They say the only constant is change. We know in the cattle business if we stop im-proving and accept the status quo, we will fall behind.
I have decided to put together ideas that are now happening in the cattle industry. As I travel across the country and meet with producer groups and veterinarians, many production tips come to mind. Hopefully some may apply to your operation and help you improve the performance of your farm or ranch.
Vaccinology is making great strides with new intranasal technologies and broader vaccines that cover more diseases in one shot.
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There are newer intranasal cannulas and guns on the market that are easy to use and deliver a good application of the vaccine well up into the nostril.
Spring is a good time to review if new products should be added to your herd’s vaccination program. Remember, vaccines help prevent diseases and that is far better than treating diseases after the fact.
Hopefully, vaccines can also help cut down antibiotic use. We don’t want to pass off persistently infected, bovine viral diarrhea calves to the feeding sector, so there is heavy reliance on the cow-calf sector to wean vaccinated calves.
Vaccines for foot rot and pinkeye are becoming more common, especially on herd bulls. Clostridial disease is always present but remember specific diseases such as tetanus or redwater only come in certain clostridial vaccines.
We see more cases of clostridial disease out there in spite of there being good, inexpensive vaccines available.
Work with a veterinarian to make sure timing is right on the vaccines, and handle and administer them properly.
Every time you process your cattle, you should review the vaccines you need and whether there is anything new that will give your cattle more comprehensive coverage.
Are cattle travelling to or coming from geographic areas where specific diseases are more prevalent? These are important facts to consider.
Pain control or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs called NSAIDs are often mentioned in the beef and dairy codes of practice for procedures such as castration or dehorning.
In veterinary medicine, NSAIDs may often be used when we work on sick cattle with a fever or perform surgery.
Veterinarians have a range of NSAIDs to choose from. They even come in convenient methods of application, such as oral or pour-on, as well as the traditional injectable ones.
Some have short slaughter withdrawals, while others are longer. They are prescription drugs, but a veterinarian can advise on which ones to use in which situations.
I have seen first-hand how quickly recovery occurs from caesarian sections, claw amputations, castrations and other situations when NSAIDs are used.
The general public is also ex-pressing greater concerns about using pain killers from an animal welfare perspective, so it simply is becoming the right thing to do.
In the interests of parasite control, monitoring feces for internal parasites has become common.
Many strategies, including strategic deworming at pasture, helps producers and veterinarians recognize different ways to deworm, considering that a certain level of parasites leads to greater health problems, especially in calves and yearlings.
As well, more products are available for lice and fly control and some even have some mosquito control, which additionally helps production on grass.
The critical thing is timing of application and switching products if horn fly resistance starts to become a problem.
When buying breeding bulls, make sure to examine all the information, such as semen forms, expected progeny differences and any genetic information.
Bulls make up half the genetics in your herd and warrant special attention, depending on if you want bulls of calving ease performance or carcass characteristics.
Some purebred breeders test for things like homozygosis for colour or the non-dilutor gene to stay away from rat-tail calves.
This has been done to help the buyer and should lead to consistency in colour, if that is important in your herd.
As an industry, we need to do more testing and get more information on antibiotic sensitivity so we can make more informed decisions. If, for instance, you have lost calves to pneumonia, you should talk to a veterinarian about doing a culture during the postmortem, plus a sensitivity to best predict which antibiotic will work best.
This will help monitor resistant organisms and optimize treatment success. Keep in mind virtually all antibiotics will need a vet prescription.
We need to be better spokespeople for our industry and yet push back with strong evidence on topics such as the hormones in beef and antibiotic-free beef.
We are a sustainable industry but need to support processes that make beef more economical to raise.
If you are involved with a special organic or other program, make sure you are deriving the best premium, about 10 to 20 percent, in order to make up for the increased costs of production.
