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For one thing, it’s good to review what’s available for treatment and prevention and what could happen if they were not allowed.

As well, new diseases will inevitably arise, requiring new treatments and the funding into their research and development.

It is with a heavy heart that I heard recently of the many agricultural federal research facilities that will be shut down.

How do we test new products or develop new varieties of plants and test and validate growing or harvesting techniques without qualified researchers trying to answer these difficult questions and work doggedly to make the livestock industry safe?

The two protozoal diseases I am referring to are coccidiosis and cryptosporidiosis.

Coccidiosis was once a very common disease in slightly older calves and feedlot animals.

In the last several years of practice, it was getting rarer and rarer to see a case.

The big question is why the improvement?

Both protozoal diseases have a life cycle that starts with an egg or oocyst, and then lives in the intestinal cells, destroying them before the eggs start to appear in the manure.

Coccidia

With coccidia, this whole life cycle takes about a month.

Again, prevention or control starts with treating before animals are likely to start to contract it.

This condition can be largely prevented with ionophore products such as rumensin or bovatech provided in complete feed rations in the feedlot or put into minerals for calves or mixed into pellets.

All cows carry some coccidia, but it is the calves that get clinical disease.

Cows will increase shedding before calving, which is why producers used to treat their cow herd to prevent shedding and infection of newborns.

This all has changed considerably in the last 10 to 20 years.

A product called toltrazuril (Baycox) was developed as a specific preventive for coccidiosis. It is given more as a preventive long withdrawal, but also used on young animals, and specifically for cocci in pigs and sheep as well as calves.

Veterinarians often prescribe antimicrobials such as potentiated sulphonamides If cocci get out of control, but by then the damage has already been done and calves suffer a big setback.

Prevention is key so that fewer antimicrobials are used.

My big worry is that in these antibiotic-free programs, there was talk about ionophores falling into disregard, which would be a very bad move long term.

Practices such as manure cleaning help with biosecurity, of course, but the oocysts are very small and very resistant in the environment and so a very pesky thing to totally eliminate.

Crypto

The other protozoal disease is cryptosporidiosis, which these days commonly comes to mind if you hear of a bad scours outbreak in a vaccinated herd.

Very bad diarrhea in slightly older calves is hard to treat and recover from and is very contagious because one clinical case quickly spews out millions of eggs that other calves can ingest.

This is also the disease that people can catch from handling calves, and many a technician at a clinic or farm worker has contracted crypto over the years.

That’s another good reason to prevent this disease.

It is likely the most common zoonosis that people contract from cattle besides ringworm.

Double hit

Veterinarians in Manitoba figured out about 20 years ago that toltrazuril works to prevent cocci and crypto.

They started compounding the toltrazuril in capsules for oral use and these diseases pretty much disappeared.

I don’t know what percentage of herds have been prescribed this treatment, but it is quite high in many beef-producing regions across Western Canada.

It is now compounded by an Alberta company for veterinarians.

It is given as an oral pill at birth or shortly after.

This is something that your veterinarian would have to prescribe.

Off the label

Toltrazuril is the best example I can give of an extra label usage of a product to treat disease that went viral (word of mouth) between veterinarians.

This also means our friends in the medical profession don’t have to treat crypto in people.

The disease is still around and recently made the news when it got into the water supply of an Indigenous community.

It would be nice if research could eventually be done to allow on-label use of this medication.

However, in light of the recent closure of federal research facilities, we may need more products to go extra label through our veterinarians, which puts a lot of pressure on them.

The good news is that these medications are used only on young animals, so the long withdrawal requirement becomes a moot point because they are six months or more away from slaughter.

If you have had trouble with either crypto or cocci — even one case — ask your veterinarian for their thoughts on using toltrazuril in its many forms.

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U.S. market remains critical to Canadian producers

About half of Canada’s beef production is exported, making tariff-free access to the U.S. market essential for producers, said Dennis Laycraft, executive vice-president of the Canadian Cattle Association.

“Obviously the most critical thing for us is tariff-free access to the U.S.,” Laycraft said at the Manitoba Beef Producers (MBP) annual general meeting in Brandon on Feb. 11 and 12.

WHY IT MATTERS: Amid record prices and new export opportunities, Canadian beef producers are navigating growing risks from U.S. tariffs and shifting global markets.

The United States is Canada’s dominant beef customer, accounting for most live cattle exports and about 70 per cent of beef exports overall.

“Virtually 100 per cent of our live cow exports go to the U.S.,” Laycraft said.

Canada and the U.S. operate as a highly integrated cattle market, with cattle regularly moving both north and south. Nearly 578,000 head were exported to the U.S. between Jan. 1 and Nov. 30, 2024, up 17 per cent from the previous year, according to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

Canadian feedlots are also importing more American cattle than ever before, Laycraft said.

“We’re going to import over 500,000 head of feeder cattle on the U.S., just shattering any other number that we’ve seen,” he said.

Tariff threats continue to create uncertainty

Despite strong demand and record-high cattle prices driven by years of drought and a shrinking domestic herd, the threat of tariffs continues to create uncertainty.

“We briefly had tariffs in place just under a year ago, costing $40,000 a load on every load of cattle going south if there was a 10 per cent tariff on our product going south,” Laycraft said.

Canadian producers attending the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s CattleCon conference in San Antonio, Texas, earlier this month faced further uncertainty when U.S. President Donald Trump initially set Feb. 4 as the date for new tariffs of 25 per cent on Canadian and Mexican goods.

However, last-minute negotiations resulted in a 30-day pause on the levies.

Volatility tied to trade tensions is likely to continue, Laycraft believes.

“You’re going to hear the president talk about tearing it up. There’ll be the threat of tariffs. We’re going to see this barrage continue as we head through the year,” he said.

China reopens market to Canadian beef

At the same time, Canadian producers are seeing new opportunities abroad. China has lifted its ban on Canadian beef exports, allowing shipments to resume after a prohibition imposed in late 2021 following a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy on an Alberta farm. Before the ban, Canadian beef exports to China totalled approximately $200 million annually.

China’s reopening represents an important development, Laycraft said.

“I’m really pleased that … China finally reopened to Canadian beef and Canadian genetics,” he said. “It’s going to be an important market for us.”

CUSMA review raises stakes for producers

Maintaining strong trade agreements with the U.S. remains critical, especially with the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) up for review, said Jon Vaags, a representative with the MBP and member of the National Cattle Feeders’ Association board.

“We are very active in trying to be on any of those boards and panels and industry discussions, anything that comes to the CUSMA review, making sure that our concerns are heard,” he said.

The agreement allows cattle and beef to move across the border efficiently and reflects the “tremendous” trading partner Canada has in the U.S., and why maintaining that relationship is essential, Vaags added.

Matthew Atkinson, past president of the Manitoba Beef Producers, said industry groups continue working with governments to strengthen trade relationships.

“Cattle industry leaders have been engaging with federal and provincial governments in Canada and also across borders to reinforce the importance of trade for both North America and beyond,” Atkinson said.

Federal government focused on market access

Meanwhile, the federal government is focused on supporting producers and expanding market access, according to Heath MacDonald, minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

“Our government is committed to ensuring our supply chains with the U.S. and our other trading partners remain strong,” he said. “I’m committed to working with all sectors across the industry to expand and diversify our markets.”

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This is why researchers at the University of Manitoba and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada are examining the role arthropods play in anaplasmosis, as well as designing better tests.

“There’s a potential that it exists in cattle herds in certain parts of the country. So we want to get an idea of that, because until we have an understanding of some of those baseline risks, we don’t know maybe where to go, or if it’s really important to spend much time looking at this disease,” says Shaun Dergousoff, a research scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

WHY IT MATTERS: The scope of treatment tools available for farmers to manage parasites, including ticks, and biting insects in their herds has changed compared to decades past.

Anaplasmosis is caused by a bacterial parasite called Anaplasma marginale, which attacks the red blood cells. It affects cattle, sheep, goats and deer, but in Canada, it is more commonly seen in cattle.

Clinical signs of anaplasmosis include fever, anemia, weakness, weight loss and issues with breathing. It is rare for it to affect calves under six months of age and symptoms will be mild in calves younger than a year. It is rarely fatal for animals under two years old. In animals older than two years that have shown signs of illness, mortalities can range from 29 to 49 per cent.

Anaplasmosis is usually treated with an antibiotic, which helps with the symptoms but won’t get rid of the disease.

“Once an animal’s infected, it pretty much always stays infected, even if they’re not sick. But then the problem is they could become a source now of transmitting and moving that bacteria to other animals,” Dergousoff says.

Anaplasmosis is transmitted by anything that can spread infected blood, such as needles, dehorning tools, castration tools, etc. Biting pests also spread anaplasmosis. Arthropods well known for spreading anaplasmosis include the Rocky Mountain wood tick and the American dog tick.

Ticks and flies

Kateryn Rochon is an entomologist at the University of Manitoba and is working alongside Dergousoff on this project. She is focused on the insect side of the research, looking specifically at ticks and flies.

When it comes to ticks and flies spreading anaplasmosis, it is not really known how often it is transmitted from those sources, and how often from livestock management practices. That is part of Rochon’s work.

While ticks are known biological vectors, biting flies are not. However, they could still transmit the disease as a mechanical vector, which means the bacteria does not multiply inside them, but might be passed on from the blood around the fly’s mouth parts after feeding on an animal.

The question is whether they are transmitting the disease this way.

“We might not be able to find it in the ticks or the flies, but we’re looking because we’re trying to determine what role they play,” Rochon says. “For me, as an entomologist, there’s the interest of just what’s going on out there.”

To conduct this research, Rochon would collect ticks and flies in producers’ pastures. She’d collect ticks by dragging a white piece of flannel through the grass. This attracts the ticks because of something they do called questing, which is when they climb to the top of the grass and wave their claws in the air to latch on more easily. The light colour of the flannel attracts them.

Fly traps

They used two different types of fly traps for biting flies: horse fly traps and a Manitoba trap.

The Manitoba trap is an inverted canopy trap with a black yoga ball dangling below the canopy, and a container of some sort at the top. The ball attracts the flies into the trap because the colour and the gleam trick them into thinking it’s an animal. They then fly up, are caught within the canopy, crawl into the container and are trapped.

Rochon says this trap has been very successful, but sometimes, not even necessary.

“There’s some places where we go, there’s so many horseflies, we can just catch them with a net.”

During the summer of 2024, they caught over 1,300 flies at two different locations in Manitoba. After the insects were collected, they were taken back to the lab to be frozen and identified.

Then, after identification, each fly was dissected so their gut could be tested for the bacteria that causes bovine anaplasmosis. Since only females bite, they examine the flies’ ovaries to find out how many batches of eggs each female fly has laid. This is because each batch of eggs requires a blood meal. So, the researchers can see which species bite more, are more likely to spread diseases among cattle and at what point in the season.

This study will end in 2027.

A new anaplasmosis test

Alongside this research, another project is underway to create a reliable anaplasmosis test.

Currently, the diagnostic tests used for anaplasmosis are Giemsa-stained blood smears and serologic tests, according to Merck Animal Health. The bovine blood smear tests blood samples from the animal for the bacterial parasite that causes anaplasmosis.

Serologic tests are used to identify antibodies against Anaplasma marginale in cattle, which suggests past or present infection. These tests can help diagnose carrier animals who may be spreading the disease and not showing clinical symptoms, but it is not very accurate. The tests often misdiagnose anaplasmosis because the bacteria are similar to those from other diseases. This is why Dergousoff wants to make a more reliable, accurate test.

“A rapid test would be very beneficial, but also because some tests have had the problem where they’ve said that animals are infected with Anaplasma marginale, but it really was something else or not at all,” he says. “So they’re not perfect, and no test is, but we’re looking for an improvement.”

Dergousoff is working with beef producers and their veterinarians to take blood samples from their herd and test them for the presence of Anaplasma marginale. This will determine which animals are infected, even if they are not showing clinical signs of infection.

To create the new test, Dergousoff says they have to look closely at the molecules present and at the Anaplasma marginale bacteria.

Then, they will develop a method for testing and preparing the blood and start making a prototype for a device for blood testing. The goal is to create a device that can be used by producers so they can determine the health of their animals while doing other things, such as branding or vaccinating.

“It could potentially be simple enough for anybody to use and quick enough so that it can just be that chute-side rapid test,” he says.

They are working in areas of the country with the highest risk: Manitoba and south-central B.C. Manitoba was picked because of the historical context of the disease in the province. Southern B.C. was selected because they have seen misdiagnosed cases there.

“We don’t necessarily suspect that there will be Anaplasma marginale there,” Dergousoff says. “You can always be surprised, but they may be very useful samples to use in the development of our test if there’s a bacteria present there that’s very similar that we want to exclude from the test.”

The timeline for this project is less concrete — there are many things to accomplish before it can become commercially available. Dergousoff says he hopes to have a prototype in the next few years.

Anaplasmosis impact

Though anaplasmosis is a disease not many think about and was removed in 2014 from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s list of federally reportable diseases, it should still be on people’s radar.

“Sometimes the risk might be low, but also those things change over time. We’re seeing changes in the distribution of the ticks that can transmit this,” Dergousoff says.

Factors such as the number of ticks and flies are subject to change, which is why research like this is important.

Knowing about this issue is also important because that knowledge can help with prevention.

“Awareness is a big issue, because then we could take measures to maybe prevent these things before they become a big issue,” Dergousoff says. “So if we understand these things ahead of time, especially if we have a good, even better test … those kinds of things will help things from becoming a much larger issue over time.”

Rochon says while anaplasmosis isn’t currently an issue, that doesn’t mean producers shouldn’t be aware of what it is and what the effect might be.

“These little things can have an impact. And the little decisions sometimes can lead to problems that you don’t necessarily notice right away. And so I think being aware that this is something that is in Canada and might be becoming more prevalent, we don’t know.”

Dergousoff says they are currently looking for more producers in Manitoba and in southern B.C. to get involved in their research, to look at the risk and potential presence of anaplasmosis in the area. Data from B.C., specifically, would help them determine what other bacteria are confusing current diagnostic tests and eliminate them from their tests. There is financial compensation for involvement in the study.

If there is a positive test on an operation, researchers will notify the local vet and chief veterinary officer for the province. After a case of anaplasmosis is reported, the chief veterinary officer usually doesn’t require disease control measures. However, they may provide information and diagnostic support to help herd owners manage the infection and reduce the risk of spreading to other herds.

“It’s important to recognize these cases so we know what’s going on. But it’s also important to support the producers,” Dergousoff says.

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