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Banding calves at birth?

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tenbach79

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Planning ahead I was thinking about banding the calves at birth when I tag. Anybody do this and do you give them any shots to prevent any sickness? Just thinking of ways to speed up branding this year because I will have a lot on my plate around that time this year. We knife cut all our calves at branding, but thinking this year to skip branding and just give shots before we head to grass.
 
Guy that runs my cows knife cuts at birth. You have to be a bit of a contortionist but it works pretty well. Probably not the best scenario to get out of the way of a protective mother. :shock: Banding would likely get more votes from the majority. Just make sure you get both of the little guys. 8)
 
I band my little bunch at birth (or close there abouts) and it works great. Know lots of guys who band and swear by it. Others knife cut and like that way too. Probably 50/50 out here
 
A few guys do it here the one fellow has a way he sits them on their rump like shearing a sheep tucks one leg around I can't quite remember but I think it was over the calfs head and then strattle them with your leg. He banded for years and I do know he'd knife cut the late ones once flies started to come along.I do know if they are nutted you can push 10 at a time up in the squeeze chute and vaccinate we don't spring brand or casterate anymore so vaccinateing goes quite quick. In the fall we knife cut whatever does'nt make the bull cut.We brand all the bulls and the keeping heifers at that time standing up in the chute makes for nicer looking brands in my opinion.
 
My neighbor used to band and vaccinate with 8 way at birth. Figured the Perfringes(sp) in the 8 way helped for over eating in the calves on heavy milking cows. :???:
 
I work my calves as soon as they are dry after birth. We tag, tattoo, give Alpha 7 and Inforce 3, brand and band the steers. We don't give any tetanus when they are little. I have never had any problem with infection in early banded calves. Once I am done with working the calves I hope to never touch them again until pre-conditioning or weaning time.
 
rancherfred said:
I work my calves as soon as they are dry after birth. We tag, tattoo, give Alpha 7 and Inforce 3, brand and band the steers. We don't give any tetanus when they are little. I have never had any problem with infection in early banded calves. Once I am done with working the calves I hope to never touch them again until pre-conditioning or weaning time.

You brand them then too?

We band our calves, sure saves time at branding.
 
I band my calves at birth or within the first 24 hours. No problems. No buyers complain. There has been the odd one I can't find both nuts on and will check him in the chute before going to grass. This is the type of bander I like:
http://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html?pgguid=30e0795f-7b6a-11d5-a192-00b0d0204ae5&gas=banders

No shots given at that time. There's some thought that shots don't do anything because of antibodies from the colostrum. I lay the calf on his side and lift one leg but not too high as that pulls the testicles back into his body. Denny is right..Grass time you can shove a bunch of 'em into the chute and vaccinating goes fast.
 
I always thought that a little bit of testosterone that they would get from keeping them bulls helped with a little weight gain. Am I wrong or just crazy thinking. I have a couple cows that might give me a run for my money but I keep them around for excitement :D
 
I band everything at birth tag, and if possible sort for pastures. It works best to let them dry off if possible, but if there is something that born when I am out tagging I will just to them and go about my day.

The only bit of advice I can give you is make sure you have a "Full Set" before you let them go. We see a few high flank one nut "steers".
 
Nicky said:
rancherfred said:
I work my calves as soon as they are dry after birth. We tag, tattoo, give Alpha 7 and Inforce 3, brand and band the steers. We don't give any tetanus when they are little. I have never had any problem with infection in early banded calves. Once I am done with working the calves I hope to never touch them again until pre-conditioning or weaning time.

You brand them then too?

We band our calves, sure saves time at branding.

Yes. I have a small iron that I can run with a car battery and a power inverter. It was getting too hard to find enough people willing to do the work to continue to have big brandings. I brand just about every day for about three weeks. Once it starts slowing down I might go to every other day branding, it just gets harder to catch them when they have had more than one day to get on their feet.
 
DejaVu said:
No shots given at that time. There's some thought that shots don't do anything because of antibodies from the colostrum.

I agree. We never gave anything at birth and the only thing at branding
time was 7-way. We used to give IBR/BVD/PI3, but a very knowledgeable vet told us the calves were still too young to utilize the vaccine,
so we quit. Never noticed any difference at all........except in the wallet......
 
DejaVu said:
I band my calves at birth or within the first 24 hours. No problems. No buyers complain. There has been the odd one I can't find both nuts on and will check him in the chute before going to grass. This is the type of bander I like:
http://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html?pgguid=30e0795f-7b6a-11d5-a192-00b0d0204ae5&gas=banders

No shots given at that time. There's some thought that shots don't do anything because of antibodies from the colostrum. I lay the calf on his side and lift one leg but not too high as that pulls the testicles back into his body. Denny is right..Grass time you can shove a bunch of 'em into the chute and vaccinating goes fast.

We use about the same tool, my grandfather bought it maybe 60 yrs ago. It's a little heavier and opens a little wider than new ones.

We have used it since new, from day old to ones you can only get one nut at a time thru the cheerio. I double up on them. At birth, maybe one outa 50-100 you can only get one nut down, we leave them till branding.

Slowest, most awkward thing to do on a table is band, so neat to have it done. We went to table as no crew needed and we do it when it works for us.

I despise knife cut and have had virtually no trouble with banding.
 
It works very well for us and has for years without troubles of any sort.

However, a vet once told me that we are leaving a lot of gain on the table because of banding newborns since they don't have the help of their natural hormones.

It didn't change my mind on it though. :?
 
burnt said:
It works very well for us and has for years without troubles of any sort.

However, a vet once told me that we are leaving a lot of gain on the table because of banding newborns since they don't have the help of their natural hormones.

I was told the same thing so the following year I banded every other bull calf - - - At weaning time the unbanded ones were on average 50# heaver than the banded ones and when sold 2 weeks later the knife cut ones were still 40# heaver.

I have never banded again.
 
I can't remember who did the study, could be csu. Calves left intact for even 30 days come in heavier. An implant mitigates most of the difference. Just another management decision. I'd be interested to track how they hang.

As for vaccines/bacterins, the lymph nodes must develop somewhat for the shot to work. 2 weeks might be the early side of beginning efficacy, 3 weeks is much better.
 
Anybody on here can catch a three week old calf....raise yer hand :D Horses and ropes don't count! :wink:

Thanks Brad, I thought vaccinations at birth were relatively ineffective.
 
We band at birth. Also tag and give a shot of Alpha 7. Wait til branding day to give their shots and also hit them with a pour on. But this year going to try an injectable wormer and see how that goes.

Found a new bander I am going to get hubby to try. It locks open and with daughter going to be laid up with knee surgery he is not going to have a lot of help this year.
 

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