Join Dr. John Dick on October 28th for Dairy Reproduction and Cow Comfort! Dr. John will cover practical tips on assessing reproduction, monitoring pregnancy rates and improving your herd repro! Timed AI protocols will be discussed, along with the most recent science behind getting the most success from your program. Cow comfort factors that can affect reproduction, production and overall health will also be covered.
Join Dr. John Dick on October 24th and 25th for Basic Examination and Treatment of the Cow! Dr. John focuses on teaching practical skills to allow participants to promptly and accurately identify, diagnose and treat sick cows. After in class sessions to cover the principles, participants will be able to work directly on dairy cows to reinforce all the skills covered. This course will cover:Systematic approach to examining the sick cowDiagnosis of common diseases such as mastitis, ketosis, displaced abomasum and metritisGuidelines for when to call for veterinary assistanceTreatment principlesTreatment techniques including blood collection, IV administration, stomach tubing and bolusing. We hope to see you there! E-mail [email protected] or call 604-792-1501 to sign up today!
DairySmart courses are coming up soon and there’s still time to sign up! Watch for our posts where we’ll outline our topics for our Complete Herdsman Training. Starting with October 22nd, Dr. Phil Chris will be going over the ins and outs of proAction. ProAction is a necessary part of running a dairy farm these days. The goals of producing Canadian milk of the highest quality and ensuring it is responsibly produced are very valuable to our industry. His course will prepare you for a cattle assessment and farm validation. He hopes to help expand on how you can use proAction to help your farm work better for your cattle and you! E-mail [email protected] or call 604-792-1501 to sign up today
Twins! Dr. Kiri and Dr. John delivered this set of twins to a first lactation heifer. The first calf was trying to come breach (tail first) so they needed to correct the hind legs positioning and deliver it backwards. While it is common to see twins with breach calvings (always check for a twin after correcting the first breach calf!) it is not common to see twins in a heifer. Luckily, these twins were diagnosed at pregnancy diagnosis. Twinning in dairy cattle increases with parity (number of calves the cow has had). It ranges from about 1% in first parity to up to 10% in later parities. It’s not clear exactly why this happens but some factors could be the higher incidence in double ovulation in greater parities and with higher milk production.
10 minutes after delivery and this Angus x Holstein calf is up! This calf was delivered by manual traction after diagnosis of uterine inertia (due to hypocalcemia/low calcium). In cases of uterine inertia, the uterine muscles fail to contract and expel the calf. Typically, the cow is stalled in stage 1 labour. On vaginal exam the cervix will be fully dilated and fetal membranes are intact.
Future baby cows! Drs. Bev and Marty were lucky to spend Easter Sunday with a different kind of Easter egg hunt. They spent the day collecting, finding, freezing and transferring embryos from a great group of polled Herefords. A big thanks to Richardson Ranch for having us out for another year and all your hospitality!
How many calves do you see?! This is a video of an ultrasound exam for pregnancy in a dairy cow. Dr. Bev was very surprised to find 3 healthy babies! In the video, you can see 2 babies side by side and the 3rd baby in the other uterine horn. If you look closely, there’s a fluttering in each chest that is their heart beating. The chances of live triplets in cattle are about 1 in 100000 births!
Bovine Surgery🐄
In the video, Dr. John explains the layers of skin and muscle that are incised to perform a right sided laparotomy on a cow. This procedure is used to correct a left or right displaced abomasum. Prior to the video, Dr. John has used paravertebral nerve blocks to freeze nerves T13, L1 and L2. These nerves are responsible for sensation to the muscles in the area. When they are blocked she won’t feel any pain and is able to comfortably stand for the procedure.
The first layers are the skin and subcutaneous tissue. The next are the muscles; external abdominal oblique, then the internal abdominal oblique and then transversus abdominus. The white layer is the peritoneum, which lines the abdominal cavity. Dr. John uses scissors on the peritoneum to safely enter the abdominal cavity without damaging any tissue that could be resting against it. The abdomen is normally under a negative pressure so when an incision is made through the peritoneum, you will hear a rush of air being drawn into the abdomen.
Once the abdomen is open, Dr. John is able to correct the LDA on this cow and suture the abomasum back in place. This cow received Metacam after surgery and supportive care with oral fluids and glycol. Great job Dr. John!
Greenbelt Veterinary Services Ltd. is a farm animal practice that has provided reliable veterinary care to the Fraser Valley since 1973.
