Finding out who’s the father is taking on new importance for herd managers looking for better results at lower cost.

Who’s the father?

Initial data out of the Western Beef Development Centre and University of Saskatchewan shows siring rates in a pasture might vary more than you’d think

That bull has one job — and he might not be doing it. That’s the message from a recent study out of the Western Beef Development Centre and University of Saskatchewan and the focus of the latest Beef Cattle Research Council webinar. The research team, including the BCRC’s Stacey Domolewski, used DNA testing to track

A nursing foal relies on its own mother, Mother Nature and its human caretakers to ensure good health.

Care of the nursing foal

Horse Health: Mother Nature, their own mother and human caretakers all have a profound effect on the wellness of young horses

From the time a foal is a week old and healthy until it is weaned, its physical, mental and emotional development is influenced by many caretakers. Mother Nature and Mother Horse are the foal’s primary caretakers, however, human caretakers can also have a substantial influence on the foal’s development. Many events that occur in the


A newborn black angus calf with it's mother

Beef 911: Easy treatments for young calves?

Modern treatments can minimize stress and handling of calves

Over the years many of the effective treatments for bacterial scours and some for pneumonia in newborn calves have been taken away from us. Other antibiotics used in conditions such as viral scours are simply precautionary to prevent secondary bacterial invasion. You all remember products such as synergistin, gentomycin and baytril which have either been

Getting weanlings off to a good start

When we think of nurturing young pigs, it’s always the piglets in the farrowing rooms that take centre stage. Yet, in just the time it takes to move piglets into the nursery, those same piglets find themselves in a strange environment, without their mother and her generous milk bar. Not only is this stressful and


Weaning Too Quickly Cause Aftereffects That Last A Lifetime

Weaning has a significant lifetime impact on a horse s well-being because of the nutritional, emotional, mental, physical, and social changes that occur at that time. Foals are very dependent on their mother s milk at four months of age, after which they gradually become nutritionally independent. Ideally by six months they will have made

Bernie PeetPeet On Pigs – for Mar. 17, 2011

The sow’s protein and fat reserves may be severely depleted dur ing the suckling period due to the limitations of appetite, notes Dr. Bas Kemp from the department of animal sciences at Wageningen University in the Netherlands. Weight and protein losses exceeding 12 per cent have been shown to result in reproductive problems such as


Nose Clips Reduce Weaning Stress

How do you know it’s weaning time in ranching country? That’s easy. It’s the only time of the year that the bawling of cows and weaned calves is loud enough to drown out the howling coyotes. But what’s music to the ears of the ranchers anticipating the arrival of their annual paycheque is actually the

Eliminating The Weaning-To-Mating Interval

Bernie Peet is president of Pork Chain Consulting Ltd. of Lacombe, Alberta, and editor of Western Hog Journal. His columns will run every second week in the Manitoba Co-operator. Arecent roadshow in Western Australia, organized by the Pork Co-operative Research Centre (CRC), based at the University of Adelaide, featured a presentation by Dr. Jeff Downing


High feed intake essential in lactation

Peet on Pigs Anything that reduces the palatability of the feed will reduce intake. Bernie Peet is president of Pork Chain Consulting Ltd. of Lacombe, Alberta, and editor of Western Hog Journal. His columns will run every second week in the Manitoba Co-operator. First of two articles on nutrition during lactation The nutritional demands on

U. K. producers have success with batch farrowing

Bernie Peet is president of Pork Chain Consulting Ltd. of Lacombe, Alberta, and editor of Western Hog Journal. His columns will run every second week in the Manitoba Co-operator. A recent survey by U. K. pharmaceutical company Janssen Animal Health suggests that more than half of producers in the country farrow batches of sows every