True North Notes

Older chocolate Labrador Retriever with a gray muzzle looking toward the camera

Is My Dog Just Getting Old? What Actually Helps a Stiff Older Dog

By Doc Farnum, DVM He used to beat you to the door. Now you hear...
Weaned black calves eating hay at a bunk in a dry lot

A Bawling Calf Is Walking, Not Eating: Weaning Calves Through the First Three Weeks

The cows are on one side of the fence and the calves are on the...
A white show pig photographed from above, with small separate red spots scattered across his topline, shoulders and both sides and normal skin in between. Both ears are in frame and look clean.

Skin Problems in Show Pigs: Why It Is Usually Not Mange, and Why It Usually Starts at the Wash Rack

It is nine o'clock at night. You were putting him up and you saw it:...
The lower leg of a show goat in the shavings. The pastern and the skin around the dew claws are where heel mites do their damage and where the crusting starts.

Heel Mites in Show Lambs and Goats: Why He Is Stamping, and Why the Shot Alone Does Not Finish It

He will not stand still. He gets up, stamps a back foot, lies down, gets...
Show goat head, close up

Urinary Calculi in Show Wethers: Why It Happens, How to Prevent It, and What to Do the Night He Cannot Urinate

It is late, and your wether will not settle. He gets up, he stretches out,...
brown cow on green grass field

Ringworm in Show Cattle: Why It Hits in Winter and What Actually Works

The calves are home. The clippers are put away for a few weeks, the hoods...
show goat

Your Club Lamb or Show Goat Does Not Need Deworming on a Schedule. Here Is What He Does Need.

Your lamb came home a few weeks ago, or your goat did. Somebody at the...
Club Lamb Fungus

Club Lamb Fungus: What It Is, How It Spreads, and What Actually Works

You found it at evening chores. A crusty, raised spot up on the neck where...
woman feeding the chickens

Dark Orange Yolks and Omega-3 Eggs: What Really Makes a Better Backyard Egg

There is a small, real satisfaction in cracking an egg from your own backyard chickens...
photo of family sitting on mat while looking at brown dog

Why Is My Dog So Itchy? What Actually Helps a Dog That Won’t Stop Scratching

If your dog will not stop scratching, you already know the sound. The jingle of...