“FedNor’s investment is a game-changer,” stated Dr. Jeffrey Wichel, dean, Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, in a release. “It empowers Lakehead to build the foundation needed to train the next generation of veterinarians from Northern Ontario to serve the communities that need them most.”

Why it matters: The Collaborative Doctor of Veterinary Medicine program is the first of its kind, designed for Northern and rural agricultural economies

Minister Patty Hajdu, Minister of Jobs and Families, and Minister Responsible for FedNor, said CDVMP is indicative of how local partners marry new ideas with lasting partnerships to bolster Northern Ontario.

“A resilient Northern Ontario is one that keeps building for the future and investing in talent that will benefit generations to come,” said Hajdu, in a release.

Lakehead has allocated the funding for specialized laboratory and research equipment necessary to establish the Collaborative Doctor of Veterinary Medicine. The program, launched in collaboration with the University of Guelph, is designed to close long-standing gaps in veterinary care, strengthen the health and well-being of underserved regions across the north and support the growth of the agri-food sector.

“We are proud to partner with the University of Guelph on this initiative,” said Dr. Gillian Siddall, Lakehead University president and vice-chancellor. “Together, we are building a program that will train the next generation of veterinarians where they are most needed.”

The post Lakehead University’s Northern veterinary program gets federal boost appeared first on Farmtario.

Why it matters: Better management of swine flu outbreaks can reduce economic losses and break the disease cycle.

The effects of swine flu are far-reaching, with influenza-positive groups in the United States show $4.50 less profit per head compared to influenza-negative groups. A study from the United Kingdom showed a $5 to $12 profit difference.

A report published in Science Direct said, the overall Canadian economic impact of disease outbreaks is in excess of $3.6 billion. Additionally between 14 million and 21 million animals are slaughtered as a result of the disease.

If a disease outbreak occurred in a central production region of Ontario, research revealed there would be an immediate 85 per cent decline in Ontario’s price of market hogs, due to a drop in demand for pork and being largely shut out of the international market.

Swine veterinarian Greg Dimmers of Great Lakes Livestock Consulting said economic losses can be avoided with better nursery management. Dimmers pointed to a recent research program in Mexico that showed nursery performance improved by 37 grams per day, along with reduced mortality and lower treatment costs.

“They reduced the mortality by about half a percentage point, and they reduced treatment costs by about 40 cents per pig. When we take that information together, along with some other information that’s out there that you can find, I think we’re conservatively looking at about $3 to $10 per pig cost for having influenza on a farrow-to-finish basis,” he said.

Dimmers noted prevention can be challenging due to the multiple ways an infection can break out on a farm. The most common outbreak source is inadvertently bringing an infected pig onto a farm, but there are other avenues.

“I think there’s some good data out there to show that we spread influenza around regionally, through the air, probably a couple kilometres distance, depending on weather conditions. Influenza can come in contaminated equipment and in some cases, with contaminated water, especially if you’re using surface water,” he said.

Dimmers added swine influenza can spread back-and-forth between pigs and humans.

“Once we bring influenza into the sow farm, the sow farm is a really efficient way of amplifying that virus,” he said, noting that this method of infection is also efficient at infecting nursing piglets.

“When those piglets get infected, they do a really good job of shedding a ton of virus and spreading it around the farm.”

Further to this, he said older piglets can infect younger ones, creating a cycle of infection.

Taking control

Dimmers said control measures can start with weaning pigs that are negative for the virus. He believes there are two cycles of control, with the first being an examination of the routes of bringing viruses into the farm.

“If we’re continuously bringing viruses into the farm, we’re going to have a really tough time trying to stabilize and control that in the sow farm,” he said. “When it comes to stopping virus introduction to the farm, all of the general biosecurity practices that we talk about apply to influenza, like they do to other diseases. I think another thing that we have to take a close look at is the animals that are coming into the farm. We got to look at our breeding stock and what the shedding status is.”

The second method of control is ending the cycle of infection in nursing piglets.

Dimmers recommended running a batch system, allowing for periods when there are no nursing piglets on the farm.

“If you’ve got no piglets and there’s nothing really to infect, you will see that batch farms tend to have an easier time controlling flu than weekly farrowing farms,” he said.

Monitoring biosecurity

“If you’re bringing in animals to the farm that are shedding viruses, you’re going to have a tough time really getting effective control and stability for flu in the farm,” said Dimmers.

He added that it’s worth considering implementing a vaccination protocol to try to reduce shedding at time of entry.

“If you’re bringing in gilts and they’re positive and they’ve already been vaccinated, then it’s probably warranted to take a closer look and see what strains you’re dealing with and whether your vaccine is having effective control over the strains that you’re facing,” he said.

Dimmer adds that timing is significantly important to effective vaccination protection. He said a vacation at the time of entry or in the few days before is not enough to provide full protection.

“If you really want to reduce the amount of virus you’re bringing in with gilts, you’ve got to be vaccinating at least two weeks before they come in, and probably more like four weeks in some situations,” he said, adding regular testing will assist in monitoring progress in all aspects of identification and prevention.

At the provincial level, Dimmers said, the Ontario government is working with farmers to help them identify which exact strains are being passed around. He said the province will be able to provide a sub-type to identify if the disease on a farm is H1N1, H1N2, or H3N2. He added that there are also subsidies available for testing.

“For all for the $50 test, you can get a lot of information on what’s going on with those samples that you submit. It’s a really cost-effective way to get quite a lot of information,” he said.

Prevention of swine flu

Dimmers said many farmers may not be aware of some of the simple things they’re doing that may be enhancing the risk of transmission. He noted something as simple as changing clothes and washing hands between handling piglets can have infection-reducing results.

“If you’re trying to control the flu, think about how you’re moving your nurse sows around. Those sows have a lot of viruses on their skin. So if you’re taking those from weaning and moving them back to younger litters, you’re also dragging a lot of flu virus back to those younger piglets,” he said. “So the last tool, and I think the most important tool — this is really the cornerstone of influenza control — is sow vaccination.”

The influenza strains can evolve faster than many vaccines can keep up, which Dimmers said has left many vaccines “quite dated.” He said autogenous vaccines have become a popular choice within the pork industry because they take strains directly from the farms to manufacture better-matching vaccines. That’s resulted in things like regional autgenous vaccines which are “newer” but Dimmers also noted the disease can outpace the vaccine.

“You should still be doing the testing and sequencing of that virus and comparing it to a vaccine,” he said.

Dimmers added that it’s important for farmers to be aware of the health of their pigs, noting a piglet having a cough doesn’t necessarily mean it also has the flu. He recommended implementing a monitoring program that is based on more than clinical signs.

“You can have coughing without the flu, and you can have the flu without coughing, and I think that the diagnostic testing for surveillance really comes in,” he said.

Dimmers believes that over time influenza elimination does seem like something that can be done without too much effort. He said this begins with reducing the amount of virus and determining what virus is circulating on the farm.

“Once we know that information, it’s somewhat straightforward in order to choose a vaccine and implement that vaccine,” he said. “You might also choose to use some other internal biosecurity measures. Once we’ve done that, I think the important step following it is to monitor with testing and see how your program is working.”

If the program isn’t working as expected, go back and look at adding additional steps, improving vaccine matches or other measures.

The post Diligence key to swine flu prevention in Ontario appeared first on Farmtario.

That was the first message delivered by presenters from the University of Guelph’s Animal Health Lab and Woodstock-based Demeter Veterinary Services during the recent London Swine Conference.

Why it matters: Sampling animals early in the disease stage can help with diagnosing a problem before it causes a bigger health issue in the herd.

The session included numerous takeaways for producers to optimize the possibility that lab results from pig post-mortems will determine what’s affecting the herd.

An informal introductory poll taken by University of Guelph mammalian pathologist Dr. Josepha DeLay revealed close to half the session attendees had conducted on-farm post-mortems. She said equipping the farm for post-mortems shouldn’t be complicated. Many of the tools she uses, she smiled, come from “the Canadian Tire post-mortem department,” including hedge trimmers, a handsaw, a bucket for hot water, paper towels for clean-up and paper plates for collecting and organizing samples.

“They’re clean and you can write on them,” she said of paper plates, “and labelling is very important.”

Ziploc bags aren’t only useful for holding samples but also for holding your phone. You can take photos to send to the vet or lab without worrying about contaminating your electronics.

Or, when tackling lameness or neurological issues, videos of still-walking pigs can be useful for diagnosis.

But she also makes sure she has a sharp knife – “you can do a lot with a good, sharp knife” – as well as a knife sharpener, scalpel, long tweezers and surgical scissors. And wear safety glasses.

“I was amazed, after I started wearing glasses, how much splatter there was on my glasses – of blood and tissue material. So before the glasses, it was going in my eyes.”

The same applies to wearing a surgical mask, DeLay said.

It’s “a luxurious environment” for post-mortems on whole pigs brought into the University of Guelph lab but she noted she also has lots of on-farm experience. “On the farm, sometimes the only place you have is the loading chute.”

When choosing a location, she offered, prioritize human health and comfort. A tractor loader or layers of small square bales can bring a pig up to a level where human back strain is less likely. Aim for good lighting; outside during the day is ideal.

The next step is choosing which pigs to sample. Demeter’s Dr. Ryan Tenbergen outlined six categories of health issues that typically lead to advice that samples should be taken: coughing/thumping, diarrhea, abortions/stillbirths, lameness, fading pigs, and sudden death.

Both the Demeter and univerisity specialists stressed the same point: sample the pigs that are only just beginning to show clinical symptoms.

“Chronic cases aren’t rewarding diagnostically,” said Demeter Veterinary Service technical production team member Gino Cruz, who assisted with the presentation.

With lameness, this means pigs that are still partially weight-bearing with possibly mild swelling that is still soft to the touch. “It’s pretty much good pigs that we need to euthanize,” DeLay lamented.

With gastrointestinal infections, look past the obviously dehydrated and low-energy pigs and search for a red, inflamed anus and wet rear legs on pigs that are otherwise still doing okay.

Preferably, samples should be taken from pigs that haven’t yet been treated with drugs. If you end up having to do a post-mortem on a treated animal, let the lab know so they have that context, said the presenters.

There are two streams of tissue typically required by laboratories: fresh tissue and tissue preserved in formalin. Often, the best practice is to submit one of each type of sample for testing. The other common testing method is on swabs taken of fluids or exudates. Blood samples can also be useful in fading pigs.

If you live half an hour away from the lab or a vet clinic (if you’re sending the samples through the vet clinic) and the samples will be put in formalin as soon as they arrive, you shouldn’t need to use formalin on-farm.

“But if it’s going to be 48 hours by courier, you need to find some formalin,” DeLay advised.

Samples from three pigs is a good balance between diagnostic efficacy and the availability of time and resources. It may not seem like very many from a scientific perspective but it’s still a large enough sample, she said, that it will allow for one “red herring” that doesn’t show the signs you’re looking for.

“If we’re lucky, all the pigs have the same lesions and they all return the same test results.”

DeLay performs post-mortems with the pig on its side; Tenbergen does small pigs on their back but switches to side access once they’re too big to lay on their back. Either way, the target is to open up the two abdominal cavities – the thoracic cavity with the heart and lungs; and the chest cavity.

For respiratory conditions, the tongue, trachea, lungs and heart – referred to as “the pluck” – can all be taken out at once. “We tend to concentrate on lungs when we’re opening pigs up but have a look at the trachea as well,” Tenbergen said.

With influenzas and PRRS, you’ll typically see so many respiratory tract lesions that it can be hard to figure out what’s what. In these cases, nasal swabs are also a good idea. But Tenbergen stressed that all types of swabs “are like Velcro. If you don’t have a steady hand, you can pick up a lot of stuff that you don’t want.”

Do the swabs first, before you touch anything. And follow up each swab with a tissue sample.

If it’s less clear, consider sampling the tonsils as they can harbour a lot of different diseases. This is true even for non-respiratory and non-digestive ailments.

“When I’ve struggled to find some of the bacterial causes of lameness in the joint, I’ve often been able to find it in the tonsils,” he said.

With gastro-intestinal infections, DeLay explained, “pig guts can be pretty voluminous and it can sometimes be pretty hard to figure out what’s what in the abdominal cavity.” A good first step is to familiarize yourself with the cecum. It’s a “landmark” organ that will help you find the ileum – the end of the large intestine. And the ileum is a great place to sample because it tends to collect a lot of disease organisms.

It’s important to immediately get gut samples after euthanasia. Try to get multiple samples from multiple areas of the digestive tract. “All the different causes of neonatal diarrhea look alike,” Tenbergen explained, “and sometimes it’s multiple causes.” So getting multiple samples throughout the tract is important.

With abortions or stillbirths, DeLay said, “I would prefer to get the entire litter that’s been aborted.” That’s because the sow’s uterus isn’t uniform. Piglets in one part of the uterus may be more susceptible to pathogens than piglets in a different part of the uterus.

Frozen piglets are okay if it’s going to take some time to arrange a delivery. This way, if you end up having additional abortions from other sows, you could send them all in together, thereby increasing the chances of a good diagnosis.

When sampling organs or bones located directly beneath the skin (either the brain, vertebrae or joints), use separate knives. With the skin, try holding the knife blade up so you don’t pull material down from the skin into the target organ or joint.

Brain swabs are important in sudden death investigations. Do them with the pig on its belly, taking the swab from where the brain and spinal cord meet. “With gravity, everything settles to the bottom of the brain,” DeLay explained, so this is the best location to take a sample.

The post Newly-infected pigs most likely to yield lab test answers appeared first on Farmtario.

The program will provide grants of up to $50,000 over five years to veterinarians who provide care to livestock and poultry in these communities. Program funding will be delivered by the Agricultural Adaptation Council (AAC) and will be available to up to 100 newly licensed veterinarians. Program details, eligibility requirements and information on how to apply will be available on the AAC website.

“Veterinary services are a necessity for the agricultural community across Ontario, and our government recognizes the long-standing issues that farmers in underserviced areas have experienced when trying to access these services,” said Lisa Thompson, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, in a release.

In a separate statement, the Beef Farmers of Ontario (BFO) said it welcomed the funding. “For the last several years, BFO has prioritized finding solutions to address the shortage of large animal veterinarians, which has been impacting beef farmers in eastern and northern Ontario,” it said in the statement. “BFO continues to work with our industry partners and engage with the provincial government to discuss solutions to address this growing problem.” 

“While there isn’t one single solution that will address the lack of veterinary capacity in Ontario, there are a multitude of short-term and long-term strategies, like the Veterinary Incentive Program, that will help create real progress for the livestock sector,” said Jack Chaffe, BFO president.

The Veterinary Incentive Program and the new Collaborative Doctor of Veterinary Medicine program, announced earlier this year, are designed to address the veterinary capacity shortage and attract new talent to veterinary medicine, the government of Ontario said in a release. The provincial government also launched consultations in November 2022 to modernize the Veterinarians Act. A discussion paper on the proposed amendments was posted on the Regulatory Registry. Feedback received during the consultation period is now being reviewed and will inform possible changes to the Act in the future.

The post Province launches Veterinary Incentive Program appeared first on Farmtario.

Born in New York in 1945, Black grew up in southern New Mexico and graduated from Colorado State University in 1969. He later relocated from Colorado to Benson, Arizona, about 60 km southeast of Tucson.

During the 1980s Black began publishing his poems and stories about ranching life. “My audience is my inspiration,” he said on his website. “Every cowboy, rancher, vet, farmer, feed salesman, ag teacher, cowman and rodeo hand has a story to tell, and they tell it to me. I Baxterize it and tell it back to ’em! It doesn’t seem fair, does it?”

Black self-syndicated his column, ‘On the Edge of Common Sense,’ which included his poems, stories and essays, to multiple newspapers in both the U.S. and Canada and was a regular feature in the Cattleman’s Corner section of Grainews.

He performed his works regularly at farm shows and conventions, was a featured guest on U.S. National Public Radio’s (NPR) Morning Edition show and appeared on NBC TV’s The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.

Black also published several books, CDs and DVDs of his work and briefly co-authored a comic strip, Ag Man, a campy series about a super-hero protecting farms and ranches, which also appeared in Grainews.

The cause of Black’s death wasn’t available Monday but an Arizona news outlet quoted Black’s wife Cindy Lou as saying earlier this year that he had been ill with leukaemia and dementia. No memorial service for Black has yet been publicly announced. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

The post U.S. cowboy poet and veterinarian Baxter Black, 77 appeared first on Farmtario.

The Livestock Veterinary Innovation Initiative is a new, cost-share program that will increase the access options for veterinary care, especially in rural and northern Ontario, to better support animal health, the livestock agri-food sector and the strength of the province’s food supply.

Up to $4 million dollars through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership (the Partnership) is available to fund the initiative.

The investment was made in consultation with farmers and stakeholders in the veterinary sector on improving virtual care options, expanding telemedicine access and addressing issues with mobile clinics to address current challenges, such as long distances between farmers and animal heath care providers and the shortage of food-animal veterinarians working in underserviced areas.

Examples of projects eligible for support under this initiative include:

• Equipment to help veterinary practices deliver enhanced virtual care, diagnostic work and tele-medical support for farms.
• Portable, specialized, livestock handling equipment to help veterinary practices or farms manage animals while receiving care; and
• Training for veterinary professionals to help them use new equipment, techniques or deliver more efficient and accessible support to livestock farmers.

Eligible applicants can receive up to 35 per cent cost share for eligible expenses province-wide and up to 50 per cent cost-share in areas that have been identified as underserviced in terms of available veterinary capacity. Maximum funding amounts differ by project category.

Veterinary businesses can apply for support through this initiative starting February 15, 2022 to March 31, 2022.

The post Increasing veterinarian capacity on Ontario farms appeared first on Farmtario.

It is the top honour that a member of the AABP can obtain in their career. 

Although unable to attend in person, Barratt was recognized during the 54th AABP conference held in Salt Lake City, Utah Oct. 7-9.

Why it matters: The award honours a veterinarian, active in practice and involved in organized veterinary medicine, who has made significant contributions to bovine medicine. 

“I never thought it would be me, that’s for sure. But it truly is the top honour that you can receive as a cow vet in North America. The fact that I received it on my first nomination is just so incredible,” says Barratt. 

“It’s an award for cow veterinarians who have made a difference in the lives of their patients, the clients, their producers, and for the industry itself, whether that be the dairy or beef industry; in my case, the dairy industry.” 

Barratt worked with Heartland Veterinary Services while attending the Ontario Veterinary College and joined the business full-time in 2005 after graduation. She became a partner in 2010. 

She did not grow up on a farm and received her first cattle experience while riding around with Dr. Carolyn Beisel of Miller Vet Services in Chatsworth. 

After that she worked on a dairy farm and says that is where she truly got an appreciation for the industry. 

“(I saw) how passionate the people that are a part of it are, and how the difference that I could make as a veterinarian, working in food animal practice, became really important to me. I’m helping animals, which was my childhood dream, but I’m also helping farm families and the public in keeping food safe …. Veterinarians play a very important role and so it wrapped up all of the things I like, the science, medicine and people.” 

Barratt was nominated by several people, including Ann Godkin, Dr. Ron Wieringa and Dr. Christie Whytock, and she received numerous letters of support from clients. 

Godkin, a cattle health and veterinary consultant who was a long-time cattle health specialist with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, has known Barratt as a student, veterinarian and fellow board member with the Ontario Association of Bovine Practitioners (OABP). 

“We (the OABP) nominated Kelly for her leadership role in terms of her veterinarian involvement in issues beyond traditional veterinarian care,” says Godkin.

Barratt was heavily involved in the early stages of proAction, the Canadian dairy industry’s quality assurance program. She provided training for veterinarians on the modules and led by example.

“While she was providing training, she was also doing proAction with her own clients. It wasn’t just someone giving direction, it was someone actually doing, and then helping others to do as well,” says Godkin.

Now Barratt continues with proAction by working part-time for Dairy Farmers of Ontario (DFO) as a quality assurance analyst. 

“I help to act as a liaison and facilitate learning between the DFO and Ontario bovine practitioners, and I support dairy farmers. Through this, it’s primarily about the proAction quality assurance program, but it’s also a lot of other things, various research projects and quality assurance programs that are offered by DFO,” says Barratt. 

“(In this role) she has promoted, managed and ultimately strengthened the relationship between dairy practitioners and DFO through her enthusiasm, energy, positive messaging and leadership,” says Dr. David Kelton, Professor of Epidemiology with the Department of Population Medicine at the University of Guelph. 

As well, Barratt is the veterinarian representative for Canada on the revision of the Dairy Code of Practice led by the National Farm Animal Care Council, which helps set the standard for welfare of dairy cattle. 

Barratt is involved in OABP’s continuing education programs to help improve the skills and training among veterinary technicians who work in bovine veterinary practices. 

“She has been involved with the CE (continuing education) programs twice a year for the last five to seven years. Those have become quite important for strengthening the skills of the techs, allowing for networking between the techs and I think it’s also led to veterinarians being more willing to adopt techs and create a role for them in their practice,” says Godkin. 

Barratt, who lives on a dairy farm with her partner Adam Brusso and two sons, Noah and Archie, is the first woman to win this award and also the youngest.

“I’m shocked, very honoured and very humbled that I was nominated and that they deemed me worthy of receiving this award. I have taken the time now to take it all in, to accept the honour, and understand that I have done a lot of neat stuff. It’s evolved. At the beginning, it was pure shock, and now I just feel so honoured,” says Barratt.

“I’m really grateful for the support of my entire family and the clinic. That clinic initially was always a dream of mine. If it wasn’t for going to that clinic, I don’t think I would have ever achieved all of the different successes that I have over the years. 

“Heartland has been a huge support and I’m really proud of the business of all of my colleagues because it’s not something I would have ever been able to achieve solely on my own.”

The post Ontario vet receives prestigious North American bovine practitioner award appeared first on Farmtario.

The veterinarian for the cattle genetics company says he has examined more than 1.1 million animals and met “a lot of new friends… and a few enemies” in his 41-year career.

Why it matters: Henshaw has not been shy about speaking out in creative ways about issues that affect farmers.

Henshaw is known for more than his expertise in dairy cow reproduction. He’s known for a creative social media presence that bloomed when he was part of a 4-H biosecurity education video that led to such parodies as: Signs of Heat Rap, Breed Her Maybe and Taking Care of Fresh Cows.

“I have a memorandum of understanding (that EastGen) may still call on me to help with farm events, trade shows and the 4-H program for the next 16 months,” the veterinarian known to many as “Dr. Tim” told Farmtario.

This timeline will give him 40 years of service at what was originally Guelph-based United Breeders, then Gencor, then eventually EastGen — serving, he said, “the farmers of Ontario through the artificial insemination industry.”

EastGen General Manager Brian O’Connor describes Henshaw as “so creative and an exceptional teacher” — both in training the company’s technicians and in working with the public at youth events and farm shows.

“At the very root of it, he is highly skilled as a professional,” said O’Connor, who has worked with Dr. Tim since 1996. “But just as importantly, he has a passion for people, and that’s what sets him apart from other highly-skilled professionals in his field.”

An Ontario Veterinary College graduate, Henshaw first worked in a private practice, before joining United Breeders in a field service/member support role in 1982. In time, he took on leadership of the company’s major sponsorship of 4-H and its participation in trade shows, as well as expanding his own knowledge so he could train breeding technicians on such topics as embryo implants.

“In 1993, I was sent to Latvia for two weeks by the International Livestock Management School to teach bovine reproduction skills.” Latvian vets had already spent six weeks in Canada, with Henshaw as one of their instructors.

“They were using technology from the 1950s,” he recalled, and had been told by the Soviet bureaucrats from whom they had only been freed just two years previously that ‘they were world leaders.’”

Back in Ontario, however, Henshaw’s public profile stretches beyond bovine circles, thanks in large part to a combination of to-the-point advocacy and what can only be described as “edutainment.”

“I sort of wandered into social media by accident,” he recalled of an online profile that solidified his Dr. Tim persona beyond EastGen’s member farms.

The 4-H biosecurity video put him in touch with Bruce Sargent of Farm Boy Productions, with whom Henshaw has now collaborated on about a dozen videos. Several have been parodies of popular songs, with lyrics adapted to provide information about cattle breeding, and young farmers corralled into such roles as line dancing in cow costumes.

“Most people told me not to quit the day job,” Henshaw said of his musical exploits, adding with a note of contrition that “I get a lot of my most creative ideas when I am driving to farms and heavily caffeinated.”

The same, however, could not be said about reaction to some of the other Farm Boy-collaborations. Some, he said, had “a political bent,” such as a Rick Mercer Rant-style challenge of then Premier Kathleen Wynne to save Kemptville College or a parody of a Dr. Seuss book entitled “Green Eggs and Max” — as in anti-supply management politician Maxime Bernier.

Other efforts, such as several appearances in a Santa suit urging the public to “Ho-Ho-Hold the nut juice” in favour of real dairy products, took up social causes near and dear to Ontario’s farm sector.

“The agricultural community has to find its voice,” he said adding he receives much positive feedback for his agricultural advocacy appearances. “We have to capture the narrative and tell our story. We cannot let the agenda of others — and, and believe me, everyone has one — to define our industry.”

On the lighter side, he was known for bringing fame to dairy farm pooches across the province with his Farm Dog of the Day posts on Facebook.

Henshaw plans to maintain a social media presence. He also will continue to serve a Barrie-based faith community that has supported the city’s less advantaged for several years. “I am heavily involved in a downtown ministry,” he explained. “We have a community centre, a residential treatment program for men suffering from addiction and complex trauma, (and) we also run a social enterprise coffeeshop called Higher Grounds Café where the workers are… learning job skills that will help them on their road in life.”

On the farm side, Henshaw will take up part-time work with a local veterinary practice, “serving some of the same herds I have cared for for 40 years”. And, along with his events and trade show commitments to EastGen, he remains on the steering committee for the Canadian Dairy Expo (CDX).

Henshaw agrees his position at the breeding organization gave him a unique perspective, compared with so many of his OVC classmates who moved into veterinary practice or further scholarly pursuits.

“Over the years, I have developed a great appreciation for frontline farmers and all they do and contend with to produce product and bring it to market.”

In particular, he says his life “was forever changed” in 1993 when a young farmer he knew took his own life. “From that day forward, I have never been too busy to look someone in the eye and ask them how they were doing. I have tried not only to help the farmer with his herd but also help him in life.

“I think that this holistic approach has made me a better veterinarian and a more compassionate human.”

The post ‘Dr. Tim’ to continue advocating for farm causes appeared first on Farmtario.

Widely used telehealth services, in particular, have helped keep a semblance of normalcy.

“We’re a large vet service so that means we’ve had to make more changes than if we only had a few people,” says Kelly Barratt, a large animal veterinarian with Heartland Veterinary Care in Listowel, Drayton, and Mount Forest.

With multiple locations that include a milk lab, supply areas, as well as companion animal treatment areas, Barratt says their approach to many otherwise normal tasks requires more co-ordination than they did before COVID-19.

The same applies when working on the farm, and particularly for tasks where people need to work in close proximity.

Why it matters: Healthy livestock are critical for business, and a steady food supply.

“On-farm it’s been an interesting challenge because we tend to work closely together. We say to stand at least one cow length apart,” she says. “Things take a little bit longer. Biosecurity isn’t new to farmers at all, and especially to veterinarians. The human health level is new.”

Wearing extra personal protective equipment, such as face masks, a vigorous sanitization program, and other small changes to how tasks are completed, such as not facing one another when lifting an animal or object, also help alleviate risk when farm visits are required.

“The communication that’s new is we contact our clients the day before to make sure they are still healthy, and they are still comfortable with people coming to their farm,” says Barratt.

Trevor Lawson, a veterinarian operating Fundy Veterinarians Ltd. in Nova Scotia and member of the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association’s national issues committee, says part of increased awareness involves more communication with farmers.

If a farmer has been sick, for example, Lawson says practitioners can adapt by sending more than one person if the job requires. This is particularly important in situations where physical distancing is not possible.

“Some tasks just can’t be performed alone,” he says, providing a recent example where a farm client had to help him calve a “particularly unfriendly” Charolais cow.

He reiterates the importance of taking steps to limit person-to-person interaction whenever possible.

Managing stress on the part of employees and their farm clients has been another source of significant pressure, Barratt says.

However, long-established relationships have made it much easier to “have frank conversations” while staying productive, she says.

That trust also makes it easier for vets to monitor animals from a distance and for the farmer to have confidence in their ability to do so.

Barratt says diagnosing and checking on farm animals through phone calls and online (using video) has been a long-employed method of eliminating the need for farm visits.

“We’ve been extremely active in telehealth for many years,” she says.

Lawson also says telehealth practices were common prior to COVID-19, so farmers and vets did not have a steep learning curve when the pandemic arrived.

“I’ve been in practice for 15 years and have been using it right from the start,” says Lawson.

“We’re adapting in light of COVID, but really we were doing much of it in the first place.”

The post Trust and telehealth services keep veterinarians rolling appeared first on Farmtario.

As an occupation, veterinarians have higher levels of stress, burnout, compassion fatigue, anxiety and depression, and reported more suicidal ideation and lower resilience than Canadians generally, according to the study conducted by researchers in the Ontario Veterinary College (OVC).

Published recently in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, the study is the first to use psychometric tools to delve into the mental health of Canadian veterinarians and the first to compare results with those of the wider population in Canada or other countries.

The team surveyed all of Canada’s roughly 12,500 veterinarians working in fields ranging from companion animal care to food safety and agricultural support from February through July 2017. About 10 per cent of practitioners, or about 1,400 veterinarians, responded.

Slightly more than three-quarters of respondents identified as women, a key point, said lead author Jennifer Perret, a veterinarian completing her PhD in OVC’s department of population medicine.

About 30 per cent of women veterinarians reported a history of mental illness, compared with almost 27 per cent for men. Just over 15 per cent of women reported mental illness at the time of the survey, compared to just over nine per cent for men.

About 80 per cent of OVC students identify as women.

The post Veterinarians more likely to have suicidal thoughts: study appeared first on Farmtario.