On-Call / Vet

I recently made a trip to the Missouri Humane Society farm in Union, Mo., to attend a continuing education course on equine dentistry. Veterinarians are becoming more knowledgeable on the subject of dentistry in horses and are developing more advanced equipment and techniques for the proper care of the teeth and oral cavity of the horse.

The news has been full of information regarding influenza virus in recent months whether discussing the shortage of flu vaccines available for people, the spread of H1N1 or the more recent discussion of canine influenza. In this article, we are diverting a bit from livestock medicine to more of a companion animal topic, but I suspect that this topic may be of interest to most of our readers. In response to the recent media coverage I have begun to get questions regarding canine influenza, the signs of infection and need for vaccination.

As we start another calving season, an annual problem has reared its ugly head again. I am seeing a large number of various prolapses in cattle that are due to calve or have already calved out. There are various types of prolapses that occur in cattle; it is important to recognize the different forms and know how to effectively deal with them to get optimal repairs.

May is just around the corner. Are you ready for spring bull turnout? Many of you are in the middle of calving and some may have just started. Don’t let the hustle and bustle of this calving season derail your next calf crop. The star(s) of your operation are the bulls, which are often ignored and forgotten most of the year. However, it is critical to have a plan prior to turnout as too how much bull power you will need versus how much you have. Simple questions to start the decision making process are: How many cows will need bred? How many groups are those cows divided into? How many heifers, and do you have a bull designated for your heifers? Are you going to synchronize the herd or heifers? Do you have a backup plan if your bull fails the Breeding Soundness Evaluation? What condition are your bulls in?

Diarrhea is a common cause of disease and death loss in young calves whether on the cow-calf operation or the dairy. If you are a cattle producer and have not had the privilege of dealing with scours, then wait patiently, because your turn is coming. Given that the disease is so prevalent and that many producers have treated calves in different ways, there are many different opinions floating around regarding which treatment method is best. The purpose of this article is to provide some clarity on what treatments actually work and what treatments may be a detriment.

Blackleg is a disease that most cattle producers are relatively familiar with, if for no other reason than the ‘blackleg’ vaccine is probably the most commonly administered vaccination by cattle producers. And this for good reason, because for those producers that may have elected to forgo vaccination and unfortunately experienced the disease firsthand as a result, blackleg can be truly unforgettable. The disease frequently affects the biggest, fastest growing calves and renders them acutely dead in the majority of cases.

Most horse owners I know have at least one "easy keeper". These horses seem to require very little in terms of nutrition to maintain their body condition. Often the battle is in keeping them from becoming obese and horse owners go to great lengths, even what seems like near starvation to prevent these "easy keepers" from getting fat. As with all species, unchecked obesity comes with great health risks and for horses, Equine Metabolic Syndrome (EMS) is a condition not too uncommon for the overweight horse.

There are several tools available for cow/calf producers that can lead to a decrease in one of the primary problems seen in neonatal calves – diarrhea. Diarrhea is a leading cause of mortality in baby calves and has many causes.

In this day and age significant concern has developed over the use of pharmaceuticals in animals intended for human consumption. Amongst consumers, there are many varying opinions regarding the use of drugs and chemicals in food animals ranging from those that prefer organically produced products to those that give little concern over the matter.

In the previous issue, we began a series on mastitis with a focus on contagious pathogens. In this issue, our focus will switch to the environmental pathogens and their identification, treatment and control.