Agricultural Animal Program

Urolithiasis: Is That a Urinary Stone or Are You Just Happy to See Me? (1 hour)

This session will cover a clinical review on urolithiasis including an update on new surgical procedures.

Management of the Pregnant Doe and Ewe (1 hour)

What should your management plan include to set both the pregnant doe and the ewe up for success? This session will present a clinical review on immunity and nutrition of the pregnant ewe and doe.

A Pathogen-centric Review of Small Ruminant Mastitis (1 hour)

Join this session to review pathogens and pathogenesis of small ruminant mastitis as well as routine milking procedures. Learn how to successfully manage sub-clinical mastitis.

Top 5 Killers of Small Ruminants: 1. Parasites, 2. Parasites, 3. Parasites, 4. Parasites, and 5. Sometimes Dogs (1 hour)

This session is all about…yes, you guessed it…parasites. Without doubt, parasites are the greatest threat to small ruminant health and operation profitability. Join this session for a review of the current literature in managing parasites including anthelmentics, environment, and genetics.

The Role of On-Farm Animal Welfare Assessments (1 hour)

On-farm assessments and audits are designed to improve overall livestock welfare by providing a standard, objective tool to which producers and the allied industry can assess, document and ensure accountability for on-farm practices influencing individual animal welfare. On a global scale, assessment and verification programs are implemented on both commercial and niche market systems as a means to verify producers are meeting expectations set out by the program and have systems set in place to correct any non-conformances identified during the farm evaluation. This presentation will focus on the history, current practices and future of on-farm animal welfare assessments and audits specific to the United States with a primary focus on scientific measures taken to assess animal welfare at the individual and herd level.

Panel Discussion on Production Animal Welfare (2 hours)

Animal welfare is a critical component of production animal management and veterinary medicine. This two-part session will bring together panelists from varied production animal industries (e.g., dairy, feedlot, poultry) who are highly engaged in supporting animal welfare across their respective industries. The panel discussion will focus on a variety of topics, including but not limited to: What animal welfare has meant to panelists across their careers, current production animal welfare challenges, and ways that veterinarians can engage in this important part of production animal management. Participants will gain varied perspectives on ways to improve animal welfare on-farm.

Animal Welfare Assessment in Action (1 hour)

This session will provide participants with an opportunity to practice animal welfare assessment. During the session, moderators will provide comparative examples of animals in production settings. Participants will be able to review the scenario information and assess the welfare of the animals in the provided examples by using a multitude of welfare indicators. The assessment exercises will provide participants with insight into the multi-faceted nature of animal welfare and how not one metric alone is used to determine overall welfare and quality of life.