Late spring snow

08 Apr 23 Cattle Country ... click here for the audio (90 sec)

Jim Fisher	Welcome to Cattle Country. Alberta Beef leading the way. Hello, everyone. I’m Jim Fisher. We bring in Reynold Bergen, Alberta Beef Producers’ Animal Health and welfare manager. Reynold, the return of winter conditions. The snow and the wind.
Reynold Bergen	It is a bit of mixed blessing. Many parts of western Canada and Alberta are very dry so the moisture is welcome and hopefully some of that snow will melt and soak in or help fill dugouts in the coming weeks.
Jim	Let’s go over the problems, the conditions we’ve seen posed for cattle producers, the cow/calf producers.
Reynold	Late snow always causes some problems and concerns. Calves are quite susceptible to cold. When they are wet, it is even worse. So producers will be making an effort to make sure calves are as dry as possible. When it comes to the cows, they are nursing; they have very high nutritional needs right now. And, in the coming weeks, producers will be spending a lot of time checking calves and looking for and treating scours and pneumonia.
Jim	We can never mention it enough, Reynold. If anyone notices a problem, call the ALERT line.
Reynold	AFAC has a toll free confidential ALERT line; 1-800-506-2273. It provides a resource team of producers and an on-call vet.

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