WeCAHN Smallholders Network

Animal health and surveillance information for smallholder/small-scale producers of poultry, swine, cattle, sheep and goats, and their veterinarians

WeCAHN Smallholder Animal Health and Surveillance Information

Smallholder or "backyard" producers face unique challenges in maintaining and promoting the health of their animals. The WeCAHN smallholders network is made up of producers, veterinarians, researchers and extension workers sharing information and experiences to improve the health and welfare of smallholder animal production in western Canada.

WeCAHN supports smallholder producers, and the veterinarians who serve them, in a variety of ways: updates on emerging issues, timely infographics and reports on important topics, and podcasts, for both producers and veterinarians. For full access to these materials, please join us.

Veterinarians are also invited to subscribe to WeCAHN listservs in which the questions of non-specialist veterinarians serving smallholder clients are answered by swine and poultry experts. To subscribe, please contact us

Upcoming events

Small flock poultry

The British Columbia (BC) Poultry Health Network has many upcoming events in person and online! Registration is required, and the links to register are on the Coming Events page of the website.

  • Ask A Poultry Veterinarian: March 12th, 2025 7 PM PST - online
  • Information webinar: March 9th, 2025 7 PM PST - online
  • Information webinar: March 19th, 2025 7 PM PST - online
  • March 18, 2025 – Small Flock Management & Disease Prevention Workshop, Courtenay, BC
  • March 28, 2025 – Poultry Euthanasia Training, Armstrong, BC
  • March 29, 2025 – Small Flock Poultry Health Workshop, Enderby, BC
  • March 30, 2025 – Small Flock Poultry Health Workshop, West Kelowna, BC
  • April 19, 2025 – Small Flock Management, Disease Prevention & Poultry Anatomy Workshop, Saanich, BC
  • May 17, 2025 – Poultry Day in Saanich, BC

Peavey Mart presents the University of Alberta Small Flock Poultry Short Course, an exciting workshop designed and presented by the University of Alberta and Dr. Teryn Girard. Proceeds from the U of A Small Flock Poultry Short Course will go towards the U of A Heritage Chicken Program, which exists to preserve and protect rare poultry breed genetics. There are multiple opportunities to attend the short course and registration is required; register on the webpage of the Heritage Chickens University of Alberta.

  • March 31st and April 1 6 PM - 8 PM MST - online
  • April 13th, 2025 1 PM - 5 PM MST - in person
  • April 14th and 15th, 2025 6 PM - 8 PM MST - online
Small flock sheep and goats

The Michigan State University presents the online event "Sheep and Goats for Small Farms 2025:" March 8th, 2025 12-4 PM EST (link to agenda). Registration is required on their event page.

The Ontario Sheep Farmers is hosting the 2025 Dairy Sheep Symposium: March 25th, 2025 9 AM - 4 PM EST (link to agenda). The symposium has some presentations that may be relevant to small flock sheep farmers. Registration is required, and the link to register is on the Events webpage.

What's new with smallholder animal health

Government of Alberta Small-Scale Swine Disease Investigations

Government of Alberta Small-Scale Swine Disease Investigations

The Government of Alberta has launched a small-scale swine disease investigations project for producers who have 10 or fewer sows or who market 100 pigs or fewer per year. This project can help producers directly or private veterinarians who refer cases from small-scale swine producers.   

The goal is to conduct surveillance on federally and provincially important diseases like African swine fever (ASF), salmonella, influenza, porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED), porcine delta coronavirus (PDCoV) and transmissible gastroenteritis (TGE). There is no fee for submitting pigs for testing; however, project criteria must be met, and producers are responsible for the cost of getting the pigs to the laboratory. 

Learn more about the criteria and other details.    LINK

Saskatchewan Small Holder Swine Health Surveillance Program

Saskatchewan Small Holder Swine Health Surveillance Program


The Small Holder Swine Health Surveillance Program project is funded in part by the Governments of Canada and Saskatchewan under the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership, a federal-provincial-territorial initiative. The program provides free post-mortem examination of non-commercial swine to veterinarians, producers and owners in Saskatchewan through Prairie Diagnostic Services (PDS) in Saskatoon. The program covers the cost of necropsy, histopathology and other testing deemed appropriate by the PDS pathologist on a case-by-case basis.  LINK

Western veterinary practitioners accepting small scale producer clients


Name: Dr. Christina Lyn
Email: christina@greenbeltvet.com
Phone:
Address: Greenbelt, Kamloops
Province: British Columbia
Name: Dr. Andrea Lo
Email: info@royalvethospital.com
Phone: 403-452-9444
Address: Royal Veterinary Hospital, 108-500 Royal Oak Dr. NW, Calgary
Province: Alberta
Name: Dr. Carling Matejka
Email: carling@fenvet.com
Phone: (587) 602-4442
Address: Fen Vet, Airdrie
Province: Alberta
Name: Dr. Michelle Woodruff
Email: drmichelle@woodruffvetservices.com
Phone: (780) 339-2131
Address: Woodruff Veterinary Services Ltd, Tomahawk
Province: Alberta
Name: Dr. Nicole Desautels
Email: drnicole@animalcarecentre.ca
Phone: (403) 901-1800
Address: Animal Care Centre, Strathmore
Province: Alberta
Name: Dr. Karen Liljebjelke
Email: karenkatdok@gmail.com
Phone: 403-797-4267
Address: Cremona Veterinary Clinic, 4342 Township Rd 301A, Cremona, AB T0M 0R0
Province: Alberta
Name: Dr. Brian McOnie
Email: bwmconie@gmail.com
Phone: (250) 549-3533
Address: Creekside Animal Clinic, Vernon
Province: British Columbia
Name: Dr. Ernie Miciak
Email: emiciak@yahoo.ca
Phone: (780) 586-2509
Address: Westrose
Province: Alberta
Name: Dr. Wendy Quist
Email:
Phone: (780) 927-4500
Address: Frontier Veterinary Services, Fort Vermilion
Province: Alberta
Name: Dr. Harv Domoslai
Email: harvdom@icloud.com
Phone: (306) 384-7676
Address: Corman Park Veterinary Services, Saskatoon
Province: Saskatchewan
Filters
Area's of Interest - (0/6)
  • Bovine
  • Equine
  • Goats
  • Poultry
  • Sheep
  • Swine
Province - (0/4)
  • Alberta
  • British Columbia
  • Manitoba
  • Saskatchewan
RadDatePicker
RadDatePicker
Open the calendar popup.
RadDatePicker
RadDatePicker
Open the calendar popup.
 

Premises identification is important

The identification of premises consists of providing information about a specific location (i.e. contact information, location, type of agricultural and agri-food operation on the site, and animal species kept). Once the information has been received and validated by the provincial or territorial government where the premises is located, a unique identification number is provided for this specific location. This premises identification number is then used when reporting the receipt or departure of animals from this premises. Premises identification is a way of linking livestock and poultry to land locations and is critical to support disease control activities and for managing animal health emergencies.

For more information, or to register your farm, following are the provincial premises ID websites:

British Columbia

Alberta

Saskatchewan

Manitoba

Graphic emerging issues

Small scale swine resources

Information on small scale swine production
Image graphic

Small scale poultry resources

Infographics and reports on small scale poultry production and animal health
Image globe

Small scale small ruminant resources

Small ruminants infographics and reports
Image microphone

Small Scale Animal Health Podcasts

Updates on current topics in smallholder production and animal health