Lead Toxicity in Cattle with Dr. Vanessa Cowan

The Beef Cattle Health and Nutrition Podcast

This week I'm pleased to welcome Dr. Vanessa Cowan to the podcast. Vanessa is a veterinarian and a specialist in veterinary toxicology who has recently joined our faculty at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine. She joins me this week to talk about lead toxicity, one of the most common toxicities of beef cattle that also has important public health implications.
Here are the links to some of the research opportunities that I talk about at the start of the podcast:

The Canadian Cow-Calf Survey: https://www.beefresearch.ca/blog/discovering-the-realities-of-the-2023-canadian-calf-crop/
The Beef Cattle Research Council (BCRC) is asking all Canadian cow-calf producers to share insight into their on-farm management and production practices, which will help inform future beef research and extension strategies.

The 2023 Canadian Cow-Calf Survey is an online questionnaire set up to collect data to help understand longer-term trends in production methods and efficiencies. Collecting credible information directly from beef cattle producers helps the BCRC identify research priorities and information gaps, develop provincial benchmarks and examine changes over time that impact farms and ranches.

Canadian Cow-Calf Health and Productivity Enhancement Network (C3H-PEN)
Contact: Jayce Fossen, Project Coordinator
[email protected]
306-966-7870

00:00 – Opportunities to participate in Canadian beef surveys and projects

02:55 – Welcome and introductions

04:58 – Sources of lead in the environment of cattle

06:37 - How much lead is necessary to cause toxicity?

07:37 – Rapidity of onset and clinical signs

10:23 – Confirmation of diagnosis and possibility of treating cases of lead toxicity

13:04 – How commonly do we see lead toxicity in Western Canada – seasonality and age groups

17:05 - Public health significance of lead toxicity in cattle

20:42 – How long does lead last in the tissues?

22:37 – Prevention of lead toxicity

24:56 – Wrap up