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Good Sunday Mornin'

S

Shortgrass

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Joined
Sep 25, 2006
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Location
Eastern Colorado
I had a little heifer calf shut in the barn, and did she ever make a racket! She was a twin born a month ago to a cow that is lame, and will need help to raise even one. Well after a month of great luck, I lost a 5 week old heifer calf to Entero Toxemia. The twin is really stressed because I took her away from her mother for 24 hours. She hardly got enough milk, and I took even that away! Little did she know what a fine udder her new mother has, and it is all her own. This twin will never understand that I have helped her. She just hangs onto her new mom as though afraid I'll take her away again. Sometimes in life, our situations seem very dire; Our "bad luck" gets even worse, and we are stressed beyond measure. It is good to remember that our Shepherd has promised that all situations will work together for good if we'll just trust Him. He has given us the ability to reason, and appreciate what he does for us; we need to do that. Have yourselves a good Sunday mornin' and a great rest of the week too.
 
Thank you Shortgrass for another good message! I have often thought, in my days of ranching, that about everything we do with cattle is for their own benefit, even though in many cases they object to cooperating. If you run them through a chute to vaccinate and process it is for there own good. Many cows object to anything you might do concerning their calf but whatever we do it is for their health, well being and protection.

In many instances we resist following the principles that the Lord gives ius through the Bible, the Ten Commandments and what our conscience dictates. There is a parallel between a rancher doing what he can for the betterment and welfare of his cattle and our faith in allowing the Lord to guide us in the right direction for our own well being and protection!

Thanks again Shortgrass for your weekly inspiration!
 
sometimes when we had to put a cow in a chute to help a calf get started,it was for their own good.
we would feed that cow a little grain to help build her trust in us and she would relax and accept us and the chute better.

thank-you for another message and feeding us with God's word.as i can trust in Him and accept Him for my own good.

another good translation.
 
Thanks Shortgrass and Bob M. I and most of my neighbors around here try to give calves a shot of CD or 7-way at birth or shortly after because of enterotoxemia (overeating).

I just got back in from checking and vaccinating a couple new calves. Neither mamas nor babies appreciated my good will efforts toward them very much. Sometimes the calf hollers bloody murder before I even touch him and that gets all the cows worked up pronto.

Also I'm not too fast on a cold day like today bailing off the 4 wheeler to catch a new calf while decked out in my heavy coat and coveralls. :roll: I do a bit better in shirtsleeve weather! :wink:

I was able to vaccinate a third calf that was hunkered down in the grass with the cow a short distance away. That's the way I like to do it without disturbing them or causing a ruckus. :wink:
 
Thanks, Shortgrass, for another fine message.

On the subject of enterotoxemia, don't let the toxemia entero. :wink: In recent years we have given our cows a 7-way Blackleg shot in the fall at preg checking time. This bolsters the cow's immunity which she passes on to her newborn calf. Since we have been doing this, over-eating disease in calves is nearly non-existant.

I guess reading the Bible and hearing the Word is also a good way to bolster our immunity and give us protection for life's circumstances that come our way. :-)
 
I am feeding Sorghum hay one day, and Alfalfa the next. I give a 7 way at birth. I have no problem until the calves get 6 or 7 weeks old. The vet says Entero has backed off most places, but right in our area it is still pretty much a problem. I have had 4 or 5 cases of it, only losing the one. I think I will try 7 way on the cows this fall. Soap, do you still need to hit the calf at birth? I really appreciate everyones comments and contributions on this thread.
 
Good post this week Shortgrass.

We have also been vaccinating the cow herd with 8-way only we do it with the pre-calving scour shot. Our overeating problems have basically disappeared.
FH all we have is grass hay unless we buy hay.
 
I will apologize in advance for hijacking the Sunday message with veterinary topics. :oops: Though after services are over at church we sometimes get to discussing some strange topics. Today after 4 funerals were held in the community this past week, we found ourselves discussing the pros and cons, methods used, and costs involved in cremation vs enbalming. :oops: :roll: :wink: :D

The vet who practiced 40+ years said when it first came out that Alpha 7 (Anchor/Bioceutic) is THE most effective vaccine for entertoxemia/overeating. I used to use A7, but it is an oil-based vaccine and extremely hard on the rubber plungers in the disposable vaccine guns because it makes them swell. Couldn't do 10 calves on one vaccine gun because the plungers were shot. A7 also seems to leave some nasty bumps at the injection site that sometimes haven't totally disappeared by fall even when administered properly.

For this reason I have switched to giving Vision 7 (Intervet) at birth and have got along well with it. It is also a 2cc dose. I have a small thermos with a freeze pack built into the lid that is nice to carry the 10 dose bottle on the front rack of the 4 wheeler with a tarp strap. I carry the 3cc disposable vaccine gun strapped to the thermos with a rubber band. I do miss vaccinating some calves but have not lost a calf from ET since. I do give another shot of 7 way at branding and again at fall shots.

I agree with Soap and gcreekrch that annual vaccination of the cow should be effective to carry some immunity through to the calves. Spring or fall shouldn't matter. My neighbor vaccinates his ewes after they are sheared and a couple weeks before lambing. Vaccinating only ewes annually works for him. When I had sheep I vaccinated both ewes and then the lambs at birth, and lambs again at docking time.

FH, back when I had problems with ET I was still calving in early spring and feeding grass/alfalfa hay mix at best. Not much straight alfalfa on this place either. With late April-May calving now my cows are out grazing on mostly old crop native grass and some very new crested wheat grass growth.
 
John SD said:
I will apologize in advance for hijacking the Sunday message with veterinary topics. :oops: Though after services are over at church we sometimes get to discussing some strange topics. Today after 4 funerals were held in the community this past week, we found ourselves discussing the pros and cons, methods used, and costs involved in cremation vs enbalming. :oops: :roll: :wink: :D

The vet who practiced 40+ years said when it first came out that Alpha 7 (Anchor/Bioceutic) is THE most effective vaccine for entertoxemia/overeating. I used to use A7, but it is an oil-based vaccine and extremely hard on the rubber plungers in the disposable vaccine guns because it makes them swell. Couldn't do 10 calves on one vaccine gun because the plungers were shot. A7 also seems to leave some nasty bumps at the injection site that sometimes haven't totally disappeared by fall even when administered properly.

For this reason I have switched to giving Vision 7 (Intervet) at birth and have got along well with it. It is also a 2cc dose. I have a small thermos with a freeze pack built into the lid that is nice to carry the 10 dose bottle on the front rack of the 4 wheeler with a tarp strap. I carry the 3cc disposable vaccine gun strapped to the thermos with a rubber band. I do miss vaccinating some calves but have not lost a calf from ET since. I do give another shot of 7 way at branding and again at fall shots.

I agree with Soap and gcreekrch that annual vaccination of the cow should be effective to carry some immunity through to the calves. Spring or fall shouldn't matter. My neighbor vaccinates his ewes after they are sheared and a couple weeks before lambing. Vaccinating only ewes annually works for him. When I had sheep I vaccinated both ewes and then the lambs at birth, and lambs again at docking time.

FH, back when I had problems with ET I was still calving in early spring and feeding grass/alfalfa hay mix at best. Not much straight alfalfa on this place either. With late April-May calving now my cows are out grazing on mostly old crop native grass and some very new crested wheat grass growth.
Click to expand...


"we found ourselves discussing the pros and cons, methods used, and costs involved in cremation vs enbalming."

What was the consensus?
 
BMR, I think the bottom line was most of us found cremation a bit creepy. Especially when we learned that after cremation there are still some big hunks (hip bones, etc) left that must be run through a grinder. :???: :o :shock:
 

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