Beef Cattle Herd Health
UC Cooperative Extension in collaboration with UC Davis Veterinary Medicine offers free online webinars. The sessions cover topics important to cattle health and management and include lots of visuals. Webinars are held live and participants have the opportunity to ask clarification questions on topics presented or with personal ranch questions or scenarios. This site includes future events, recordings of past webinars, and follow up resources on important cattle herd health topics.
The webinars are cohosted by University of California Cooperative Extension advisors Tracy Schohr, Grace Woodmansee, Rebecca Ozeran and specialist Dr. Gabriele Maier.
2025 Webinar Series
To receive information on the 2025 series please click here.
Cattle AI Tips for Herd Improvement
Featured speaker: Dr. Brett McNabb, UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine
This sessions provides a refresher on Artificial Insemination (AI) in beef cattle, along with covering preparing cattle for breeding and estrus synchronization protocols that can reduce labor and improve conception rates. Dr. McNabb also shares about different methods to determine conception.
Cattle AI Tips for Herd Improvement Resources
Neonatal Beef Calf Health
Featured speakers: Dr. Gabriele Maier and Dr. Essam Abdelfattah, UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine
This session for cow-calf producers will cover topics such as castration, naval care and vaccination to give your calves a good start in life! Speakers also discuss colostrum management, including assessing calves for risk of failure of passive transfer and how to tube a calf.
Neonatal Beef Calf Health Resources:
Beef Cattle Mineral Health
Featured speakers: Dr. Gabriele Maier, UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine and Josh Davy, UC Cooperative Extension Livestock and Range Advisor.
The session addresses mineral deficiency in beef cattle to improve productivity. It covers how to determine mineral deficiencies, establishing mineral supplementation needs for different classes of cattle and different locations (e.g. irrigated pasture vs annual rangelands), importance of proper mineral supplementation and more
Beef Cattle Mineral Health Resources:
Foothill Abortion Management Options and Vaccine
Featured speakers: Dr. Jeffrey Stott, UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine and Jenna Chandler, Hygieia Biological Laboratories
During the session you will learn more about Epizootic Bovine Abortion (EBA), more commonly known as Foothill Abortion. The session covers disease background, management options and the new vaccine that has proven to be safe and phenomenally effective.
Foothill Abortion Resources:
Bugging Beef – Internal Parasites
Featured Speakers: Dr. Grace VanHoy, UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine and Dr. Heather Fritz, California Animal Health & Food Safety Laboratory
Are you beef getting bugged? This session is focused identification and treatment options of internal beef cattle parasites.
Bugging Beef – External Parasites
Featured Speaker: Dr. Alec Gerry, UC Professor of Veterinary Entomology and Extension Specialist based at UC Riverside.
Are you beef getting bugged? This session is focused identification and treatment options of external beef cattle parasites.
External Parasite Resources:
Mystery of Calf Abortions
Featured Speaker: Bret McNabb, DVM, Associate Professor of Clinical Livestock Reproduction.
Ever wonder what causes cows to lose a calf after you a confirmed pregnancy? This session is focused on typical causes to calf abortions, and tools to prevent pregnancy losses.
Abortion Resources:
- Brochure - Foothill Abortion Vaccine
- Research paper - Evaluation of bovine abortion cases and tissue suitability for identification of infectious agents in California diagnostic
laboratory cases from 2007 to 2012 - Livestock Poisoning Plants of California
- Plants Poisonous to Livestock in the Western States
- See Toxic Plant recorded sessions on this page*
Time to Help During Calving
Featured Speakers: Bret McNabb, DVM, Associate Professor of Clinical Livestock Reproduction and Dr. Gabriele Maier, Specialist for Beef Cattle Herd Health and Production, UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine.
Have questions on your when to help during calving? This webinar is focused on when to help a cow during calving with techniques for pulling a calf. Additionally, speakers discuss cow and calf care, post calving.
Calving Resources:
- VIDEO - University of California Davis - How to attach obstetrics chains to a calf's legs to assist with calving
- VIDEO - University of Delaware Extension - Putting the Squeeze on "Dummy" Calves
- VIDEO - Beef Cattle Research Council - How to tube feed newborn calves (esophageal feeding)
Whole Herd Health Plans and Vaccination Schedules
Featured Speakers: Dr. Gabriele Maier, Specialist for Beef Cattle Herd Health and Production, UC Davis and Dr. Tom Talbot a large animal veterinarian in Bishop, Calif.
Have questions on your beef cattle whole herd health plan? This webinar is focused on cattle herd vaccination programs. Veterinarians discuss calf, pre-weaning, and annual cow vaccination programs. It also touches on essential mineral supplements to consider and local vaccination variances.
Vaccination Resources:
- Cattle Management Strategies to Minimize Foothill Abortion - Fact Sheet
- Veterinary Entomology - Controlling Inspect Pests (e.g. Ticks) of Livestock
- USGS - Selenium Concentrations by county
- Scoping Review on Risk Factors and Methods for the Prevention of Bovine Respiratory Disease Applicable to Cow–Calf Operations
- UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine Livestock Resources
- Dr. Maier's website - https://ucanr.edu/sites/beefcattle/
- Robert Sager Book - Handbooks for Beef Cattle Health
- See other recorded sessions on this page*
Pinkeye in Cattle
Featured Speaker: Dr. John Angelos, UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine
This webinar focuses on an overview of the biology and management of bovine pinkeye. Dr. Angelos, professor and chair, Department of Medicine and Epidemiology, School of Veterinary Medicine discusses cattle eye anatomy, pinkeye disease progression, and decision-making for developing treatment plans and prevention programs.
Pinkeye Resources:
Toxic Plants and Livestock
Featured Speaker: Robert H. Poppenga, DVM, UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine
Learn what plants you should look for in your hay, pasture and on rangelands - you can't rely on your livestock to avoid toxic plants! This session provides insight into a variety of plant toxins along with their effects on domestic animals. It also showcases typical livestock poisoning and symptoms to watch for.
Toxic Plant Resources:
Herd Bull Health, Diseases and Injuries
Featured Speakers: Bret McNabb, DVM, UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine
Herd bulls are the central component of the success for cow-calf producers. During this session key strategies are shared to keep your bulls healthy and prevent diseases. There is also a discuss on common bull injuries and feasibility of treatment options.
Why Did it Die? Cattle Necropsy
When raising cattle, you can often be faced with losses that seem like a mystery. Dr. Gabriele Maier, DVM, Cooperative Extension Specialist in Veterinary Medicine, UC Davis and Dr. Katherine Watson, Pathologist at UC Davis will discuss submitting samples to the California Animal Health and Food Safety (CAHFS) Lab to find answers to why did it die. They will also share unique cases the CAHFS Lab have helped cattle producers identify to improve herd health and management.
Resources:
Future Webinars and Questions
To receive notification of future webinars or for questions on the series please contact Tracy Schohr at tkschohr@ucanr.edu or 916-716-2643.