Building a Resilient Livestock Sector: Role of the Ontario Animal Health Network
A resilient Ontario livestock sector is one in which producers can adapt to disruptions like market shifts or disease outbreaks, producing healthy animals and accessing markets for their sale.
Published: July 20, 2026
Lead photo: The OAHN Bovine Network includes dairy, beef and veal animals
Livestock diseases can threaten these abilities, but teams connecting University of Guelph laboratory and veterinary expertise with government, industry and private veterinarians play a pivotal role in preparedness, early detection and response.
They are part of the Ontario Animal Health Network (OAHN): a collaborative way of looking at animal health and disease in Ontario. OAHN brings together the University of Guelph’s Animal Health Laboratory (AHL) and top-ranked Ontario Veterinary College (OVC) with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Agribusiness (OMAFA), private practice veterinarians, and producer groups or other government groups as needed.
The OAHN networks are dedicated to Ontario’s animal populations, including livestock, companion animals and wildlife.
Dr. Cynthia Miltenburg, a lead veterinarian in the Veterinary Science Unit, Animal Health and Welfare Branch of OMAFA, has been a co-lead of the OAHN Bovine Network (covering beef, dairy and veal animals) since 2019. She says that although farmers themselves may not be aware of OAHN or its role, it has “silent value”: behind the scenes, this network of experts is collecting and analyzing data, filling gaps and sharing insights to detect potential animal disease threats and respond, when needed. The result is that livestock veterinarians can make informed diagnostic and treatment decisions.
Dr. Cynthia Miltenburg
Surveillance and response require data
Surveillance for animal diseases is not just monitoring: it’s the collection, analysis and sharing of data.
AHL is the primary provider of the laboratory data, which is used to identify the pathogens and diseases currently being detected in each species. The expert OAHN members then compile data with other sources (such as practitioner surveys and federal and provincial data on animals rejected from entering the food supply), when available, and interpret it as it relates to implications for animal health, veterinarians and industry.
“AHL provides diagnostic data to the networks, tracking trends in submission patterns and cases of known animal pathogens,” says Dr. Tanya Rossi, animal health network and data manager at U of G. “In addition, interesting cases with unusual pathology are presented to members to help educate veterinarians on rare or uncommon conditions of concern.”
This information provides an overall snapshot of current Ontario disease status, Rossi says.
In this flexible structure, the groups can focus on trends, risks and actionable items for each industry and communicate that information to veterinarians across the province in user-friendly ways like quarterly reports, infographics and podcasts.
Connecting to national networks
OAHN is Ontario-based, but it feeds into national surveillance networks, ensuring a coordinated, appropriate and timely response to disease threats. Effective and responsive dairy health surveillance safeguards the prosperity of Canada’s dairy industry.
The primary national network is CAHSS, the Canadian Animal Health Surveillance System, which is a division of Animal Health Canada. It is a self-organizing, self-governing network-of-networks involved in animal health surveillance. The role of CAHSS is to link existing networks to encourage more effective, integrated, and responsive animal health surveillance.
Its Dairy Network includes members from industry, provincial and federal government, laboratories, veterinary associations, universities, and surveillance networks, including OAHN, for information-sharing, linking the diverse dairy community to encourage and support integrated dairy health surveillance.
Networks in action: Avian influenza
Avian influenza (“bird flu”) has been found in Canada and around the world in wild and farmed poultry. In March 2024, a highly pathogenic strain of avian influenza (HPAI) was detected for the first time in dairy cows, in the United States.
“That was quite unexpected,” says Miltenburg. While HPAI has not been detected in any Canadian dairy cows to date, she says OAHN is a connection to up-to-date information for the province’s bovine veterinarians, noting the OAHN Bovine Network has kept veterinarians updated since the first detection in 2024.
“Not everything in surveillance is urgent, but we can send high-priority updates,” says Miltenburg.
The bovine network partnered with the Ontario Association of Bovine Practitioners to ensure rapid, coordinated distribution. The OAHN bovine quarterly reports have included a status update regularly since then.
“AHL conducts HPAI testing and provides regular updates to the network on testing volume, helping veterinarians stay aware and consider HPAI when making diagnostic decisions”, Miltenburg adds.
At the national level, CAHSS is the main hub for information-sharing between the different partners that all have an interest in protecting Ontario dairy cattle from HPAI.
“CAHSS convened a scientific discussion group to share HPAI updates on everything from clinical reports to early scientific research studies and to support those in planning roles,” says Miltenburg. “They also coordinated a webinar to keep veterinarians in practice updated.”
Staying ahead of disease
OAHN isn’t just useful for the most devastating or novel diseases, says Miltenburg. “The network’s focus is surveillance for any trends impacting animal health, providing an avenue for vets to connect in and to share back useful information to help diagnostic and treatment choices on a day-to-day basis.”
Having a proactive group of experts on alert means diseases are more likely to be caught early and dealt with swiftly, increasing the province’s resilience to threats and keeping impacts to the agri-food sector at a minimum.
The OAHN receives funding from the Ontario Agri-Food Innovation Alliance, a collaboration between the Government of Ontario and U of G, through the Animal Health Laboratory.
