What temp do you treat?

[Big Muddy rancher]

Pulled a couple of calves tonight. One that has been weaned a while wasn't up off the feed ground this morning with the rest of the calves,when checked her temp was 103.5.

The other calf was a week here from the market and had a ear down a wee bit. I pulled him and his temp was 105.9.

I treated both. I questioned my self on the first one but maybe better safe then sorry.

What do you guys do?

 

[Anonymous]

I've never had a thermometer- vaccinated at preconditioning (weeks before weaning) walk thru them a couple times a day after being weaned- and if they have an ear down- or aren't on feed--- fill them up with antibiotics- red tag- them and go on......

No different than then the decision to have bulls that throw 100+ lb dummy calves- some of which don't live -- or have bulls that throw 70lb calves and are up and sucking within minutes.....

Low input- means a lot less output.....

 

[per]

If I have to get it in it gets treated. I use the temp to determine whether to give pain or inflammatory relief.

 

[gcreekrch]

Don't own a thermometer, at times wish we did. If a calf is 'off', ear down, snotty nose, cough, listless, sometimes just the look in their eye will tell you the most, treat them. They are easier to clear up at that point than the next day.
We didn't get ours vaccinated right when we weaned. :dunce:
Ma and I treated 40 calves yesterday. Only a dozen today.

Here's my sign......

 

[hillsdown]

Pulled a couple of calves tonight. One that has been weaned a while wasn't up off the feed ground this morning with the rest of the calves,when checked her temp was 103.5.

The other calf was a week here from the market and had a ear down a wee bit. I pulled him and his temp was 105.9.

I treated both. I questioned my self on the first one but maybe better safe then sorry.

What do you guys do?

You are doing it right BMR, pull a temp. You are way ahead of the game. Treat accordingly..

 

[Justin]

i have never taken a calfs temp, maybe a person should :? i guess i use gcreek's method. the look they have in their eyes can tell you alot.

 

[HAY MAKER]

Pulled a couple of calves tonight. One that has been weaned a while wasn't up off the feed ground this morning with the rest of the calves,when checked her temp was 103.5.

The other calf was a week here from the market and had a ear down a wee bit. I pulled him and his temp was 105.9.

I treated both. I questioned my self on the first one but maybe better safe then sorry.

What do you guys do?

anything above 103.......................good luck

 

[Anonymous]

If they look bad enough to chute- and take a temp on- then they are probably bad enough to treat.....

I haven't had to-- but if I do will probably try Noramycin 300- which I heard is working good....

 

[High Plains]

Seems like we used to look for 103.5 before we thought that the temp was good and high. If we weren't sure if a calf was sick we'd rely on the temp to be the guide. If we called the calf sick in the pen based on depression and other factors, we'd just treat the calf and temp. for the fun of it.

We liked to give Oxytetracyclene 100 and Tylan for the not-so-sick calves, three days in a row in the vein. More labor, but my labor is cheaper than the expensive drugs.

Most of the time those hung ears are ear infections and we'd give Pen-G for that.

HP

 

[Big Muddy rancher]

Don't own a thermometer, at times wish we did. If a calf is 'off', ear down, snotty nose, cough, listless, sometimes just the look in their eye will tell you the most, treat them. They are easier to clear up at that point than the next day.
We didn't get ours vaccinated right when we weaned. :dunce:
Ma and I treated 40 calves yesterday. Only a dozen today.

Here's my sign......

We have a GLA digital that we have used for years. Something is wrong with it and I'm sure it would take bucks to fix it. Th vet just recommends a cheap digital that you can use on humans. It takes 9 seconds to read.

We used some Oxy LP and Oxy LA on the few that we needed to doctor. I switched up to Draxxin. I hate chronic. :?

We have a calf that didn't respond to treatment and now is filling up with fluid in the brisket and throat. Strange case. Almost looks like hardware but I talked to a drug company vet and he thought maybe some heart trouble and it can't reabsorb the fluid.

 

[Grassfarmer]

Not trying to be a smartass here but we don't read temperatures as that is only a sympton not the cause. As usual we have had one or two calves that are a little off color post weaning but we don't get too excited about them. We find their immune system is strong enough to fight off the challenges as long as you keep the stress down. Hence the importance we put on low stress weaning. I have no inclination to start rounding up a whole field of weaned calves so that we can treat one or two that might have a spiked temperature. I'm sure if we started that we would be treating more every day and the drug pimps would be happy. We have never treated a calf post weaning in my 9 years here, never needed to, never had one turn into a chronic and never lost one.
That's not to say I ignore sickness and won't treat animals - I've just found that if your system does not stress the animals they are resilient enough to fight it off themselves.

 

[gcreekrch]

I can agree with what you are saying under close to perfect situations Grassfarmer.
In our situation it is impossible to gather all of our cattle to give pre-weaning vaccinations. This year, adverse weather that came immediately following weaning and a shortage of bodies to get everything done at the right time created a perfect scenario for a bunch of sick calves. We are paying for it now. As it is, our calves come in to a small trap for their pellets every morning and it is quite simple and not very stressful to catch the hospital bunch as they are leaving through an alley. I would rather treat a suspect than deal with a chronic that was not pulled at the right time.
When we only kept the dinks and replacements we rarely treated anything and were on a lesser vaccine protocal. Now we are dealing with a fair number of calves as we keep them all home to yearlings, kind of the same thing as flus and colds in the city as compared to where we live.

I knew we were in trouble just not how bad until the storm hit.

 

[gcreekrch]

Don't own a thermometer, at times wish we did. If a calf is 'off', ear down, snotty nose, cough, listless, sometimes just the look in their eye will tell you the most, treat them. They are easier to clear up at that point than the next day.
We didn't get ours vaccinated right when we weaned. :dunce:
Ma and I treated 40 calves yesterday. Only a dozen today.

Here's my sign......

We have a GLA digital that we have used for years. Something is wrong with it and I'm sure it would take bucks to fix it. Th vet just recommends a cheap digital that you can use on humans. It takes 9 seconds to read.

We used some Oxy LP and Oxy LA on the few that we needed to doctor. I switched up to Draxxin. I hate chronic. :?

We have a calf that didn't respond to treatment and now is filling up with fluid in the brisket and throat. Strange case. Almost looks like hardware but I talked to a drug company vet and he thought maybe some heart trouble and it can't reabsorb the fluid.

I like how the Draxxin works and how long it lasts. I don't like how LA swells up at the injection site especially when you are injecting the neck as we are asked to do. Why can't they concentrate the active ingredient and reduce the dosage amounts?
We had a cow with the same symptoms as your swelling calf in 2003, she died. :wink:

 

[little bow rancher]

Pulled a couple of calves tonight. One that has been weaned a while wasn't up off the feed ground this morning with the rest of the calves,when checked her temp was 103.5.

The other calf was a week here from the market and had a ear down a wee bit. I pulled him and his temp was 105.9.

I treated both. I questioned my self on the first one but maybe better safe then sorry.

What do you guys do?

treat at 103.5

 

[burnt]

I could be mistaken, but it seems to me that there are cases where a calf could be very ill and not show the classic high temperature. This would happen when a calf has been sick for a few days before being seen as sick.

At this point, the fever may have already peaked and dropped off a bit while the calf is regressing into an acute stage of morbidity. It will be woody looking and appear empty and lethargic, but not necessarily acutely ill.

The temp will be only slightly elevated by this time. So getting a high temp reading would indicate that the sickness has been discovered relatively early.

But surely there would be someone who would be able to affirm or refute this.

So what I'm saying is that temp is only one tool by which an animal should be diagnosed. As others have said, the calf's appearance should be just as closely considered.

 

[Lonecowboy]

here's a good article:

http://www.thebeefsite.com/articles/2038/identifying-sick-or-injured-cattle

fairly basic stuff but someone might get something out of it.

 

[WyomingRancher]

Don't own a thermometer, at times wish we did. If a calf is 'off', ear down, snotty nose, cough, listless, sometimes just the look in their eye will tell you the most, treat them. They are easier to clear up at that point than the next day.
We didn't get ours vaccinated right when we weaned. :dunce:
Ma and I treated 40 calves yesterday. Only a dozen today.

Here's my sign......

We have a GLA digital that we have used for years. Something is wrong with it and I'm sure it would take bucks to fix it. Th vet just recommends a cheap digital that you can use on humans. It takes 9 seconds to read.

We used some Oxy LP and Oxy LA on the few that we needed to doctor. I switched up to Draxxin. I hate chronic. :?

We have a calf that didn't respond to treatment and now is filling up with fluid in the brisket and throat. Strange case. Almost looks like hardware but I talked to a drug company vet and he thought maybe some heart trouble and it can't reabsorb the fluid.

That does sound like brisket disease... what's your elevation?

 

[High Plains]

Don't own a thermometer, at times wish we did. If a calf is 'off', ear down, snotty nose, cough, listless, sometimes just the look in their eye will tell you the most, treat them. They are easier to clear up at that point than the next day.
We didn't get ours vaccinated right when we weaned. :dunce:
Ma and I treated 40 calves yesterday. Only a dozen today.

Here's my sign......

We have a GLA digital that we have used for years. Something is wrong with it and I'm sure it would take bucks to fix it. Th vet just recommends a cheap digital that you can use on humans. It takes 9 seconds to read.

We used some Oxy LP and Oxy LA on the few that we needed to doctor. I switched up to Draxxin. I hate chronic. :?

We have a calf that didn't respond to treatment and now is filling up with fluid in the brisket and throat. Strange case. Almost looks like hardware but I talked to a drug company vet and he thought maybe some heart trouble and it can't reabsorb the fluid.

I like how the Draxxin works and how long it lasts. I don't like how LA swells up at the injection site especially when you are injecting the neck as we are asked to do. Why can't they concentrate the active ingredient and reduce the dosage amounts?
We had a cow with the same symptoms as your swelling calf in 2003, she died. :wink:

The half power LA (that's the 100) in the vein works really well and, of course, doesn't cause any swelling. Now if you do a butcher job on the veining, well that's another story!!

HP

 

[Denny]

We have a GLA digital that we have used for years. Something is wrong with it and I'm sure it would take bucks to fix it. Th vet just recommends a cheap digital that you can use on humans. It takes 9 seconds to read.

We used some Oxy LP and Oxy LA on the few that we needed to doctor. I switched up to Draxxin. I hate chronic. :?

We have a calf that didn't respond to treatment and now is filling up with fluid in the brisket and throat. Strange case. Almost looks like hardware but I talked to a drug company vet and he thought maybe some heart trouble and it can't reabsorb the fluid.

I like how the Draxxin works and how long it lasts. I don't like how LA swells up at the injection site especially when you are injecting the neck as we are asked to do. Why can't they concentrate the active ingredient and reduce the dosage amounts?
We had a cow with the same symptoms as your swelling calf in 2003, she died. :wink:

The half power LA (that's the 100) in the vein works really well and, of course, doesn't cause any swelling. Now if you do a butcher job on the veining, well that's another story!!

HP

Had to laugh about you saying butcher job.

Last spring during calveing I was giving first responce pills at birth I gave one to a calf let him go he took off running and ran out of air and tipped over. It was in the wrong pipe I jumped out of the tractor cut a hole in the neck and wind pipe and took out the pill it was a bit crude but he's a pretty good calf now.

 

[High Plains]

Did you have a malpractice suit on your hands Denny? Ha!

At least you had a chance to undo it.