Maritime Quality Milk (MQM), one of the Atlantic Veterinary College’s centres of expertise, serves all the Atlantic provinces. MQM uses milk-quality research to strengthen the region's agriculture and agri-food sectors and develops and markets milk-based diagnostics for disease surveillance through non-invasive testing methods.

Each year, MQM works with 335 dairy farms--that's 20,100 cows and 150,750,000 litres of milk.

For more information: www.milkquality.ca

The Sir James Dunn Animal Welfare Centre (SJDAWC) has funded the following projects looking at ways to improve pain management in animals:

Improving pain control for surgery on the front legs of dogs (Dr. Kip Lemke) (on-going)
Canadian veterinarians’ use of painkillers in cattle, pigs, and horses (Dr. Caroline Hewson) (partially funded by the Animal Welfare Foundation of Canada)
Assessment of changes in Canadian veterinarians’ use of painkillers in dogs and cats between 1994 and 2001 (C Hewson,)
Postoperative pain in dogs: Preemptive management (K Lemke, C Runyon)
Postoperative pain in dogs and cats (S Dohoo, I Dohoo)

The SJDAWC has also produced 2 posters on pain management in animals, in cooperation with the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association:
Lemke KA, Hewson CJ, Crook AD. 2008. Anaesthetic and Pain Management Protocols for Healthy...

The overall research goal of the Comparative Orthopedic Research Laboratory (CORL) at the AVC is to promote the health of athletic animals with musculoskeletal injuries. Two SJDAWC-funded projects helped Dr. McDuffee move toward this goal. Through the project, A model for bone healing in the horse, isolation of bone cells from bone tissue was evaluated. Results from the initial study provided data that subsequently assisted Dr. McDuffee in obtaining further research funding from the Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR) (Cell based strategy to promote bone healing).

In another SJDAWC-funded project, (Skeletal muscle as a source of bone and cartilage cells to improve healing in the horse), Dr. McDuffee’s team is investigating muscle as a donor tissue source. Muscle provides results similar to that of periosteum, but is harvested with easier techniques, has fewer problems...

Off-flavours in milk occur at a low incidence in all milk-producing areas of Canada, with "outbreaks" occurring periodically in certain localities, often for no clearly defined reason. In the late 1990s, the incidence of off-flavours in bulk-tank milk was unacceptably high in PEI, with 50/330, or 15% of herds, affected during the winter season of 1999-2000.

A study was initiated and, as a first step, the reliability of the milk transport personnel in identifying off-flavours in milk was evaluated using a sensory study. It was concluded that, in the absence of a more objective diagnostic tool, the use of trained milk graders is appropriate for field monitoring of flavour quality of bulk-tank milk, especially where a simple “accept/reject” decision is required.

Off-flavour cases were more common during the fall and early winter months, and were concentrated in the...

The objectives of this study were as follows: (a) to evaluate the use of bulk tank milk for the monitoring of the Se status of dairy herds in PEI; (b) to obtain information on the Se status of lactating dairy cows in PEI in order to assess the adequacy of current Se supplementation practices; and (c) to examine the relationship between Se status and somatic cell counts, the prevalence of clinical mastitis, and other measures of herd productivity and disease in herds in PEI.

Results were presented to the PEI dairy producers at meetings and through reports and newsletters. Practical information was provided to the participants on the Se status of their herds and steps that could be taken to improve micronutrient nutrition in their herds. Clinical evidence suggests Se nutrition of herds has improved as a result of this work. There has been one peer-reviewed publication, and the...