With the season changing we need to focus on what we need to do for our animals. With fall here, winter is just around the corner. All of us need to be prepared. I have also heard that they have found a spoon in the persimmon this year. Normally, I have heard that means we will be scooping snow in the winter. I have also heard that for every foggy morning in July we will get a snow for each. So, we may be in for it this winter.
Now in the fall, we normally get a lot of respiratory infections. It is well noted that if you have a 40 degree change in the temperature within a 24 hour period, animals will break with BRDC (Bovine Respiratory Disease Complex). This is a major stress factor to animals. If not protected with vaccination and immunity, I can almost guarantee that they will break. And I have already seen several horses breaking with a respiratory. And yes, I have also seen some dogs and cats get respiratory infections. It is not just one species and I have heard about several people getting pneumonia and/or a respiratory infection.
Please, keep your animals vaccinated properly. Vaccination is the best way to avoid the heart ache of these infections. Also, proper nutrition will help keep their system working at a proper level to make immunity against these infections. It is well known that being deficient in a mineral, vitamin, energy or protein can compromise an animals system and allow them to stress and let an infection take over easier.
And as a reminder, acorns are falling. If cattle do not have enough to eat, they will eat acorns. The toxic principle of acorns is tannic acid. With this being an acid, we can over run some of the toxic effects by using an acid-base balance. This is done by adding 10 percent of our mineral consumption in the form of hydrated lime. A simple way to do this is to just add 5 pounds of hydrated lime to every 50 pounds of mineral put out for cattle. The hydrated lime will be the basic side and balance some of the toxic effects of the tannic acid out in the rumen of the cow. Also, hydrated lime can be consumed by cows. Lime is just calcium carbonate and a strong basic compound.
Since we are looking for a hard winter, we need to get all of our cows to a body condition score (BCS) of 6. If your cows are a little thin, please, start feeding them so they will be a BCS of 6 by Thanksgiving. This will allow them to handle the winter a lot better and easier.
As a special request, please, send your prayers for my mother-in-law, Martha. She has gotten over the bout of pneumonia but due to 82 years of age and other complications, she is in hospice. Dr. Tim E. O’Neill, DVM, owns Country Veterinary Service in Farmington, Ark.
