Pipestone Veterinary Services News

I was asked to talk about Toxoplasmosis and additional information is available in our Veterinary Guide book or on the blog site but for today I am going to review how the organism infects sheep and goats. Cats become infected by animals infected with the parasite usually rodents or small birds. Rodents...

Every so often Copper toxicity raises its ugly head. I don’t know what it takes to make people aware that you can’t add additional copper to sheep rations. Sometimes it’s a mixing mistake and sometimes it is just plain ignorance but in any event sheep die and those that don’t...

Last Friday USDA released their Quarterly Hogs & Pigs Report which I’ve included along with the Pre-report estimates and so you can see the differences in the far right hand column.  You’ll notice that the actual USDA numbers came in quite a bit higher than the estimates across most of...

Have you ever unloaded a group of pigs that are heat stressed following transportation? How do you manage transportation during months of high heat and humidity to prevent or minimize heat stress and transport losses? Here are a few tips to help your pigs weather summer heat and humidity.  It...

Culling – as boring of a subject it may be, your culling strategy is an important factor in the health and future of your herd.  Culling “strategy” is something that is highly variable from farm-to-farm.  First, having a culling strategy implies that you have a choice, and we all know...

Veterinary Feed Directive The new Veterinary Feed Directive (VFD) regulations will be going into effect January 1st, 2017.  What does this mean for your operation? These FAQ’s should help shed some light: What prompted the government to change the rules regarding antibiotic use in food animals?  Why now? These rules...

Kemin Host 2016 Swine Forum focused on Risk Management On May 25th the Kemin Risk Management Team, led by Dr. Mark Bienhoff, hosted the 2017 Swine Forum, at the Iowa FFA Enrichment Center. The successful event provided a platform for interactive, facilitated discussion with respect to fundamental industry biosecurity and risk...

Hormone use in pork production is a really common area of misconception. I have frequently heard statements alluding to the idea that pigs are “pumped” with hormones to make them grow faster. For some reason people are under the impression that pigs couldn’t possibly grow so fast without the aid...

Community Highlights Pipestone and their employees are always excited to give back to the communities we live and work in.  Here are a few highlights from May: Free Throws for Kids Pipestone held their 2nd annual Free Throws for Kids event.  The free throw competition between Pipestone departments is a fun way...

By: Dr. Adam Schelkopf  Have you ever wondered why we give piglets iron?  Who would give the piglet iron if we were not there to provide it?  These are good questions and fortunately ones we have answers to so you can best weigh your options when it comes to iron. Iron...