Ontario Agriculture

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Equine Community for Ontario

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Equine Community for Ontario

Horse lovers are invited to join and share and connect with the equine community in Ontario

Location: Ontario
Members: 12
Latest Activity: Dec 6, 2012

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Comment by Jennifer Garner on July 15, 2011 at 2:40am
I'm looking for 1977 - 1979 alumni of the Humber College Equine program.  Anyone out there?
Comment by Mackenna Roth on July 8, 2011 at 8:56am

Hi Cindy,

I would love to see some pictures of your horses!
My family farm is based on the Equine industry, we have horse shows, hunter paces and other horse related events and clinics. We also offer boarding and lessons. Where abouts are you located??
Mac

Comment by Cindy Filmore on July 6, 2011 at 1:33pm
Lovely, Mackenna! Very nice horse. Once I figure things out a little more, I will attempt to post our horses.
Do you ride for pleasure, or is part of your farm business?
We have 4 horses for our own riding, and offer "byoh" camping to others. Lots of local trails here!
Comment by Mackenna Roth on May 10, 2011 at 7:12am
My cute horse and I warming up in the arena
Comment by AgOntario on April 26, 2011 at 1:07am

Strangles Outbreak Northern Ontario

The Ontario Ministry of Agriculture Food and Rural Affairs has recently been made aware of a number of premises in the Greater  Sudbury area and Manitoulin Island affected by Strangles.   Strangles is a highly contagious bacterial disease of horses characterized by abscesses in the lymphoid tissue of the upper respiratory tract. The causative organism, Streptococcus equi subspecies equi, is highly host-adapted and generally produces clinical disease only in horses, donkeys, and mules.

Strangles is an endemic disease in horses and circulates relatively commonly in the horse population.   A significant number of affected premises in a relatively confined geographical area is a good reminder to horse owners and veterinarians to  practise appropriate biosecurity procedures for horses and equipment coming on and off the farm AND infection control within the barn. 

Transmission occurs via fomites and direct contact with infectious exudates. Sharing of halters and brushes that may contact the fluid from draining abscesses can spread the disease. The source of Strangles on any of these premises could have been the entry of a new horse, contact with a carrier somewhere off the farm (e.g. at a show) or on the clothing, hands or equipment of a visitor (such as a feed supplier, farrier or veterinarian who had recent contact with an infected horse).   Survival of the organism in the environment is dependent on temperature and humidity.   Under ideal environmental circumstances, the organism can survive 7-9 weeks outside the host. Paddocks and barn facilities used by infected horses should be regarded as contaminated for about 2 months after resolution of an outbreak.

Carrier animals are important for maintenance of the bacteria between epizootics and initiation of outbreaks on premises previously free of disease. Horse owners need to be aware that clinically recovered animals should have three negative nasopharyngeal swabs to be determined “Strangles-free”. 

Recommendations regarding vaccination can be found in the disease factsheets from the sources listed below.  These sources also contain excellent information on basic biosecurity practices and infection control.

Strangles is a good opportunity to remind your clients that the best disease control is disease prevention.

RESOURCES
OMAFRA
http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/livestock/horses/facts/03-037.htm
http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/livestock/horses/facts/prot_str...
http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/livestock/horses/facts/prev-dis...
http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/livestock/horses/news/jul02.htm

EQUINE GUELPH
http://www.equidblog.com
http://www.equineguelph.ca/education/equiplanner_guidelines_strangl...
http://www.equineguelph.ca/pdf/facts/vacc_guidelines_print_FINAL.pdf

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF EQUINE PRACTITIONERS
http://www.aaep.org/strangles.htm

The Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association of Ontario
http://www.hbpa.on.ca/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Strangles_Protocol...

Comment by OntAG Admin on February 20, 2011 at 11:33am
Comment by OntAG Admin on January 30, 2011 at 5:39am

Here is a video from SPARK on the Equine Industry in Ontario.

 

 

Members (11)

 
 
 

Agriculture Headlines from Farms.com Canada East News - click on title for full story

Hard as a… Brick?

Before the recent scattered showers, many fields were looking as pictured above. Very tough conditions for plants to emerge through and high soil tension causing cracking as it dries out! The strength these soybeans have used to come through (and lift) the more compacted ground is absolutely amazing! Soybeans are surprisingly capable at dealing with compacted and crusted soils but they don’t exert a specific or consistent pounds per square inch (PSI) when pushing through the soil. The force they exert is related to the energy required to lift the soil crust as they drag their cotyledons to the soil surface. This energy comes from the cotyledons (seed leaves) which serve as the emerging plant’s initial food source and is finite. The energy the seedling has to expend during emergence is affected by the seeding depth, soil type and the soil conditions.  This year in particular, we are noticing that soybeans seeded deeper than recommended into wet soils with higher clay content and pro

Let Those Emerged Soybeans Roll?

If you need to roll your soybean field (to press stones down, so they are not above the ground) and plants have already emerged, it is strongly recommended to wait until they reach the first trifoliate stage and the daily temperature is above 25°C. Most important is to pick a day, the hotter the better, when the plants are pliable (even if they are in second trifoliate or a bit later) and the soil surface is not too wet. Soft ground can also help. Always roll only a small test area first, and then get out on your hands and knees and examine those soybean plants to determine if rolling is damaging them or not. For those solid seeding, we recommend doing a stand count using a hoop to evaluate the job you are doing. Count all the plants in the hoop, then re-count the damaged ones and determine what percentage of plants are damaged in your test area. If the number of damaged plants is under 10% of the total plant stand, then continue rolling the rest of the field. If damage is above 10%,

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This article written by Dr. Reynold Bergen, BCRC Science Director, originally appeared in the June 2025 issue of Canadian Cattlemen magazine and is reprinted on BeefResearch.ca with permission of the publisher. About 20 years ago, Doug Wray drove in from Irricana, Alberta, to ask why the beef industry didn’t fund more forage breeding. Back then, the usual beef industry response to forage breeding proposals was “let the government and forage groups fund that.” Doug calmly explained that the forage groups he was active in don’t have a check-off. So, if beef cattle producers wanted better forage varieties, beef producers would need to invest in forage breeding. When we looked into it, we found there weren’t many forage breeders left in Canada. Universities and government administrators explained that low industry funding signaled that forage breeding wasn’t a priority. So, retired breeders weren’t replaced, and long-term breeding and management programs had been scaled back or closed.

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