W.A. Ranches Newsletter (Fall 2020)

Fall 2020 Newsletter

W.A. RANCHES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY

FACULTY OF VETERINARY MEDICINE

Welcome

to the Fall 2020 issue of the W.A. Ranches newsletter. We’re excited to share what’s been happening at the Ranch this year, and the great things we’ve been able to achieve with the gift of this incredible resource from the Anderson-Chisholm family to the University of Calgary.

TABLE OF

Contents page

03

Message from the Director

04

Message from the General Manager

05

A Day in the Life of an Angus Bull

06

Calf Preconditioning Study

07

Assisted Calving Observation Study

08

Bull Fertility Studies

09

Radon Study

10

Calf Handling Study

11

Cremona 4-H Club Calving Workshop

12

W.A. Ranches Long Range Development Plan Update

13

Introducing New W.A. Ranches Faculty

MESSAGE FROM DR. ED PAJOR

Director of W.A. Ranches Greetings, everyone!

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on activities at W.A. Ranches. Planned educational activities were switched to an online environment and outreach activities were cancelled. Research activities were allowed to continue due to the seasonal nature of ranching and the potential impact a cancelation could have on a student’s progress. We have awesome students, and the content of this newsletter highlights their projects and their commitment to the beef industry.

We are thrilled to welcome three new assistant professors, whose research and teaching efforts will be closely associated with W.A. Ranches. They include Dr. Maria Camila Ceballos Betancourt, beef cattle welfare, Dr. Jennifer Pearson, bovine health management, and Dr. Mathieu Pruvot, beef health ecology.

Additional information on each of these new faculty members is included in this newsletter.

Our General Manager, Matt Williams, has announced that he will retire at the end of January 2021. Matt has done a wonderful job managing the transition of W.A. Ranches from the Anderson-Chisholm family to the University of Calgary.

Matt managed the cow-calf operation and was involved with educational, research, and outreach activities. His commitment to the cattle industry and efforts to share his wealth of information with the University of Calgary community have made us better and moved the vision of our donors forward.

We will always be grateful for his enormous contribution.

All of us at the University of Calgary and W.A. Ranches hope that you and those you care for are well. We look forward to the day we can host you at a WA workshop or public event.

Sincerely, Ed Pajor, PhD Director, W.A. Ranches at the University of Calgary.

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MESSAGE FROM MATT WILLIAMS

General Manager of W.A. Ranches Howdy, As we move into the fall, getting ready to wean and market our calves, I would like to bring everyone up to date with the comings and goings at W.A. Ranches. Like everyone else in ranching, this has been a busy year.

The winter was pretty uneventful with the cow herd out grazing on the swaths.

We moved into calving the first of April with one storm after another pounding the calving grounds. Everyone at the ranch dug in pretty deep, putting out bedding while keeping eyes peeled for any chilled down calves. All in all, we were pretty successful. Thanks, guys.

Moving into the branding season…well we didn’t do it. We just cut the bull calves, vaccinated, and put the calves in the data base. Then out to grass.

Lots of grass this summer. Half the herd were out grazing on the leases near the Rockies, while the balance summered at our Cochrane North and East operations. Our yearlings grazed out at Jumping Pound.

Just like everyone else, we had a good result with our hay and silage crop. It looks like we’re in good shape with stored feed for the next couple of years.

Just like the old timers from this country recommend.

We continue to buy in Black Angus bulls as we move the genetic program forward. All the bulls are purchased locally from our friends and neighbours. Like every rancher, we are concerned about keeping the quality of our cow herd moving in the right direction. Presently, we are following the business model in cow selection that worked well for the W.A. Ranch in the past. We purchased 100 high-quality heifers, as well as 100 bred cows as we replace our cull and open cows. However, in the near future the plan is to retain our own heifer calves as replacements.

In keeping with the spirit of the gift, the research component of the ranch continues to play a significant role in operations.

We helped the scientists with five research projects this year. All for the benefit of the Canadian cattle industry.

As for me, I will be retiring at the end of January. It’s been a great two years. I’ve learned a lot, made some mistakes, and had some successes. I wish everyone at the Ranch and University thanks, best of luck, and happy trails.

Cheers, Matt Williams General Manager, W.A. Ranches

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A Day in the Life

of an Angus Bull

For the past few summers, Drs. Ed Pajor and Jennifer Pearson worked behind the rodeo chutes at the Calgary Stampede, studying the daily routine of the bucking bulls.

They were looking to identify where injuries might occur and to improve animal welfare. This year, they shifted focus to the beef bulls at W.A. Ranches, using GPS collars and video monitoring to see what bulls do all day.

siring more calves than other bulls who maybe aren’t doing their job as much.” Just how well an individual bull does his job will be traced by DNA testing offspring after next year’s calving season.

“Another component is by understanding the behaviour of the animal prior to going out to pasture, it also will open up new research questions about the management of those animals, and how we can manage them better to improve their welfare and their health before going out to pasture,” adds Pajor.

“We want to see if we can use this technology to better understand what a bull is doing and how he interacts with other bulls to help promote better health. If a bull is sick or injured, then potentially we could use this technology to help identify that bull before we might be able to see it,” says Pearson.

Pearson says the Anderson-Chisholm family’s gift of W.A. Ranches offers an incredible opportunity to study bulls and use new technologies to help better understand the animals.

Many people think of bulls as highly active animals that exhibit a lot of aggressive behaviour, but that hasn’t been Pearson’s experience. “That’s not what we’ve seen either at the Stampede or with our beef bulls. The majority of them spend most of the day lying around chewing their cud, kind of relaxing.”

“Investing in good, fit bulls is really important to a cow-calf producer,” says Pajor. “We’re pretty excited to be doing research that can help them make good management decisions that can also reduce injuries and improve welfare.

There are potentially some pretty important economic impacts from the type of research we’re doing.”

Pearson is interested to find out how each bull’s behaviour translates into the number of calves it produces. She wants to “see how these bulls interact with each other and if some of their interactions and activities might indicate which ones are going out and breeding more cows and 5

Calf

Preconditioning Study

The goal of this project is to study if less stress results in a more resilient calf that is not as likely to get sick in the early days at the feedlot. Reducing stress in calves can improve the immune system and has the potential to reduce illness and death. Our project has chosen an alternative form of calf management, preconditioning, to understand the impacts on health, welfare, and behaviour. Currently there are two graduate students on this project, Morgan Louden, who is looking at the health of the respiratory system and Abby Hodder, who will be looking at behaviour and welfare.

Future students involved in this project will look further into the epidemiology and economics of preconditioning.

In February 2020, our preconditioning (PC) protocol was finalized and put into action during calving season, where calves received their first intranasal vaccines and other routine administrations. During processing, our supervisors, Drs. Karin Orsel and Frank van der Meer, were present to take deep nasal swabs and blood work from the PC calves.

The deep nasal swabs will be used to determine both bacterial and viral microorganisms that are present in the upper respiratory tract of the calves. The blood samples will be used to study the immune response including maternal antibodies, response to vaccinations, etc.

Researchers will be present to take deep nasal swabs and blood work during weaning, and to videotape the calves during the five days of fence-line weaning.

-Abby Hodder MSc. Candidate -Morgan Louden MSc. Candidate

6

Assisted Calving

Observation Study

More than 90 per cent of beef operations in western Canada have some calvings that require assistance each season.

Research personnel then performed direct observations and video recordings of the cow-calf pairs within the first 24 hours after calving.

We conducted a pilot study during the 2020 calving season at W.A. Ranches to validate the use of a novel cow and calf score chart to record facial reactions and general behaviours associated with pain and discomfort. We want to determine whether these score charts can be used in a future study investigating the impacts of pain mitigation on the cow-calf bond and behaviours associated with pain and discomfort.

That data is currently being analyzed to determine if behaviours associated with pain, discomfort, and cow-calf bonding can be assessed directly or should be investigated by video observations for a subsequent calving assistance study.

-Dr. Jennifer Pearson Assistant Professor, Bovine Health Management, W.A. Ranches

As part of the pilot study, cow-calf pairs assisted at birth were enrolled and treated with either meloxicam or a placebo after calving, and placed in a box stall for observations.

7

Bull Fertility

Studies

Bull testes must be cooler than body temperature to produce normal, motile, and fertile sperm. Furthermore, there are big differences among bulls in sperm quality and fertility, and the extent to which those decline when their testes are warmer, for example in hot weather. Our goals are to monitor temperatures (under the scrotal skin plus air temperature near the bull) and bull location to understand how bull behavior (e.g. seeking shade in the afternoon) contributes to keeping testes cool and maintaining sperm quality and fertility. These studies should enable us to improve cattle fertility, productivity and wellbeing.

-Dr. John Kastelic UCVM Professor -Abdallah Shahat PhD student

8

Radon Study The W.A. Ranches facilities have come in handy for cutting edge public health research being conducted by geoscience graduate students, as part of the national Evict Radon program of interdisciplinary science led by Dr. Aaron Goodarzi from the Cumming School of Medicine, and including scholars such as Dr. Cathy Ryan from the Department of Geoscience.

home) that have new water wells to assess the contribution of well water pumping to indoor air. The wells are equipped with real-time water level monitors that the students will use in combination with real-time indoor air monitoring and water sampling to assess how much radon is coming in from well water.

The researchers are grateful to have such a perfect facility to conduct the research and are grateful for the W.A. Ranches team support. Since most Albertan farmers are dependent on well water supplies, the Evict Radon team is committed to keeping the WA Ranches and extended community apprised of their research findings in a timely manner.

Many Albertans may already be familiar with the citizen science oriented Evict Radon program for radon testing, which has shown that the Canadians living in the prairies are the second-highest radon exposed population on this planet. This team of researchers are currently exploring why rural areas show much higher radon versus urban regions, and if radon in well water contributes to this.

-Dr. Cathy Ryan Professor, Geoscience

Two Evict Radon team geoscience graduate students, Evangeline Eldridge and Tiago Morais, will take advantage of two W.A. Ranches buildings (the offices and the nearby

9

Calf Handling

Study

Handling calves for processing are times where operational efficiency and risk are front and center with caring for cattle. To support the Canadian beef industry with science- and outcome-based information we will be evaluating producer, public, and animal perspectives on roping and tilt-tables for handling calves for processing. The study will use online surveys of producers and public, combined with evaluating animal behaviour before, during, and after processing by roping or tilt-tables. The outcomes will inform risk and economic assessments, as well as providing guidance on communicating through shared values to bolster public confidence in the Canadian beef industry.

-Dr. Christy Goldhawk Research Associate, UCVM

10

Cremona 4-H Club

Calving Workshop

On a wintery weekend in January, 33 people gathered in the tool shed at W.A. Ranches at the University of Calgary to devote their attention to a critical aspect of ranching… calving.

A commitment to community and youth was a core component of the gift of W.A. Ranches to the University of Calgary by Jack Anderson and Wynne Chisholm.

Through the dedication of staff and students, as well as the commitment of our community to cattle care, events like this will continue to support the future of agriculture.

Drs. Jennifer Pearson and Lisa Gamsjaeger, a PhD student at UCVM, led a 4-H group from Cremona through a discussion and hands-on session about critical care during calving. Covering both what to do when things go well and how to intervene when they don’t, Jen and Lisa gave the group practical skills they could take home.

-Dr. Christy Goldhawk Research Associate, UCVM

By converting the shop into a classroom with simulators used to teach vet med students at UCVM, the 4-H group learned by doing palpations to determine calf position and if help is needed, how to properly use calving aids, and how to help with “calf yoga” (a.k.a. the recovery position that improves lung expansion in newborn calves).

11

W.A.Ranches Long Term Development Plan Update A long range development plan for UCalgary’s W.A. Ranches was approved and confirmed by the Government of Alberta this summer.

This plan, developed with community input over the past year, outlines what future substantial developments are planned for W.A. Ranches to meet academic and research needs and the needs of our community.

The plan can be viewed on the UCalgary website:

https://vet.ucalgary.ca/wa-ranches/long-term-plan

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Introducing New

W.A. Ranches Faculty Dr. Maria Camila Ceballos Maria joined UCVM on September 1, as an assistant professor in beef cattle welfare and behaviour. Maria did her undergraduate studies in animal science in at the National University of Colombia, and then worked in dairy and beef cattle welfare and behaviour research.

She subsequently earned her MSc (2014) and PhD (2017) working on beef cattle behaviour, at São Paulo State University, in a well-recognized animal welfare program.

Maria has considerable experience in research in animal welfare and behaviour in cattle, swine, and other species.

Most of her work was in South America, but she also spent five months in Australia (University of Melbourne) during her graduate studies. She has a strong publication record and also has extensive experience teaching and giving presentations. Her primary teaching duties at UCVM will be animal welfare and behaviour.

Dr. Jennifer Pearson Jen started her new position as assistant professor in bovine health management, at UCVM on August 1. Jen did her undergraduate studies at Oregon State University, earning BAs in Science and Animal Science, followed by her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine in 2012. She continued her training at the veterinary school in Cornell University, including an internship in the Ambulatory and Production Medicine section (2012-13) and an Ambulatory and Theriogenology Residency (2013-15). Thereafter, she pursued a PhD here at UCVM, under the supervision of Drs. Claire Windeyer and Ed Pajor. In her thesis research, she investigated the impacts of calving management, calf risk factors, and difficult calvings on the health and performance of beef calves. She successfully defended her thesis in 2019 and for the last year, she has been working as a postdoctoral scholar with Dr. Ed Pajor. In 2018, Jen became board certified in theriogenology.

Jen’s research interests focus on reproductive health in beef cattle, including cows, calves and bulls. She already has considerable experience in teaching, both at Cornell and at UCVM. 13

Dr. Mathieu Pruvot Mathieu received his Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) in France in 2008. During his veterinary education, he specialized in the field of veterinary epidemiology and epidemiological surveillance of tropical diseases, and completed his DVM thesis on the diagnostic and epidemiology of animal trypanosomiasis in Thailand. Mathieu did his MSc in epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of Montpellier, Faculty of Medicine in France and conducted his MSc research on low pathogenic avian influenza modeling at UC Davis, CA. In 2014, he completed his PhD at the University of Calgary, on assessing the risk of pathogen transmission between wildlife and livestock in western Canada.

For the past six years, Mathieu has been working for the Wildlife Conservation Society as a wildlife epidemiologist, initially based in Cambodia, leading a large EU-funded One-Health project focused on developing wildlife health surveillance networks in Cambodia and Laos. He researched zoonotic disease risk related to bush-meat trade and consumption in Laos, and on the dynamics of rodent-borne pathogens along deforestation gradients. For the past two years, Mathieu was based at Colorado State University continuing on a range of projects linking health and conservation. Mathieu is looking forward to engaging with the diverse community of faculty members within UCVM and beyond, including on issues of animal and environmental health in the context of food production systems.

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Supporting W.A. Ranches Interested in supporting outreach, education, or research activities at W.A. Ranches at the University of Calgary?

Please contact: Megan Robinson Director of Development Faculty of Veterinary Medicine megan.robinson@ucalgary.ca

FACULTY OF VETERINARY MEDICINE 3280 Hospital Dr. NW Calgary, AB T2N 4Z6 CANADA 403.210.3961 vetmed@ucalgary.ca

vet.ucalgary.ca