Livestock Veterinary Services
424 Highway Ave T0K 1V0 Picture Butte, AB, Canada

Spring is a time to renew and refresh and LVS is no different. As we have continued to grow and expand, we have outgrown our building and we've only been here 2 years!!!! Luckily for us, we did have a large parking area in the back and with some help from our new friends at ProRoots Developments, we are turning that extra parking into offices, a dedicated lab space and some desperately needed storage. We have a couple other big developments planned for the new space, but we will save those for another update.

International Women's Day Today we celebrate the trail blazers who showed us the way and consider the path we are paving for the next generation. Veterinary Medicine wasn't traditionally a field for women, but according to the CVMA, in 2020 more than 60% of veterinarians are female, with that number expected to continue rising. Our team is filled with smart, strong, fierce and caring women with a drive to be the best at what they do. From the receptionist answering your p...hone call, the RVT drawing bloods on your calf or the vet doing your emergency c-section, each team member is a vital part of our work family and we are so thankful to have the opportunities to grow and develop together in this ever changing industry. #internationalwomensday #womeninag

Life is hectic in a busy practice, but its so important that you and your team be on the same page and working towards the same goals. Every 4 weeks, all of the vets and RVTs at Livestock Veterinary Services meet, in person or virtually. These meetings might be a case study review, a program rollout or a discussion on some interesting learning from a Continuing Education seminar. Meetings like this help us bring our very best to our clients, keep us updated with what is happening in our industry and stay connected to each other. Teamwork makes the Dream Work.

At LVS we celebrate the few who feed the many, every single day. We are honoured to be invited to your farms and to support you and your endeavours in our small way. We are proud to tell the world what a great job we see you doing, rain or shine, hot or cold, each and every day. In what has been a challenging year, thank you for keeping food on our tables and being amazing agriculture ambassadors! #CdnAgDays #ForksUp #agmorethanever

A great summary on the current costs of mastitis on Canadian Dairy farms. It’s worth the read! It’s brief and concise (and we especially love the last sentence in the summary section ) https://albertamilk.com//Herd-Level-Mastitis-Costs-Jan-202

Some important lessons from Dr. Melissa's calf health investigations Have you checked your (bottle) nipples lately?! Did you know that most of the nipples below should not (actually NEVER!) be used to feed your calves? Holes that are too large allow milk to flow into the calf's mouth faster than it can swallow it. This increases the risk that milk may be inhaled or driven up the eustachian tube into the inner ear, leading to ear infections or pneumonia. If you have seen droopy ears or head tilts in your calves, this may be why. Although the small opening that nursing nipples come with can be frustrating to train newborn calves to drink on, it is critical to leave the hole this way to reduce the risk of illness in your pre-weaned calves. #dontcutit

Hot off the Press! Be sure to catch Dr. Bradley’s article in this month’s Progressive Dairy magazine on working with your Vet to enhance milk quality.

From all of us at LVS, we wish you a very Merry Christmas and all the best in 2021!

UPDATE: Owner Found! Found dog! This pretty girl and her doggie partner in crime were seen running loose in Picture Butte near the apartment buildings on Rogers Avenue. Our Vet Tech, Jessica, was able to catch this girl, but her doggie friend was too skittish. The friend is described as a dark border collie or kelpie style dog, mostly black with some brown and white. If these are your dogs, please contact us at the clinic to be reunited. 403-732-5322

Check out what our friends over at AgWest are doing this morning

It’s October! Which means it is Registered Veterinary Technician (RVT) Month! Jessica and Amanda are our RVT’s and they do an amazing job at administering our on-farm calf and fresh cow health programs and running our in-house laboratory. Over the next few weeks, we will feature Jessica and Amanda in action and talk about what they do to help support LVS vets and farmers.

Mycoplama Bovis can be a devastating disease on dairy farms and unfortunately it is being found here in Alberta. Dr. Bradley recently did a casual interview for dairy producers with Kira from the Dairy Research and Extension Consortium of Alberta to address some common questions and concerns about the disease.

Today is not a designated administrative professional recognition day, but we just wanted to say how much we appreciate these ladies! Truus and Mel, we thank you so much for all you do to keep us organized and our day running smoothly!

Look at our team grow! It’s been a really exciting last few years at LVS. New building, a new vet, 2 new technicians, an additional receptionist and lots of new services!

We are excited to welcome our new registered veterinary technician Amanda Johnson to the team!! With the growth in our fresh cow and calf health programs as well as our in-house laboratory, it was time to add another technician to LVS!

Please let us know if you would like to sign up for the last Calf Care Producer Series meeting! We have had great feedback from those who attended the first 3 sessions [email protected] 403-732-5322

We are excited to welcome our new registered veterinary technician Amanda Johnson to the team!! With the growth in our fresh cow and calf health programs as well as our in-house laboratory, it was time to add another technician to LVS!

Mark your calendars for session 3 of the Farm Skills Calf Care Series! Call the office or email us to register!

And thank goodness for that!

With all of the miles we put on our trucks, breakdowns and mechanical issues are things we have come to expect. Sometimes we are lucky enough that these issues happen on farm, and we have the good fortune of very handy and helpful farmers! This mechanical issue was a vet box that wouldn’t unlatch due to a broken wire, but these 5 guys got the bolts out and the wire repaired in no time at all! Thanks guys!

Part 2 of the Calf Care Producer series is on June 25th! RSVP to the clinic so we can sign you up for an invitation! 403-732-5322 [email protected]

There are still 3 more sessions to join in on for the FarmSkills Calf Care Producer Series! Please call or email the clinic if you need more information. Also, in the LVS newsletter this month, check out our data summarizing the findings on average daily gain by month across all of the LVS Calf Start herds over the past year. Lastly, thank you to our clients who have been on the program for almost 2 years now, and to those who continue to join to gain valuable insight on calf health and performance!

Thank you so much to our amazing clients for your participation in Dr. Bradley’s On-Line Milk Quality Session! We have had a lot of interest in moving towards pathogen based mastitis treatment as well as focusing more on mastitis prevention. Just a reminder of the following Milk Quality Services LVS offers: *full service milk quality laboratory ... *milking procedure evaluations, including dynamic testing *teat end scoring *udder health consultations, including our year-long Udder Health Improvement Program *robot performance evaluations See more

Dr. Wallace- I think we have found your missing Splashers!! Dr. Warrington tried them on to be sure they weren’t his (since he has the same colour). So either they are indeed yours, or Ian is setting a new trend #capristyle #wherestheflood #vethumour

Throwback Thursday- The newly Graduated Dr. Bradley circa 2005! On this day, 15 years ago, she started her career at LVS. Dr. Bradley would like to thank all of her exceptional colleagues, support staff and clients in both the beef and dairy industry in Alberta for facilitating such a rewarding bovine veterinary career. She’s looking forward to many more years in practice!!

It’s World Veterinary Day!! We are proud to be a part of a large, global veterinary community who have the honour of providing health care to animals

It looks like farm kids who are getting homeschooled right now are really getting the best of both worlds when it comes to life experience and journaling!

Thank you to Janna, Truus and Mel for making LVS such an amazing place to work. We are so thankful for you all!

We hope everyone had a safe and Happy Easter Weekend!

To all of our colleagues out in the field... we see you!! Let’s keep up the good work and stay safe

Legit!! Keep up the good work everyone!