News

November 2022 - This year’s recipient of the OABP Award of Excellence is Dr. Rob Tremblay.  Dr. Tremblay has had a significant and lasting impact on bovine practitioners across Canada, but particularly in Ontario. Dr. Tremblay received his DVM from OVC and then practiced in a large animal practice in New Brunswick before returning to OVC and completing his DVSc. He then became board certified with the ACVIM, having specific expertise and knowledge of the control of infectious diseases of cattle, and started his career in a faculty position in Clinical Studies at the Ontario Veterinary College. Congratulations Dr. Tremblay!

This Fall's OABP Continuing Education meeting was held on Wednesday, November 9 and Thursday, November 10, 2022 at Cutten Fields in Guelph, ON.

The OABP CE Committee worked diligently to offer an in-person ‘Fall’ CE Meeting. This year, the theme of the meeting was “The Impact of the Veterinarian in the Truck and on the Farm” with topics on leadership, communication, and animal welfare.

This Spring’s OABP Continuing Education meeting was held on Wednesday, June 8 and Thursday, June 9, 2022 at the Waterloo Inn, Waterloo, Ontario.

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November 2021 – This year’s recipient of the OABP Award of Excellence is Dr. Todd Duffield. Todd is a 1990 graduate of the OVC who spent four years in practice in Stirling, Ontario prior to returning to OVC where he completed his DVSc degree in 1997 and joined the faculty. He is an incredibly productive researcher with over 200 refereed publications to his credit, including over 100 in the Journal of Dairy Science, an achievement which earned him membership in the exclusive JDS 100 Club.  His research program has focused on metabolic diseases of dairy cows, control of pain in cows and calves, and most recently on tackling the welfare issues related to cull dairy cows.  He leads the Saputo Dairy Care program and has a longstanding focus on the health and welfare of dairy cattle.  Congratulations Dr. Duffield!

November 2021 –  Dr. Ray Reynen has been awarded the OABP Veterinary Service Award for 2021. Dr. Reynen has dedicated not just his career, but his life to veterinary medicine, and continues to advocate for the bovine industry today.  He has shown his commitment to the industry through his passion for educating producers, practitioners, and the general community. He has dedicated years of his life to students of the Ontario Veterinary College, and has been pivotal in the growth of these students into knowledgeable and practical veterinarians. He has also helped to organize successful meetings for veterinarians, and has served on numerous advisory boards to support and promote our industry.  Congratulations Dr. Reynen!

October 2021 – On October 9th, at the annual business meeting of the American Association of Bovine Practitioners (AABP), the AABP Bovine Practitioner of the Year was awarded to Dr. Kelly Barratt. Kelly was recognized for being a lifestyle role model,  veterinary leader, and a mentor to new young vets in practice and beyond, encouraging them to see bovine veterinary medicine as a valuable and rewarding career choice. Congratulations Dr. Barratt!

November 2020 – An Honorary OABP Member award was virtually presented to Dr. Jan Shapiro to recognize her for the outstanding contributions of she provided to the veterinary community across Eastern and Central Ontario through her role as pathologist with the Animal Health Laboratories (AHL) in Kemptville and Brighton, and for her long and active service in the Central Canada Veterinary Association.

November 2020 – This year’s Ontario Association of Bovine Practitioners Veterinary Service Award was presented virtually to Dr. Joel Rumney, the founder of North Simcoe Veterinary Services, in Midland, by Dr. David Kelton.  For over 37 years he has provided outstanding individual animal and herd veterinary service, brought new ideas and management practices to his clients, advocated for agriculture and his community, mentored young farmers just getting started and young veterinarians looking to build a career in mixed animal practice. Congratulations Dr. Rumney. 

November 2020 – Dr. David Kelton is the Recipient of the 2020 OABP Award of  Excellence, presented to him virtually  by Dr. Ken Leslie.  Through all aspects of veterinary research and education, Dr. Kelton has a stellar record of achievement. It is with great pleasure that we congratulate Dr. David Kelton as the recipient of this year’s Ontario Association of Bovine Practitioners Award of Excellence.

June 2020 – This year’s OABP Student prize was presented to Dr. Alsop during the “virtual” OVC Veterinary Oath Ceremony on June 20.  Dr. Alsop intends to focus primarily on dairy medicine and critical care as a Large Animal  Associate Veterinarian at the Heartland Animal Hospital in Listowel.  There, she also intends to engage in the veterinary care of small ruminants, beef cows, and horses. Quoting Dr. Alsop, “Receiving the OABP prize makes me feel welcomed into the profession that I have always wanted and worked so hard to join. I really appreciate that this organization was willing to support a new  graduate vet, to help get my career started. For that I am truly thankful”.  Congratulations Dr. Alsop!

April 2020 – At the most recent Ontario Association of Veterinary Technician (OAVT) Conference, the strong, collaborative, and supportive relationship between bovine practitioners and RVTs was officially recognized. Dr. Dan Shock accepted the “OAVT Appreciation Award” on behalf of OABP.  Briefly, the OAVT Appreciation award: “Recognizes an organization or stakeholder in the animal health community who has demonstrated outstanding support and contribution to the increased awareness of the field of veterinary technology. The recipient has furthered the image of the RVT through encouragement and support of the profession”.  

March 16, 2020 – The Ontario Association of Bovine Practitioners (OABP) Executive and Conference Committee followed the developments of COVID19 throughout the last week.  After much thought we have decided to cancel the upcoming continuing education meeting that was to be held on April 15 and 16^th, 2020.
With the health and safety of our members and industry partners in mind, and as public health professionals, the Executive felt that our association should take a leadership role and do our part to reduce the transmission of this virus.
The continuing education committee will reconvene in the near future to decide the next best steps to provide pertinent educational opportunities to our members.
For now, we all must be the public health professionals veterinarians are trained to be and lead by example in the field and in our communities.

Regards,
Robyn Elgie, DVM
OABP Conference Chair

Click on this link to view the current version of OABP’s Synopsis of the new Transport Regulations.

On Thursday, November 21, 2019, Dr. Wayne Shewfelt received the OABP Veterinary Service Award.   Dr. Shewfelt (left) is pictured receiving the award from Dr. Scott Westlake.   Congratulations!

On Thursday, November 21, 2019, Dr. Ewen Ferguson was presented with the OABP Award of Excellence.   Dr. Ferguson (right) is seen here receiving his Award from Dr. Henry Ceelen.  Congratulations!

Click on this link to view Bill 136. The Bill is now open for comments.

Click on this link to view a document, prepared by Dr. Sherri Christie, assembling the highlights of  Bill 136 that are most relevant to Veterinarians.

Considerations for Developing a Down Cattle Protocol   ( PDF)  ( MS Word File )

Down Cattle – Quick Guide   ( PDF File )   ( MS Word File )

Presented annually to a student in the Ontario Veterinary College’s  graduating class who demonstrates proficiency in the area of bovine herd health management, this year’s recipient is Dr. Christina Lyn, seen here receiving her award from Dr. Ray Reynen, OABP President.

Dr. Henry Ceelen, Kemptville, Ontario, was named the recipient of the 2018 Boehringer Ingelheim Practitioner of the Year Award at the Conference of the American Association of Bovine Practitioners (AABP) in Phoenix, AZ on September 15, 2018. This award is presented annually by the AABP to a veterinarian in general practice in recognition of his or her outstanding contributions to the veterinary profession, the cattle industry, and bovine practice.  Click here to read the official press release.

Dr. Todd Duffield of Guelph, Ontario, has been named the recipient of the 2018 Metacam® 20 Bovine Welfare Award for his profound and lasting impact on the well-being of the bovine species. His contributions include an extraordinary commitment to scientific research, teaching, extension education and the mentorship of veterinary students and new scientists. Click here to read the official press release.

The OABP Student Award is presented annually to a student in the graduating class of the Ontario Veterinary College, University  of Guelph, who has demonstrated proficiency in the area of bovine herd health management and an interest in bovine practice. This year’s recipient, Dr. Janna Pietersma, is receiving the award from Dr. Ray Reynen, OABP President.

Student Case Competitions (SCC) are held annually at OABP’s Fall Continuing Education Meeting. The contest, open to third year veterinary students, includes entering a written case report to a panel of judges who then choose three “finalists” to make a 10-minute presentation about the case in front of their peers at the OABP meeting.  These presentations are ranked by the audience, with monetary prizes being given in order of first, second, and third. Below are some examples of past written submissions:

Acute Coliform Mastitis – A. Topp
Astrovirus Encephalitis – R. Rumney
Catarrhal Fever – L. Ricer
Increased Protein Feeding – R. Cornell
Ketosis – M. Davies

The OABP Student Award is presented annually to a student in the graduating class of the Ontario Veterinary College, University  of Guelph, who has demonstrated proficiency in the area of bovine herd health management and an interest in bovine practice. This year’s recipient, Dr. Ben Potvin, is receiving the award from Dr. Dan Shock, OABP Treasurer.

Congratulations to Dr. Neil Anderson who was presented with the OVC Distinguished Alumnus Award at this year’s OVC Alumni Association Annual meeting on June 10, 2017. The award recognizes OVC graduates who have brought honour to their Alma matter and fellow alumni through their contributions to alumni affairs, education, community, their profession, country and the sciences. Dr. Anderson has served the veterinary community in many ways, both as a practicing veterinarian at Cheltenham Veterinary Services (1972-1983) and as the Lead Veterinarian, Disease Prevention (Ruminant) with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (1983 – 2014). Neil served as President of the OABP in 1987 and was the first recipient of the OABP Award of Excellence in 2002. Although Neil’s contributions to the Ontario dairy and beef industry are immeasurable, one area of passion for Neil has been his commitment to improving calf health and welfare. The dairy industry has been forever changed by his influence to improve the nutrition of growing calves. Congratulations Neil on this well-deserved honour!

September 2014 – Dr. Kelly Barratt, OABP President, has been named to the ‘Top 40 Under 40’ contributors to animal agriculture by Vance Publishing, one of only two Canadians on the list.   

February 2014 – A small group of the OABP Executive met with Wes Lane, a retired DFO representative and Special Advisor to a new research and education centre being built outside of Elora.  The Dairy Research and Innovation Centre will be built at the current site of the Elora Research Station, one of the Agricultural Research Institute of  Ontario (ARIO) facilities operated by University of Guelph in partnership agreement with OMAF. Wes is tasked with finding potential industry partners (DFO is the leading partner) to donate towards construction of the new facility.  Wes presented the goals of the new facility which include a desire to modernize the facility from the one currently being used and enable it to be a site where applied research can be conducted.  Considerable thought has been put into the design of the facility as to make it flexible so that dairy research including health, reproduction, nutrition, life cycle, emissions, animal well-being, and value added milk components can be conducted.  It is also designed to be easily altered to suit the needs of future research opportunities. The two current dairy research facilities will be merged into this new and improved centre.

As the leading partner, DFO has committed $1,000,000 towards the construction cost of this facility. Another $4,000,000 will be required to meet the $25,000,000 budget, with $20,000,000 coming from the province.   With DFO being a producer funded organization, in effect, dairy farmers are true partners in this project.

The OABP Executive made a motion for OABP to make a $10,000 donation towards the development of this facility. The Executive feels this is a one-time opportunity for Ontario  bovine veterinarians to donate towards a facility that will primarily benefit the Ontario dairy industry.  Making this donation demonstrates our support and allows us to give back to an industry that all OABP members have benefited from.

July 2011 – It is with great pleasure that the OABP announces that we now have available an excellent PowerPoint presentation (see links below) outlining the “Health Standards for 4-H Shows”.  It is consistent with the OABP articles on this topic in the June 2011 OABP Newsletter, on the OABP website, and in the April-May issues of Ontario Dairy Farmer and Ontario Beef Farmer.

The presentation was prepared by Kristin Ferguson, Dr. Ann Godkin’s OMAFRA summer student. This presentation is intended to serve several purposes:  to familiarize bovine veterinarians with the health standards developed in consultation with 4-H Ontario and OMAFRA; and, to be used in presentations by bovine veterinarians or  4-H Ontario personnel to 4-H Calf Clubs or Cattle Show Committees to educate the cattle exhibitors on these standards.

We encourage all bovine veterinarians to contact local 4-H Calf Clubs for an invitation to discuss the issue of show cattle health standards.  The ultimate goal is to standardize health standards and to have them enforced consistently for all cattle shows across Ontario. The OABP would appreciate your participation and cooperation in this endeavour.

4-H Presentation (PDF)

Policy for the Health of 4-H Calves Shown or Exhibited – June 2012