$ Business Analysis Program. Ian Ryan, senior livestock economist with the Alberta government, says this report has a multi-year summary of the economic, productive and financial performance of Alberta cow-calf producers. Participants received a customized business analysis of their operations for comparison to a benchmark report. Benchmarking allows comparisons based on production practices and marketing strategies and can help drive efficiency and financial performance. The infor ..read more

Compared to last week, backgrounded yearlings traded $4-$8/cwt higher on average. Calves were quite variable with prices quoted from unchanged to as much as $10 higher. Overall, there appeared to be stronger buying interest this week across all weight categories. Pen conditions remain poor to very poor in Southern Alberta but feedlot operators were managing accordingly. A few warmer days in Southern Alberta from April 11 through April 15 helped tremendously. There was a minor pullback in prices for backgrounded cattle and some buyers felt this was good opportunity to secure ownership. The feed ..read more

Recent detection in the United States of a highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza  virus in dairy cattle is the first instance of this strain in bovines. The World Organization for Animal Health said the detections “have raised concerns since such infections of cattle could indicate an increased risk of H5N1 viruses becoming better adapted to mammals, and potentially spilling over to humans and other livestock.” So far, the virus has not been lethal to cattle and causes very different symptoms than it does in poultry.  For that reason, the American Association of Bovine Practitioners ..read more

You may run a good beef farm, maybe even a great one. Making yourself remarkable, however, is another matter in the age of explosive artificial intelligence (AI) technology. That was the message from one technology expert speaking to the Alberta Beef Industry Conference earlier this year. Shawn Kanungo, a globally recognized innovation strategist based in Edmonton, argues that the future of beef must be more than maintaining the status quo. The new business strategy, he said, should include questions like “what is our bold ambition?” or “how do we become remarkably different, a freak, or uniqu ..read more

Glacier FarmMedia—Domestic birds that live in and around barns have been confirmed as the avian hosts of an outbreak on dairy farms in the United States of highly pathogenic avian influenza. An April 16 update from the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service confirmed the avian host in this outbreak wasn’t migratory birds, as has been common with confirmed North American outbreaks on domestic poultry farms, but rather pigeons, grackles and blackbirds. Investigations are ongoing about the exact vectors taken by the virus that led to deaths in several barn cats, a mild infection in one ..read more

Glacier FarmMedia – Beef cattle producers in Alberta and Manitoba are taking biosecurity measures should the bird flu strain infecting some U.S. dairy herds jump the border and into Canadian beef cattle. “We’re certainly encouraging producers to keep security in mind during this time,” said Karin Schmid with Alberta Beef Producers (ABP). Recommendations include minimizing contact between cattle and migratory birds where feasible. Any cattle coming from affected regions should be separated out and monitored for symptoms. ABP is also asking producers with new animals on the farm to change and di ..read more

Southern Alberta has received over 200 percent of normal precipitation over the past 30 days. Pen conditions are rated poor to very poor in the main feeding pockets of Alberta. Saskatchewan and Manitoba have received less than 40 per cent of normal while Central Alberta has normal to below normal precipitation. For the week ending April 13, replacements in Southern Alberta over 750 pounds were down a solid $10/cwt from a week earlier. In other areas of Western Canada, backgrounded yearlings were unchanged to down $5/cwt. Calves under 750 pounds were unchanged to down $10/cwt across the prairie ..read more

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has not detected highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in dairy cattle or other livestock in Canada. Producers can protect their animals and themselves against spread of disease by monitoring cattle for clinical signs, including a sudden decrease in milk production; contacting a veterinarian with any suspected cases; practicing good biosecurity measures; and contacting the provincial or national associations for any enhanced biosecurity protocols that may be available. Affected cows have lower milk production and thicker milk. Risk of HPAI transmission to ..read more