Recent content by Dempster

There are options to induce abortion, but it would be wise to first determine how far along she is. As they get farther along, more drugs are necessary and potential risks to the heifer increase. In some cases, abortion is probably not advised.

So before we all jump ship from Inforce to Nasalgen, a couple questions. Does anyone have issues with bacterial pneumonia in pre-branding age calves? Mannheimia in these calves certainly exists, but it isn't common. I see it by far most commonly in calves out of first calf heifers, but not all...

What are you trying to achieve by feeding tubs? What are you hoping to gain nutritionally?

A certain percentage of heifers are sterile and will never breed but will cycle. Others will breed eventually but have to be older than most. If she has been with the bull for many cycles and not bred, she probably is just not a very fertile heifer. It may be best at this time to sell her and...

If you are trying to kill lice, Clean Up is the product you should be using at this point.

No, you can start it right away. The sample will degrade with time. If you are submitting some from that fecal pile, you will want to have it looked at sooner than later, but will have a little time if it’s been refrigerated.

The GI mucosa is highly vascular and it is not uncommon to have a small degree of bleeding from it. I'm not sure what starts it, some sharp roughage that didn't get fully digested? stretching? I don't know. The same thing commonly happens in people where they will occasionally see a streak of...

She probably has a small bleed in the rectum, given that the blood is all together with some mucous. She shouldn’t need anything.

If these aborted a couple months ago, your chances of finding the reason now are extremely low, abortion cases are very challenging to solve and it is simply not possible to diagnose the cause of most abortions this long after. A single blood test is likely to get you nowhere. Regardless, I...

Most of these that survive will breed back, I think you should keep her if she breeds. Relapse rate is minimal, partly because it is primarily first calvers that prolapse, quite a bit more rare to see an adult prolapse and most of those didn't prolapse as heifers. Biggest risk is death, probably...

Roundworms in dogs can basically go from one animals straight to the next through feces consumption. However, most cattle worms are required to go through developmental stages outside of the animal. Cattle can consume the eggs of these parasites and they would simply die, they have to hatch and...

The most simple answer is to do fecals on a handful and see if they have parasites. Takes grass and moisture for most parasite transmission, if either of those are lacking infection will be reduced. 2.5 month old calves can have parasites.

I don't think at these cattle prices it is cost effective to give to mature cows, and it has never been a cost effective method of fly control. It will often reduce fly populations, but on it's own will generally not be enough when there is heavy fly pressure. Using it in the calves could be...

The biggest risk when giving a MLV to a calf on an unvaccinated dam is the possibility that some of the vaccine runs back out the injection site and is licked off right away by the dam. Theoretically, there could be some viral replication in the mouth that is passed through the teat when the...

Younger bulls with some fat cover will butcher fairly well. Many local lockers will cut a piece off as soon as they hang them if you want to test the meat before it is processed. I would have them cut off a ribeye steak, take it home and cook it. If it cooks up well, keep the ribeye and some...