On-Call / Vet

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?

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.

The abomasum is the fourth compartment of the stomach in the cow. This compartment is most like the simple stomach of humans or the horse in that it is the only glandular portion of the stomach of cows secreting hydrochloric acid and enzymes. The abomasum must function normally for cows to maintain their health and production. Dysfunction of the abomasum, namely displacement, is one of the most common causes of a need for abdominal surgery in the bovine.

It is the time of year when cattle are seen rubbing on trees, fence post, feeders or anything they can. They will rub until the skin becomes raw, thick and irritated and often the cause for this is lice. It costs cattle producers millions of dollars in losses each year. They are biting the lice, which live on their skin and hair. These are a sucking lice. Sucking lice tend to cause anemia, which will cause the immune system to become weaker leading to other illnesses. The lice will cause a decrease in weight gain and in milk production, and this will lead to an increase in feed costs and cause you to treat other issues resulting in less profit.

Someone I know recently became very sick with diarrhea, and was diagnosed with cryptosporidiosis. Cryptosporidiosis is caused by a protozoal parasite similar to coccidia.  This parasite causes diarrhea in calves that leads to untold millions in lost production in both the dairy and beef industries. Since this disease has zoonotic potential, that is, it can be transmitted from animals to people, I think a discussion of the disease and control measures is needed.

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.

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.

Everyone either has or is getting into small ruminants, whether sheep or goats. And there is a learning curve to having and caring for...

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.

Spring is here (or maybe multiple springs from all the rain many of us have had) and you have your calf crop on the ground and are thinking maybe you should be going over the farm equipment before hay season starts. Something else you should be thinking about is getting ready for breeding season so that you have a new calf crop for next year.  Some planning now on your part can go a long way to making next year’s calf crop successful.