Roy Lewis

Columnist at Grainews

Columnist at Alberta Farm Express

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Articles

Individualized cattle care makes money and animal welfare sense

1 week ago | manitobacooperator.ca | Roy Lewis

There is nothing better than having acute observational skills, knowing your animals and then following up with treatment or marketing in a timely matter. In today’s market, every animal has big value, so addressing issues earlier leads to more favourable results. I am going to give several examples of this using specific cases and let you extrapolate to the many individual cases you see during a production year.
Individual animal care and marketing has its benefits

1 week ago | producer.com | Roy Lewis

There is nothing better than having acute observational skills, knowing your animals and then following up with treatment or marketing in a timely matter. Every animal has big value so addressing issues earlier leads to more favourable results. I am going to give several examples of this using specific cases and let you extrapolate to the many individual cases you see during a production year.
Test for parasites in cattle herd to avoid over-medication

1 month ago | producer.com | Roy Lewis

The old days of treating everything in the fall with an ivermectin type (Macrocyclic lactone) product year after year and always expecting excellent results are perhaps going away. The good news is we can test for these parasites, and if thresholds are passed, then those herds or pens are treated.
BSE testing drags on Canadian cattle sector

2 months ago | manitobacooperator.ca | Roy Lewis

Testing for BSE at slaughterhouses continues, despite the dramatic decline in cases in recent years and the fact that Canada’s last case was in 2015. I had hoped that requiring meat plants to test specified risk materials such as spinal cords, brains and other nervous-related areas would have been eliminated once the country achieved negligible risk status. However, the program is still in effect, resulting in higher costs for Canadian plants than for their American counterparts.
Castration via banding makes gains in popularity, safety

Mar 9, 2025 | grainews.ca | Roy Lewis

The first castration banders were likely developed to replace knife or scalpel castration. They were easy to use and eliminated the complications of infections and blood loss. Castration with a knife or scalpel is harder to master and animal welfare issues must be considered. Banders have been around for a while; I recently saw an almost antique one that still worked to put green bands on young calves. Skill is needed, though, when using green bands.
Stakes are high on foot and mouth disease; Canada needs to act like it

Mar 4, 2025 | manitobacooperator.ca | Roy Lewis

The recent foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in Germany tells us that we all collectively need to be on the lookout for it. In Canada, the Beef Cattle Research Council has been the real centre for compiling information, putting out brochures and posters illustrating the clinical signs and organizing webinars and videos for veterinarians and producers. These should be of interest to the general public as well.
Larger cattle need more water

Jan 29, 2025 | grainews.ca | Roy Lewis

The only constant is change and I have seen a lot of changes in beef production; this article will outline some of them. Read Also Dear Dairy Diary: SARA in lactating dairy cows Dear Dairy Diary, June 24, 2024: I received a call from a dairy producer who milks about 200 dairy cows…. With lots of evidence of warmer summers, water access is paramount in most of our eyes.
Several benefits to palpating heifers

Jan 10, 2025 | grainews.ca | Roy Lewis

Many commercial producers, purebred producers and heifer sales management are realizing the benefits of palpating heifers before breeding. A lot can be learned from the procedure, which can also be done at pregnancy checking. It involves a more thorough exam than simply determining if heifers are pregnant. With the advent of very early-maturing breeds such as Gelbvieh, Angus, Simmental and others, it is not unusual for unwanted pregnancies to occur when breeding bulls are left out late.
Increasing AI use has many advantages

Jan 9, 2025 | grainews.ca | Roy Lewis

Over the last decade or so, artificial insemination (AI), not to be confused with the other AI (artificial intelligence), has seen an upsurge in the commercial cattle population. Read Also Good weather holds through harvest On Sept. 30, Gregory drove John and Barb to Saskatoon because Barb was experiencing severe pain in her side. She’s… This has been happening for a lot longer in the purebred cattle industry and a lot of the reasons are the same.
Castration via banding is gaining popularity and safety

Dec 13, 2024 | producer.com | Roy Lewis

The first castration banders were likely developed to replace knife or scalpel castration. They were easy to use and eliminated the complications of infections and blood loss. Castration with a knife or scalpel is harder to master and animal welfare issues must be considered. Banders have been around for a while and I recently saw an almost antique one that still worked to put green bands on young calves. Skill is needed when using green bands.