Ontario Veterinary College

THE SAPUTO DAIRY CARE PROGRAM

MARCH 2019

Helping to ensure the future of the dairy industryWith your commitment to the Saputo Dairy Care Program, we launched and now manage two successful initiatives: 1. Hands-on dairy welfare education for DVM students; and 2. Dairy welfare practice workshops. Through these programs, hundreds of dairy stakeholders — future and existing food animal veterinarians, producers, trade representatives and government officials — have grown more aware of the changes necessary to secure the future of the industry.

University of Guelph | 50 Stone Road | Guelph ON N1G 2W1

ovc.uoguelph.ca

VETERINARY STUDENT EXPERIENCE

DAIRY CATTLE WELFARE ROTATIONThe dairy cattle welfare curriculum includes instruction on the assessment of animal welfare and adherence

to standards of care, and how best to communicate the updates to producers and colleagues alike. It is

primarily delivered by Ontario Veterinary College (OVC) faculty Drs. Todd Duffield, Derek Haley and Lena

Levison. But there were lectures by other OVC faculty as well. Dave Kelton, Professor and Dairy Farmers of

Ontario Chair in Dairy Cattle Health, described the National Dairy Study. Researcher Meagan Kind lectured

on automatic milking systems. Assistant Professors Dave Renaud offered a veal farm tour and discussed calf

health and Charlotte Winder presented on the topic of disbudding and dehorning. PhD candidate Amanda

Armstrong spoke regarding the Animal Care Assessment Program.

Thanks to the support and engagement by Saputo, the program was further enriched by the involvement of

outside experts. Actively participating in discussion and rotation activities were Jocelyn Dubuc, Professor,

Université de Montréal Veterinary Faculty at St-Hyacinthe Campus, Nuffield Scholar and veterinary consultant

Tommy Heffernan, and Saputo Director of Animal Welfare Warren Skippon. Tommy attended from Monday

to Thursday. In addition, there was a lecture on American audit schemes by Professor Cassandra Tucker,

University of California – Davis, and a presentation on cull cows and down cows, presented by Assistant

Professor Claire Windeyer, University of Calgary Faculty of Veterinary Medicine.

This elective rotation is aimed at final-year veterinary students and is offered two

times per year with a maximum of 12 students per offering. Since the inception of

the program in 2016, 54 students have completed the dairy cattle welfare rotation.

And this year, we are launching two communications platforms to keep them

engaged and connected after their rotation experience. First, all 54 participants

were included on an email list serv for updates about the Dairy Care Program and

other dairy welfare related opportunities. Second, a Dairy Care Program Facebook

group has been created as a forum for rotation participants to discuss issues and

find information and support.

Participation by veterinary students from outside of the OVC is made possible

by travel grants from the Saputo Dairy Care Program. Among the 19 2018-2019

participants, there were:

• Nine from the OVC

• One student from the Atlantic Veterinary College

• Four from the Université de Montréal Veterinary Faculty at St-Hyacinthe Campus

• Three from the University of Calgary Faculty of Veterinary Medicine

• One from the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine

• One from the Western College of Veterinary Medicine

The schedule for the week-long program conducted in February 2019 is presented

in Appendix A.

What were the most valuable aspects of the rotation?

“Farm visits – great opportunity to see real life

situations and apply classroom knowledge”

“Students from all over Canada and the

different views everyone brought to the table”

“Experience in welfare auditing”

What would they change about the rotation?

“Move it to the summer!”

“Make it a two-week rotation.”

“Could be longer, lots of things to do,

not enough time”

Other comments?

“Thanks for hosting me! This was one of

my best 4th year rotations”

“Keep up offering this amazing externship”

“It was a great rotation, enjoyed it a lot”

QuotesStudent

DAIRY WELFARE PRACTICE WORKSHOPS

CAMPBELL CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF ANIMAL WELFARE (CCSAW) SEMINARSThe monthly CCSAW Seminars are open to the University of Guelph community and include attendees from

the general public, agriculture industries and the provincial government. The Saputo Dairy Care Program

contributed to the series with a presentation by Professor of Animal Science Cassandra Tucker on the topic

Disbudding dairy calves: science from the academy to the farm. Tucker earned her PhD from the University

of British Columbia and now serves as the director for the Center for Animal Welfare at UC – Davis. She drew

upon her work experiences in Canada, New Zealand, and Denmark, as well as the U.S., and offered insights

regarding cattle perception and behavior that inform her management practices and housing design. There

were 60 attendees to her February 14, 2019, talk. During her visit, Tucker also spoke to smaller groups of

students and faculty at CCSAW and with the Dairy at Guelph research group.

DAIRY WELFARE FORUMThe one-and-a-half-day Dairy Welfare Forum was the second annual meeting to discuss ongoing projects and

research results, as well as the unmet needs for further research, extension and education for the Canadian

dairy industry. (See the itinerary in Appendix B.) Held February 19 – 20, 2019, at the OVC, the topics included:

• Cow-calf separation

• Condition of culled cows in Ontario and British Columbia

• Down cow management educational opportunities for producers

• Animal-based measures as part of proAction

• Hock lesion resolutions

• Updates to the National Dairy Code of Practice; and

• Where the dairy industry is headed in the next 15 years

This year, the list of participating institutions expanded beyond the University of British Columbia and the

University of Guelph (U of G) to include McGill University and the Université de Montréal. Facilitated by U of G’s

Dr. Ken Leslie, the meeting produced a vibrant exchange of ideas among participants and will be held again

February 18 – 19, 2020, at OVC. The following is the full roster of participants:

LIST OF PARTICIPANTS

• Amanda Armstrong, PhD Candidate, Department of Population Medicine, U of G

• Dr. Stephanie Croyle, PhD Candidate, Department of Population Medicine, U of G

• Dr. Trevor DeVries, Associate Professor, Canada Research Chair in Dairy Cattle Behaviour and Welfare,

Department of Animal Biosciences, U of G

• Dr. Todd Duffield, Professor, Chair, Department of Population Medicine, U of G

• Dr. Derek Haley, Associate Professor, Chair, CCSAW Steering Committee,

Department of Population Medicine, U of G

• Dr. David Kelton, Professor, Dairy Farmers of Ontario Chair in Dairy Cattle Health,

Department of Population Medicine, U of G

• Dr. Stephen LeBlanc, Professor, Research Program Director, Animal Production Systems,

Department of Population Medicine, U of G

• Dr. Lena Levison, Clinical Veterinarian, Animal Care Services; Saputo Dairy Care Manager,

Department of Population Medicine, U of G

• Dr. Dave Renaud, Assistant Professor, Department of Population Medicine, U of G

• Dr. Warren Skippon, Director of Animal Welfare, Saputo

• Dr. Jane Stojkov, Research Assistant, Animal Welfare Program, UBC

• Dr. Elsa Vasseur, Assistant Professor, Research Chair in Sustainable Life of Dairy Cattle, McGill University

• Dr. Marianne Villettaz Robichaud, Assistant Professor of Animal Welfare and Sustainable Production,

Université de Montréal

• Dr. Marina von Keyserlingk, Professor, NSERC Industrial Research Chair, Animal Welfare Program, UBC

• Dr. Dan Weary, Professor, NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Dairy Cattle Welfare,

Animal Welfare Program, UBC

• Dr. Charlotte Winder, Assistant Professor, Department of Population Medicine, U of G

PRESENTATIONSDuffield, T.F. (2018). A rotation designed to teach final-year veterinary students about dairy cattle welfare.

International Society of Applied Ethology (ISAE), Charlottetown, Canada.

The ISAE conference theme for 2018 was “Ethology for Health and Welfare” and Dr. Duffield presented

to approximately 80 conference attendees from Canada and around the world.

Duffield, T.F., Levison, L.J., Haley, D.B. (2018). Teaching final-year veterinary students about dairy cattle

welfare. American Dairy Science Association (ADSA), Knoxville, USA.

Dr. Levison presented the poster to attendees from North America and the globe. See the full roster

of U of G presentations at the following webpage: https://dairyatguelph.ca/dairy-at-guelph-at-

adsa-2018/”

MEDIA PUBLICATIONGeiger, C. (2018). Vet school is proactive on dairy cattle welfare. Hoard’s Dairyman Intel. Retrieved from

https://hoards.com/article-23541-vet-school-is-proactive-on-dairy-cattle-welfare.html

This online newsletter has a subscriber list of 23,000.

SUPPORTED LECTUREWindeyer, C. (2018). Perinatal care of beef calves. Food Animal Club – OVC, Guelph, Canada.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENTLena Levison completed: Driessen, J. (2018). CowSignals Master Training. Sandusky, USA.

STUDENT TRAVELThe Saputo Dairy Care Program supported travel for a team of four OVC DVM students and their coach,

Dr. Derek Haley, to compete in the AVMA’s Intercollegiate Animal Welfare Assessment Contest, November

16 – 18, 2018, at Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colo. The team had studied the well-being of dairy

goats and other species from the beginning of term. Their hard work paid off with a second-place finish in a

field of ten, in the Veterinary Division. OVC’s top performer place third overall among all DVM students at the

competition.

APPENDIX A – DAIRY CATTLE WELFARE ROTATION SCHEDULE – WINTER 2019FEBRUARY 11–15, 2019 | FIRST MEETING: STEWART BUILDING ROOM 2511, OVC, 8:30

Locations: Stewart Building (SB) 2511; Pathobiology (PATH) 1800; Private farms; Livestock Auction; Livestock Research & Innovation Centre – Elora Dairy

MON. FEB. 11SB 2511 / Private farm

TUES. FEB. 12Elora Dairy

WED. FEB. 13Private farms / SB 2511

THURS. FEB. 14SB 2511 / Auction PATH 1800

FRI. FEB. 15SB 2511

8:30 Introductions (20 min)

Orientation for the dairy ACAP and practical training

First farm visit to perform ACAP

Key welfare issues National Dairy Study

9:00 Background on animal welfare

9:30 Second farm visit to perform ACAP

Livestock Auction Independent time for students to organize their ACAP farmpresentations

10:00 Break (15 min)Key dairy welfareissues: Discussion onidentifying and prioritizing

10:30

11:00

11:30

12:00 Lunch

12:30 Lunch CCSAW Lecture Lunch

13:00 Research presentation

Lunch

13:30 Robotic milking systems

Lunch and debrieffrom Livestock Auction

Student ACAP farm presentations

14:00 Break (15 min)Client communicationregarding animal welfare topics

Down cows, cull cows and euthanasia decisions

14:30 Dairy Animal CareAssessment Program (ACAP)

15:00 Break (10 min)Veal farm visit

Key welfare issues

15:30 Break (15 min)Key welfare issues

16:00 Course and instructor evaluations by students

16:30

17:00 Dinner at Symposium Café

APPENDIX B – DAIRY WELFARE DISCUSSION FORUMFEBRUARY 19 – 20, 2018 | SMITH LANE ANIMAL HOSPITAL, ROOM 101

TIME FEBRUARY 19, 2019

8:30 Welcome (5 min) • Event concept and acknowledgement of Saputo Introductions (65 min)• Self-introductions of participants with slides introducing two on-going projects not yet published, and one project in the idea phase (~ 3 to 5 min for each participant)

9:40 proAction Animal-Based Measures (70 min)• Lesions (10 min)• Online training modules for classifying animal-based measures for welfare in dairy cattle (10 min)• How should animal care assessment programs deal with severe lameness? • Corrective action timelines for lesions/lameness

10:50 Break

11:05 Down Cows (65 min)• Knowledge translation and transfer regarding down cows (10 mins)• Euthanasia and prod use

12:15 Lunch – meeting room

13:30 Culling (90 min)• Condition of culled dairy cows at Ontario auctions (10 min)• Cull cows – farm to slaughter (10 mins)• Discussion

15:00 Break

15:15 Dairy Codes of Practice (105 min)• Profitability and code compliance (10 min)• Background on update (10 min)• Discussion of priority areas for revision regarding welfare

17:00 End

18:45 Dinner – Aberfoyle Mill Restaurant

APPENDIX B – DAIRY WELFARE DISCUSSION FORUMFEBRUARY 19 – 20, 2018 | SMITH LANE ANIMAL HOSPITAL, ROOM 101

TIME FEBRUARY 20, 2019

8:30 Calves (90 min)• Cow-calf update (10 min)• Transportation stress (10 min)• Newborn calf vigor: diagnosis and therapy (10 min)• Discussion

10:00 Break

10:15 The Future of the Industry (60 min)• Processor perspective• Discussion

11:15 Missed Topics and Unfinished Discussions (30 min)• Dairy Welfare Rotation (10 min)• Wrap up (20 min)

12:15 Lunch – meeting room• End of program

Ontario Veterinary College

University of Guelph

50 Stone Road

Guelph ON N1G 2W1

519.824.4120

ovc.uoguelph.caovcinfo@uoguelph.ca

SNAP, INSTA, TWEET@ontvetcollege