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Worming calves?

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Nicky

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After the big 'creep feeding' debate, I'm scared to ask :? But what does everyone think about worming calves 1 - 2 months before selling?
It's been soooo dry here we're worried about our steer calves makeing weight...who isn't??? Anyway, we have to give them their shot next week and wondered about worming them at the same time. They will be going to mostly dry feed with a tiny bit of green meadows along the Powder River on our BLM permit.
Everyones thoughts are welcomed :!: :wink:
I was going to post some pictures but our deer hunters just arrived
 
We follow the Pfizer program, in trying to make our calves more saleable with this "value added" feature. We give Ultrabac 7/Somubac, Bova-Shield Gold, One Shot pastuerella, and Dectomax (wormer). Having done this for the past several years, we firmly believe that it pays and attracts more bids at the salebarn.
 
Yeah what he said.
Do you booster your seven-way and resp., or just vaccinate then ship in a couple weeks, Soapweed?
Nicky; I haven't priced Dectomax yet this year, but it won't take too many pounds to buy a dose, I'll bet.
 
Nicky,

When will you be selling them???? What condition are they in???


If they look poor, I worm. If I am selling them soon, talk to the buyer and see how they want them preconditioned. If I am selling them soon and don't know the buyer, I worm them to try to get them looking a bit better. If I am feeding them for a few more months, I will wait until the first hard frost, then they won't be reinfested,

My word, those fella's are lucky to be hunting around there. Some nice bucks. I used to be amazed at some of teh bucks that wintered in Richland in the valley when it got cold,


PPRM
 
This time around I got Ivomec plus cheaper than i could find dectomax, since they are basically the same thing I usually buy which ever one's the cheapest, seems like it goes back and forth from one to the other each time we work em. I do however like the ivomec plus better, only because it comes with a hanging bag. I cannot find dectomax in anything but a glass bottle.

Soapweed,
Other than your arrow brand, is there any other way the buyers at the sale barn know which cattle are yours?
Our salebarn seems to have such high volume I dont know how you'd ever know who bought em until you get the check with the list of who bought what on it. Or is it just goin in and sittin down and talkin to the buyers durin the sale, before the sale, lunch time etc?
 
Worming is just another part of good management :D - - - it is not an expence, it is an investment :!: .

There are many good wormers out there :) - - - I would talk to the local vet to try and get the best one for your conditions - - - I have such a good relationship with my vet that I can't even remember what wormer we use :shock: but I have used the same vet since 1973 :D and feel I don't need to micro mannage him. When I work cattle most of the time I have him come out as his cost is not much more that having to hire somone else to help any way and we work very well together :D . If he has a large group of cattle to work elseware he often calls me to help ( I enjoy the work and can pick up a little extra monet and learn - - learn --_learn :D :D :D
 
the_jersey_lilly_2000 said:
Soapweed,
Other than your arrow brand, is there any other way the buyers at the sale barn know which cattle are yours?
Our salebarn seems to have such high volume I dont know how you'd ever know who bought em until you get the check with the list of who bought what on it. Or is it just goin in and sittin down and talkin to the buyers durin the sale, before the sale, lunch time etc?
Click to expand...

We market our calves through the Valentine Livestock Auction. They run a first-class operation, and are very good about promoting ranch vaccination programs. When a consignment of calves comes into the ring, the auctioneer always reads through the list of vaccine shots that the calves have had. They then ask for the consignor to raise their hat and be acknowleged, and ask if that information is correct. The consignor can then voice any additional information about the calves before the bidding starts.

It is a good system, and I commend the Valentine Livestock Auction folks for being so thorough. This is beneficial to both seller and potential buyer. A normal fall run for each Thursday sale is probably about 5000 head of calves and yearlings. A lot of the consignments are in pot-load lots (50,000-55000 pounds) of one class and weight of cattle. During the busy fall selling season, cull cows and bulls are sold on Mondays.

Other area sale barns are equally as concientious and thorough about promoting ranch vaccination programs. Some of the best cattle in the world are raised in the Sandhills and surrounding Dakota high plains. Livestock production is the major industry in this whole several-state area. Promotion and sales of these fine cattle directly benefits and impacts each main street business.
 
We dont have a vet come out when we work cows, we do our own vaccinatin. Although I do have him come out after we are finished to bangs vaccinate our heifers we keep since it's required that a vet do that here. General public can't buy that one. Our hired help got paid 125.00 each this time, went up from previous times since fuel prices have gone up so much. But I dont have a problem paying them a lil more to cover their costs.
We worm twice a year....without fail. It is an investment, but also nothing wrong with getting the lowest price on what you use. I remember the first time I had to buy 500 ml of ivomec plus. I bout fell over. It's always left up to me to go get, or get online and buy what ever we need. So this last time I got on the phone and on the computer and started searching. First 500 ml we bought I think cost 289.00. That's been several (12?) years ago. This last time we used Ivomec Plus and I got it for 189.00 per 500 ml. Makes a big difference when you buy several of those. Just from the price I found compared to the Tractor supply price of 239.00 for one bottle I saved 50.00.
 
Nicky,


Calves and hunters won't worry about dust today, LOL. I stopped in Baker City last night, pouring good this morning. I will still go home today and grab a couple of trailer-loads of cows from rented pastures, but may not take pics, LOL.

I am glad to see this rain. I was worried I wouldn't get some Fall Alfalfa field pasture I usually get, but a week or two of warm rain could change that,


PPRM
 
Would you like our rain, too, that we're getting today? F#%&*** rain!!!!! :evil: :mad: Combining is put on hold again!
 
Shelly said:
Would you like our rain, too, that we're getting today? F#%&*** rain!!!!! :evil: :mad: Combining is put on hold again!
Click to expand...

I feel for you Shelly- we got a little too...But I'm done combining- cows are all on the home stubble fields and pasture- so it isn't bothering me as much now.....Now just need to get a day and precondition......
 
Nope, no dust today :D :) Boy, am I glad it's raining. It rained off and on all day yesterday and today so far :p Know that you don't it Shelley but we were sure overdue.
The hunters were home by 10:30 with a cow elk! No deer seen yet but they saw close to 200 elk! Mike saw the biggest bull elk he's seen here. Bull season isn't open til the end of this month
Back to the calves... they are sold and go the first week of Nov. They look good, just want to make sure they weigh enough. We normally worm the replacement heifers after they are weaned.
 
Nicky,
another thing you can try is Safeguard in the mineral, it is cheaper and you do not have to run them through the chute. I know several people that have done this, especially with yearlings. Also, put a pencil to supplementing with a protein, this time of the year the grass is hard and protein deficient, the energy is there if you have grass, but the protein is unavailable. This is the only time that I think the urea is a buy. Call me stupid but I spent way too many years pulling rumen samples on native range, doing weigh suckle weighs, and collecting forage samples, I have seen most all of it, but not all. This is also about the only time in the year that lick tubs might also pencil, I have found that formulations are different from the same company in different locals and therefore I have to say that some of the lick tubs MIGHT BE GOOD. The one lick tank mixture that I know for sure is 28% protein in Montana, and most of it is Stephens philtrate which is urea, but in TX, it is 40% protein and 28% natural protein. Cost up here was astronomical, down there it was cheap. Put a pencil to your own area, one size does not fit all. Have fun.
 
We've been feeding a loose (locally made) protien supp for the last couple months, always do when the grass dries up.
 
Nicky

I was reading sw's advice and I do agree that is a whole lot less labor intensive, however I am not sure you get a very good result. I am trying to remember what our nutritionist told us about that, not having good luck. Has something to do with the reccomended dose needs to be consumed in like 12-24 hours and you cannot be certian that every calf will eat the proper amount of mineral in the alloted time. Might check on that!
 
When feeding Safeguard in free-choice mineral it is better if it takes a week for the cattle to consume it all. Dr. Don Bliss says the best way to worm cattle is "over the gums." He really promotes worming in a feed-thru as sw mentioned. One thing about Safeguard is that it kills more worms in more stages than any of the avomectrins.

The way I understand it, Safeguard works on the metabolism of the worm and if an animal eats some on Monday and doesn't eat any more until Wednesday, there is still a worm kill. It is better this way because it is over a longer period of time, rather than a peak kill and then nothing.

That's how we worm our cows all the time. Don't do it any other way. Ran fecals after worming and we have gotten a really good kill.

Worming with a feed through does require a little management. Enough sources (tubs) for the mineral/wormer is important so every critter has access is really important. If the cattle are overeating mineral, put out more tubs so the boss cows don't hog the mineral tubs. If they are not eating enough mineral, pull all the mineral for 2-4 days and then put out the mineral containing Safeguard. Leave it out until it is all consumed. You must figure the weight of the cattle in each pasture and put out enough mineral to worm that many pounds. Example 100 cows that weigh 1200# and 100 calves that weigh 500# would equal 170,000#. If a sack treats 50,000 pounds, you would need 3.4 sacks. So you would probably be wise to go ahead and put out a total of 4 sacks, or weigh it and worm something else with the rest. It's safe, you can worm just about anything with it.

I think you will see more articles on worming with a feed thru. They advocate 'strategic worming' which in our country is 6 weeks after turn-out and then again in the fall after a hard freeze. That is when you will get the best return on investment.
 
FH,

We also worm with the mineral and Safeguard 6 weeks after turnout, very good results. I did this on one rented pasture that the landlord had a few cows on. He didn't realize what I had done and asked if the grass had changed cause the cattle looked better.

In the fall after the first freeze, we use ivomec products. Not so worried bout dung beetles after the freeze. But the main reason is to rotate wormer,

PPRM
 

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