Dairy Cattle Health Production Medicine and Software (Dairy Cattle I)

This micro-credential was designed by Dr. Ray Reynan (past President of the Ontario Association of Bovine Practitioners and Canadian Association of Bovine Practitioners) and Wayne Shewfelt (past President of Ontario Association of Bovine Practitioners) and former winner of the prestigious American Association of Bovine Practitioners Dairy Veterinary of the Year Award. Successful candidates will be able to function independently and confidently as part of a veterinary service delivery team. These micro-credentials are offered online with farm school assessments in Haileybury, Ontario.

Modules in this micro-credential include:

Stockmanship: Learn about herd and animal behavior, handle cattle with personal safety,and in a way that minimizes animal stress.

Dairy Industry: This module will introduce the structure of the supply management system for dairy production, including an introduction to how milk checks are calculated and managed by producers.

Life of a Diary Cow: Review the life cycle of a dairy cow from birth to herd removal. Particular focus on the impacts and assessment of the cow environment, from stall design to ventilation.

Udder Health/Milk Quality and Mastitis: Gain techniques to troubleshoot milk quality issues from the collection of farm data, cleanliness, and aseptic samples. The successful candidate will be capable of establishing an in-clinic milk culturing laboratory within a traditional veterinary hospital.

Reproduction/Manipulation of Cycles and Breeding: This unit explores the reproductive physiology of the modern dairy cow, including breeding synchronization protocols, use of computer software in tracking herd reproductive performance, and the role of technicians in both data entry and report preparation for dairy veterinarians.

Nutrition: This module explores shaker boxes, audits, evaluating feed samples, and reading a feed tag.

Transition Cow Management: Learn to use various computer software and monitoring programs in detection of transition cow disorders. Formally capture herd data such as body condition scoring and BHB sampling to assist in in this capacity.

Dairy Software: Learn to run Dairycomp software. Prepare and interpret reports on milk production, reproduction, and health events.

Dairy Medications: Review basic protocols, reporting requirements, and safety procedures to administer treatments and vaccination programs at a herd level.

Health Management: Learn about common issues encountered in Canadian dairies, and the role of the technician in data collection, treatment, and monitoring for pathogens.

Hoof Health and Lameness: Develop skill in lameness evaluation and recording, as well as assessment of current farm hoof health protocols. Environmental and nutritional contributions will also be discussed.

About Mandatory Farm School

The mandatory farm school portion of this course will occur over 2 1/2 days on a farm in Haileybury, Ontario and will be at the student’s own expense. Haileybury, Ontario is in the Temiskaming Shores area.

Placement

Candidates are expected to arrange an approximately 40-hour volunteer placement at an approved veterinary clinic. The clinic should have at least 1 veterinarian who is currently a member of the Ontario Association of Bovine Practitioners (or suitable alternative if out-of-province) on staff. There is a detailed list of skills and cattle assessments that the candidate will be required to perform during their placement. The days do not need to be consecutive. The placement could be a: 1 day every few weeks format, provided all the required work is completed. The intention of the placement is to provide a one-to-one learning experience with either a veterinary or veterinary technician mentor.

Flights
There is a regional airport in Timmins. Flights from Toronto to the Timmins Victor M. Power Airport (YTS) are 1 hour and 20 minutes in duration. There is also a regional airport in North Bay, closest to our Haileybury Campus. Flights from Toronto to the North Bay Jack Garland Airport are 1 hour in duration.

Students will have to use ground transportation from the airport in Timmins or North Bay. You are responsible for organizing your own transportation. For example, Northlander Bus Services or vehicle rentals. There are no taxi services available.

Timmins to Haileybury is approximately 2.5 hours (230 km) [Google Map]
North Bay to Haileybury is approximately 1.5 hours (155 km) [Google Map]
Toronto is 5 hours 44 minutes (540 km) to Haileybury. [Google Map]

Accommodations
The following are some accommodations available in Temiskaming Shores:

• Haileybury Beach Motel
• Leisure Inn
• Edgewater Motel
• Serenity Suites
• Waterfront Inn
• Wheel Inn Motel
• Econo Lodge
• Auberge Inn
• Quality Inn

Registration will be available at a later date.