Have You Herd? AABP PodCasts

Latest Episodes:

Post Conference Report from Dr. Fred Gingrich Oct 03, 2022

Show notes

AABP Executive Director Dr. Fred Gingrich discusses the 55th AABP Annual Conference which was held in Long Beach, Calif. September 22-24, 2022. A total of 843 attendees, including 220 students, 77 accompanying persons and 225 vendor representatives, were in attendance for a total of 1,145 attendees. The conference was a success and provided the first in-person annual conference since 2019. Gingrich discusses how attendees can access their CE certificates, recorded sessions and the conference proceedings. He also discusses the AABP Board of Directors' decision to not have a virtual conference and the Board process for selecting cities for the annual conference. He addresses the many suggestions that were submitted and encourages members to provide feedback that can be considered for future conferences. Although all suggestions are not possible to incorporate, each one will be evaluated and listened to by the AABP office and conference planners! The 56th Annual Conference will be held in Milwaukee, Wis. September 21-23, 2023.

Liver Condemnations: Implications for Packers and Producers Sep 26, 2022

Show notes

This edition of Have You Herd? is sponsored by Lactipro. Lactipro harnesses the power of Mega e, a superior lactic acid utilizer, enabling beef and dairy producers to support healthy rumen function. Lactipro places a large number of Mega e into its native environment, the rumen, where it immediately begins targeting lactic acid. To learn more about the science behind Lactipro, visit this link.

AABP Executive Director Dr. Fred Gingrich is joined by meat scientist Dr. Ty Lawrence, Professor of Animal Science and Director of the Beef Carcass Research Center at West Texas A&M University. We discuss the top three reasons that livers are condemned at the packer: liver abscesses, flukes and telangiectasis. Lawrence reviews the scoring system for liver abscesses and the issues that liver abscesses can cause to the speed of commerce on the harvest floor. We review the history of liver abscesses as well as risk factors such as number of days on feed, geography, starch source, region, bunk management and breed. Lawrence reviews the effects of liver abscesses on animal performance as well as loss of edible tissue for the various types of abscesses. Telangiectasis has an unknown etiology but is a cause of condemnations in about 1% of beef livers and 0.2% of beef livers. We review the life cycle of the liver fluke, how they are diagnosed at the packer and the impacts on the beef industry. We close the podcast by summarizing the economic impact of these three causes of liver condemnations on the beef industry which total $430 million of economic losses to the beef industry annually. Veterinarians can play an integral role in discussing liver disease prevention in beef cattle to lessen the impact of liver condemnations.

Helpful Hints for the 55th AABP Annual Conference Sep 19, 2022

Show notes

AABP Executive Director Dr. Fred Gingrich provides some helpful hints to assist attendees of the AABP Annual Conference in Long Beach, Calif. We discuss coordinating travel from the airports to the convention center hotels. Attendees can voluntarily input their travel information on this page. You can then find other attendees with similar travel times to assist you in coordinating travel. Pick up your registration pack and name badge at the registration desk located on the main level of the convention center. You can only access the convention center through the main doors located in the middle of the facility, not the side entrance doors. Make sure to keep your name badge with you at all times and not dispose of it on site. In the event of a protest, it is best practice to not engage and completely ignore the protestors.

Attendees should also review the Visit Long Beach page to find businesses that will provide discounts to attendees by showing their badge as well as find activities to attend while in this beautiful city. Make sure to download the Slido app or view in your browser to submit questions to speakers, participate in polls and provide feedback by going to the Conference Feedback & Ideas room which greatly assists AABP in planning future events! Attendees can view the schedule of sessions, meetings and events on this page and add your schedule to your calendar for reminders.

If you need assistance while in Long Beach, please contact any AABP staff member or volunteer so that we can make your conference a wonderful experience! Thank you for attending the 55th AABP Annual Conference!

#AABP2022

Why Diversity, Equity and Inclusion? Sep 12, 2022

Show notes

This episode of Have You Herd? is hosted by Dr. Jen Roberts, chair of the AABP Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Task Force and Professional Services Veterinarian for Boehringer-Ingelheim. Roberts is joined by Dr. Mia Cary, CEO and Change Agent for Cary Consulting and CEO of the PRIDE Veterinary Medical Community, and Dr. Kemba Marshall, Director of Veterinary Services at the Land-O-Lakes Purina Veterinary Nutrition Center who serves on the AVMA-AAVMC Diversity Equity and Inclusion Commission. Our guests discuss the definitions for diversity, equity and inclusion and why the AABP Board of Directors created this task force. We discuss the importance of ensuring that everyone feels welcome in rural mixed or large animal practice to improve recruitment and retention of veterinarians in our segment of the profession. We also discuss that veterinary medicine is the least diverse health profession and AAVMC publishes data on veterinary student demographics which can be found here. AAVMC also has a study that discusses the bias in admissions procedures. Cary and Marshall also discuss why it is important to ask demographic questions to our members and the problems with ignoring someone’s race, ethnicity, gender identity or sexual orientation. Cary discusses some of the initiatives the PRIDE VMC has developed, including Journey for Teams to assist private practices in developing a working space that is inclusive for employees and clients. Our guests discuss the importance of allyship to help support those that are under-represented in veterinary medicine. Allyship resources can be found here and the AVMA has also developed a Brave Space Certificate program available on the AVMA AXON CE portal. We welcome our members to attend the upcoming keynote address from Dr. Vernard Hodges and join us for additional conversation on DEI over the lunch hour in room 104 at the convention center.

Evaluating trace minerals in cow calf herds Sep 05, 2022

Show notes

AABP Executive Director Dr. Fred Gingrich is joined by Dr. Jeffrey Hall, a cattle technical services veterinarian with Huvepharma, Inc. Hall discusses the critical role that copper, selenium, manganese and zinc play for optimal immune system function, reproductive performance and growth. He reminds us that it is critical to provide an adequate amount of mineral to the cow during the last trimester of pregnancy. Over 95% of the transfer of minerals to the fetus occurs during the last trimester to ensure the calf is born with adequate body stores of these trace minerals since 95% of the calf’s diet is milk and stores will be depleted during this time. Hall states that trace mineral deficiencies are common and veterinarians can play a key role in assisting producers with assessing the trace mineral program. We discuss various testing and monitoring strategies for trace minerals. Hall suggests to start with testing the animals to evaluate if there are deficiencies or excesses within the herd and then do nutrient and ration analysis to determine the cause. Hall describes testing strategies to determine if liver biopsies or blood samples are appropriate, which animals to test and when to test them. In addition, he offers tips for performing a liver biopsy. Cows should be supplemented with trace minerals year round and veterinarians should establish monitoring programs to ensure the program is working. Hall suggests that veterinarians can discuss the economic implications to producers to demonstrate the importance of a testing program. Loss of young open cows, health of calves and weaning weight implications are all financial reasons to work with producers on a testing program. Hall estimates that minor deficiencies can results in a loss of $75 per cow per year and major deficiencies can cost up to $200 per year. One way for veterinarians to establish the amount of mineral consumed per cow is to look at the purchase history for the past year of minerals. To calculate, use the following formula:
Tons of mineral purchases * 2000 * 16 = number of ounces used per year.
(# of ounces used/number of cows)/365 = ounces per head per day.

Evaluation of a trace mineral program is a valuable service veterinarians can provide to their cow calf producers.

Links:

Common Vitamin and Mineral Abnormalities in Beef Cattle – Jeffery Hall DVM, PhD, DABVT

List of liver biopsy supplies needed

AABP Nutrition Committee page

Data from FARM 4.0 Evaluations Aug 29, 2022

Show notes

AABP Executive Director Dr. Fred Gingrich is joined by Dr. Steven Roche, a PhD epidemiologist and owner of ACER Consulting Group located in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) contracts with ACER Consulting Group to assist with data evaluation, training and development of the standards for the Farmers Assuring Responsible Management (FARM) program. We discuss the development process of the FARM program and how veterinarians and dairy producers are involved in all steps of this process. Reviewing data from previous evaluations is utilized as the volunteers work to develop program updates to be considered by the NMPF Board of Directors. Roche describes the different corrective actions which are Mandatory Corrective Action Plans (MCAP) requiring nine months to resolve and Continuous Improvement Plans (CIP) which require three years to resolve. We discuss the top 5 MCAP’s and CIP’s from the FARM 4.0 evaluations collected to date. So far, approximately 13,000 2nd party and 168 3rd party evaluations have been performed. Roche is involved with analyzing the data from the evaluations as well as compare the results from the 2nd and 3rd party evaluators. Roche points out that several of the common corrective actions require veterinary involvement such as protocol development, having an annually signed VCPR, continuing education training for family and non-family labor, and protocols for disbudding and pain management. We discuss data collected on broken tails, body condition scores, locomotion scoring, and pain management protocols for disbudding. Roche encourages veterinarians to consult with their dairy farm clients to help them prepare for their evaluations to ensure they are in compliance with all standards. This is a great opportunity for veterinarians to offer a service to their clients that requires veterinarian involvement.

If you are attending the conference in Long Beach, Calif., we encourage you to sign up for Seminar 11, Veterinary Role in Helping Farms to Meet and Excel in Welfare Audits, which will be held Wednesday, September 21 from 8 am to 5 pm. Contact the AABP office to add this seminar to your registration.

Links:

National Milk Producers Federation FARM Program

FARM Program Standards

FARM Program Resources

AABP Guidelines and Position Statements

AABP Resource Document Pain Management

Colostrum Audits Aug 22, 2022

Show notes

This episode of Have You Herd? is sponsored by Elanco Animal Health, manufacturer of Vira Shield. Find out more information about Vira Shield at this link and the scours vaccine we discuss on the podcast on this page. Our topic is the importance of a colostrum management program to the health, welfare and productivity to calves. Our guest is Dr. Phillip Jardon, Elanco Technical Service Consultant, and we discuss the veterinarian’s role in conducting colostrum audits to monitor and improve the colostrum program on the dairy. Jardon discusses the 5 “Qs” of colostrum management which include Quality, Quantity, Quickness, sQueaky clean and Quantify. In addition, we discuss the importance of cooling the colostrum rapidly and feeding at body temperature. The veterinarian is the ideal resource to monitor a colostrum program. Jardon discusses “go to the Gimba” which means “go to where the work is done” and visually observe what is happening on the dairy. We also discuss the importance of using tools to support visual observation such as evaluating colostral and serum IgG with a refractometer, culturing colostrum for bacterial overgrowth, using temperature logging devices (HOBO’s), and using a luminometer to check sanitation of all equipment. Veterinarians can implement colostrum auditing services immediately on client operations to improve calf health and the success of the dairy by incorporating these tips.
Links and publications:

Consensus recommendations on calf- and herd-level passive immunity in dairy calves in the United States
J Dairy Sci, Vol. 103, Issue 8, August 2020

Dairy Calf and Heifer Association Gold Standards
Standards for dairy calves developed by the Dairy Calf and Heifer Association

Calf Notes
Website of calf resources in printable format developed by Dr. Jim Quigley

Calf Facts Resource Library
Website of calf resources in printable format developed by Dr. Sam Leadley at Attica Veterinary Associates P.C.

Epigenetics Aug 15, 2022

Show notes

This episode of Have You Herd? is brought to you by the AABP Genetics and Genomics Committee. Our guest host is Dr. Stewart Bauck, and he is joined by Dr. Jack Britt to discuss epigenetics. Epigenetics is part of the normal and natural genetic process where certain genes are turned on or off. Britt discusses how environmental impacts can impact these processes of methylation or acetylation of histone proteins. A primary example is heat stress. Studies have shown that heat stress in a pregnant dam can affect three generations by impacting the cow, the fetus and the gonads of the fetus. Another example given was the stress at weaning or transitioning to a grain-based diet can affect the expression of certain sequences of genes. We discuss areas where veterinarians can become involved in these discussions with clients. Looking at periods of stress in an animal’s life can impact not only the animal during the stressful event but the ability of the animal to have optimal health and productivity into the future as well as their offspring if they are pregnant or a breeding animal. Time periods that are commonly stressful events include the dry period or dry period length, transition periods, and heat stress events. Veterinarians should work with their clients to minimize these stressful events.

Genomics is a rapidly expanding area of research and development in the beef and dairy industry. The ability to detect sequence changes as well as how methylation or acetylation impacts gene expression as well as how to detect these changes continues to be developed. If you are interested in learning more about this topic, we encourage you to view the resources on the AABP Genetics and Genomics Committee page. AABP members who are interested in joining the Genetics and Genomics Committee can contact the committee by visiting this page.

Relevant papers:
Metabolic and antioxidant status during transition is associated with changes in the granulosa cell transcriptome in the preovulatory follicle in high-producing dairy cows at the time of breeding
Waleed F.A. Marei, Jessie De Bie, Inne Xhonneux, Silke Andries, Jack H. Britt, Jo L.M.R. Leroy
J Dairy Sci, Vol 105, Issue 8, August 2022

The Bovine Practitioner - AABP's Peer-Reviewed Journal Aug 08, 2022

Show notes

AABP Executive Director Dr. Fred Gingrich is joined by the associate editors for The Bovine Practitioner in this podcast to discuss the peer-reviewed journal published by AABP. The associate editors are Drs. Sarah Capik, Virginia Fajt, Miles Theurer and Aurora Villarroel. The Bovine Practitioner has been published by AABP continuously since 1967. There have been two previous editors of the journal, Dr. Eric Williams and Dr. Robert Smith. The journal is open access using the online journal system (OJS) through an agreement with Texas A&M University Libraries, and all volumes have been scanned into PDFs and are searchable at the article level. Access the journal by clicking this link. Listeners can register on the site to receive notifications of new publications as well as indicate if they are willing to serve as a peer reviewer for the journal. The Bovine Practitioner publishes articles that are relevant to the practicing cattle veterinarian and accepts submissions that are original research, descriptive studies (case reports, case series, innovative techniques) and review articles. The submission and peer-review process are managed online through the OJS and the journal now publishes accepted manuscripts at the article level. AABP does not charge submission, page or publication fees to authors. Practicing veterinarians are encouraged to partner with academic or industry colleagues to publish in the journal for assistance with study design and statistics. Associate editors are also willing to assist inexperienced authors who need information on publishing as well as providing contacts for collaborating with projects. We encourage all authors to read the author guidelines to ensure submissions are in compliance with general guidelines, formatting and submitting papers that are masked for the blinded peer-review process. Author guidelines can be found at this link.

Lameness in feedlot cattle Aug 01, 2022

Show notes

AABP Executive Director Dr. Fred Gingrich is joined by Sarah Erickson from Feedlot Health Management Services Inc., by Telus Agriculture, in Alberta, Canada. Sarah is currently enrolled in the Master of Science in large animal clinical sciences at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, and hopes to obtain her veterinary degree after completion of her masters.
Lameness is a significant issue in feedlot cattle accounting for approximately 30% of all treatments in feedlot cattle, second only to bovine respiratory disease, and affecting over 3% of Western Canadian feedlot cattle. Cattle affected by lameness weigh close to 50 lbs less than healthy pen mates, but the economic impact is also influenced by treatment costs, labor, mortality and salvage slaughter. We discuss the most common conditions causing lameness in feedlot cattle which include toe tip necrosis, foot rot, arthritis, laminitis and digital dermatitis. There are unique challenges in managing these disease in feedlot versus dairy cattle due to the differences in husbandry between the two industries, but in both circumstances, lameness in cattle impact health, production and welfare. Erickson reviews a recent study performed on over 1.7 million head of Western Canadian evaluating the epidemiology of digital dermatitis, foot rot and toe tip necrosis. She discusses the risk factors for each disease such as sourcing, age, sex, feedlot size and days on feed. Veterinarians can play an integral role in assisting feedlots with development of protocols for diagnosis and treatment of lameness conditions, reviewing pain management and euthanasia protocols for affect cattle, development of prevention programs, and evaluation of the incidence in client yards to improve prevention and treatment programs.

If you are interested in lameness and want to volunteer, a great place to start is the AABP lameness committee which can be found on this page. AABP committee resource files can be found at this link.

Relevant publications:

Diagnosis and therapy of feedlot lameness
Michael D. Apley
Proceedings of the 2020 AABP Recent Graduate Conference
https://doi.org/10.21423/aabppro20207968

Incidence of lameness and association of cause and severity of lameness on the outcome for cattle on six commercial beef feedlots
Shane P. Terrell, Christopher D. Reinhardt, Connie K. Larson, Christopher I. Vahl, and Daniel U. Thomson
JAVMA, Vol. 250, No. 4.
https://doi.org/10.2460/javma.250.4.437

Perception of lameness management, education, and effects on animal welfare of feedlot cattle by consulting nutritionists, veterinarians, and feedlot managers
S.P. Terrell, D.U. Thompson, C.D. Reinhardt, M. D. Apley, C.K. Larson, K.R. Stackhouse-Lawson
The Bovine Practitioner, Vol. 48, No. 1.
https://doi.org/10.21423/bovine-vol48no1p53-60