On-Call / Vet

Spring calves have been hitting the ground all over the Ozarks lately and veterinarians stay busy this time of year assisting cows and heifers that are having difficulty. This provides a good opportunity to address the appropriate management of dystocia, or difficulty of birthing, the equipment to have on hand and when to call on professional assistance.

While dealing with the ice and cold weather I have noticed our nutrition gurus are looking more and moiré into balancing rations of essential amino acids instead of protein. I ask the question “Is their requirement of protein for animals in their diet?” Actually “NO.” Animals must have the 10 essential amino acids and cats require 11 amino acids.

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.

Watch for acorn toxicosis this fall.

Each year producers have lost several dollars in profit, either by loosing calves or in the expense of treating calves that have diarrhea problems. These problems can be in most cases prevented with good management practices. Calf diarrhea may be caused by bacteria, viral or poor nutrition.

Avoid These Common Calving Mistakes

Many times horse owners think that only old horses have teeth issues and eating problems are the only signs telling them that their horse has a problem. Over several years of looking at horse’s mouth I can only think of a hand full that did not need some type of dental maintenance.

It seems that every other week I hear about how unsafe our food supply has become, that livestock producers are poisoning an unknowing public with all manner of substances and that antibiotic use in livestock should be banned because of bacterial resistance to certain antibiotics. Much of what I hear on news shows and read in magazines or newspapers seems often to be biased against prudent use of pharmaceuticals in livestock production. I have a few thoughts based on experience and research that I would like to discuss in more detail in this column.
There are innumerable articles detailing all sides of the problem of antibiotic resistance, food safety and livestock production in general.

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.

'Colic’ is a general term used to describe abdominal pain and is a clinical syndrome that is commonly recognized in horses. Colic can be caused by many different abnormalities occurring within the abdominal cavity of the horse. For horse owners it is advantageous to be familiar with the clinical signs, diagnosis and treatment options for colic as most horses will encounter this problem at some point in their lives.