|
Ridgway, IL | My recent experience has shown calves start to "break" around 7-10 days. For the first couple days they are so amped up from the weaning process that they don't really get sick... But then at 7-10 days the stress from weaning makes them susceptible to fever/resp/etc.
I'm not in the draxin/zuprevo/micotil at day 1 camp, because I'm fearful it could lose effectiveness in the 7-10 days between weaning an fever breaking. That's assuming fresh calves, not stale trader cattle.
If you have time and facilities, I think the best way to do it is to wean them on good grass hay only for a week to 10 days, at this point I think you will notice a little droop in their attitudes. Run them through the chute and temp them all, if not very many have fevers, I'll treat the high temps with draxin or zuprevo, and the low temps get a la200 shot. I mark the fever calves with a paint stick to know which ones to watch. Continue to monitor for another 7-10 days. At this point, I feel like it's safe to hit them with vaccs. Some of these vacs can be hard on calves.... Plus, I don't think it does anyone any good to try and vac cattle that are sick (7-10 day weaned)
I think the alternative is to vac them on day 1. Then booster at day 14.
I just try to steer clear of vac on days 2-14 post weaning. Have done it in good weaning weather and got along ok. But not my favorite way. It just depends on where the calves are going, I.e a pasture or the feedlot
Also, I think a big part of the decision is how much stress your system puts on calves getting them up to the chute. If it's low stress, I have no problems running calves through multiple trips over the course of the weaning process
With the price of calves, a guy needs to have a strategy that takes into account the weather, calves, handling system and facilities, and the amount of time you can put into it.
Some things I like having on hand are, all the vaccs, sulfa boluses, la 200, banamine, sulfa-met for water tank treatment, ctc crumbles, as700 crumbles, lots of grass hay.
I keep bottles of draxin and zuprevo, but they are expensive... At the very least make sure your vet has some on hand in case you need some you can get it immediately.
Hope it goes good, keep us updated on how it turns out.
| |
|
weaning/working calves?
