Herd Health Program- Comments?

[smoky]

I haven't posted often, but I do find a world of information on this board. Thanks!

That said, I am switching from a twice a year herd working to a three time a year herd working. I have a 50 cow herd and calve in Feb/March and Sep/Oct. Listed below is what I am planning to administer.


Mid to Late January:

1. Vaccinate entire breeding herd and replacement heifers with Cattlemater Gold (annual booster).
2. Vaccinate spring calving and breeding cows and heifers with ReproStar VL5 HB (annual booster).
3. Vaccinate entire breeding herd with Ultrabac 8 (annual blackleg booster).
4. Worm with ivermectin pour on.
5. Preg check fall breeding cows and heifers.
6. Blackleg fall born calves with Ultrabac 8.


June:

1. Worm with ivermectin pour on.
2. Blackleg calves spring born with Ultrabac 8.



Mid to Late September:

1. Vaccinate fall calving and breeding cows and heifers with ReproStar VL5 HB (annual booster).
2. Worm with ivermectin pour on.
3. Preg check spring breeding cows and heifers.

In addition, I plan to vaccinate calf groups 1 month prior to weaning with boosters at weaning using the cattlemaster gold and ultrabac 8.

In summary, all calves would receive 3 blackleg vaccinations and two cattlemaster vaccinations. I realize the blackleg only requires two, however I really don't like waiting until those calves are 5-6 months old before there first vaccination. The cows receive annual boosters with the Vibrio and Lepto coming just before the respective spring or fall calving and subsequent rebreeding. Worming three times a year will likely to prove economical here in the gulf south.

I am also still working on what will be the best options for fly control.

Any comments/critiques welcomed.

Smoky

 

[KNERSIE]

the only flaw I see is that you never treat for flukes and I would only give the two shots for blackleg and not three. it may just be personal taste, but I prefer using an injectable ivermectin.

 

[Bez>]

I haven't posted often, but I do find a world of information on this board. Thanks!

That said, I am switching from a twice a year herd working to a three time a year herd working. I have a 50 cow herd and calve in Feb/March and Sep/Oct. Listed below is what I am planning to administer.


Mid to Late January:

1. Vaccinate entire breeding herd and replacement heifers with Cattlemater Gold (annual booster).
2. Vaccinate spring calving and breeding cows and heifers with ReproStar VL5 HB (annual booster).
3. Vaccinate entire breeding herd with Ultrabac 8 (annual blackleg booster).
4. Worm with ivermectin pour on.
5. Preg check fall breeding cows and heifers.
6. Blackleg fall born calves with Ultrabac 8.


June:

1. Worm with ivermectin pour on.
2. Blackleg calves spring born with Ultrabac 8.



Mid to Late September:

1. Vaccinate fall calving and breeding cows and heifers with ReproStar VL5 HB (annual booster).
2. Worm with ivermectin pour on.
3. Preg check spring breeding cows and heifers.

In addition, I plan to vaccinate calf groups 1 month prior to weaning with boosters at weaning using the cattlemaster gold and ultrabac 8.

In summary, all calves would receive 3 blackleg vaccinations and two cattlemaster vaccinations. I realize the blackleg only requires two, however I really don't like waiting until those calves are 5-6 months old before there first vaccination. The cows receive annual boosters with the Vibrio and Lepto coming just before the respective spring or fall calving and subsequent rebreeding. Worming three times a year will likely to prove economical here in the gulf south.

I am also still working on what will be the best options for fly control.

Any comments/critiques welcomed.

Smoky

I would like to know your dollar cost per cow please.

Bez>

 

[rockridgecattle]

Wow.
Just a concern and an opinion..no more than that.
Running cattle in the last term can be hard on them. If your not carefull and very gentle you could get abortions. We did our scour guard 2 weeks prior to calving and i was all jitters about the stress on the soon to be mommas. We did not put them in the squeeze just in the alley chute and IM the vaccine.
Have you talked to your vet about the cattlemaster time frame.

We do all or animals 2-3 weeks prior to bull turn out. the reason is it takes about that time for the immunity to build up to acceptable levels. If you want Fetal protection (FP) and that is advised the anti bodies are at there peak in the first three months with ML vaccines. by the time you turn out your bulls the antibodies will be on the downward cycle and the FP would be lost. To me FP is big on our farm seens how the next calf crop is what pays the bills.

This is our and is what works for us. But it's not for everyone.
Calve March/April
End Feb
Scour guard booster

End of April
Semen test and vaccinate bulls...no way handling them more than we have too. and dectomax

middle of may for June 1 bull turn out

Cows + replacements
Bovi Shield Gold FP L5
8way blackleg
Replacements get dectomax

Calves
Black leg ultra 7/som
one shot
bovi shield gold
Dectomax

End of August Early September

Repeat for the calves

End of October early november
Preg check heifers and any cow that had a serious problem at calving ie. retained placenta or extremely hard birth
Scour guard replacement heifers

cost for the may Vaccines 95 cow calf pairs/ 17 heifers/4 bulls almost 1100.00 why oh why oh why.

Edit...have half of a 2.5 Litre jug of Dectomax left over for the fall

 

[rockridgecattle]

just re read the end of your post...fly control
Fo us we use oilers. then they can be used year round as opposed to tags 2mo

 

[smoky]

In regards to the flukes, I have spoke with both vets that I use and they both pretty much believe that we are far enough from the costal marsh and also have soils that do not propogate liver flukes. I thought I might check with a local slaughter house to see if they have seen any when processing.

In regards to my cost per head, the annual cow cost for all vaccinations and wormings is $5.88/cow. For calves it is $7.24/calf (includes 1 worming). I have definately thought about using a cheaper program for calves that will not be staying as replacements or registered breeding stock.

If I use my vet to preg check it works out to about $5.00/cow. If I can get proficient at drawing tailhead blood, I could send it to the lab for $2.00/head.

I have no labor costs as myself and family can easily work a 50 cow herd with calves.

Thanks for the questions. More comments welcomed.

Smoky

 

[rockridgecattle]

Wow where can i buy your drugs. Was that for the whole year? The spring vaccination alone cost $5.33/head for me. the pfizer program is not cheap by any means.

 

[smoky]

Check my math here. Hopefully I did it right.

Ultrabac 8 50ds= $13.96/ 50=$ .28 /cow
ReproStar VL5 + HB 10ds= $12.88 /10= $ 1.288/cow
Cattlemaster Gold 25 ds = $50.83 /25= $ 2.033/cow
Ivermectin Pour on 5ltr= $78.00/100= $ .78 / cow

I used an 1100# cow in my example. That is about my average cow size.

So...
$0.28
$1.29
$2.03
$2.34 ($.78 x 3)

$5.94 Total (I was off earlier due to rounding error).

I don't think I am missing any vaccinations here for my area. The per calf cost is extra due to the 2nd cattlemaster and 2 extra blackleg boosters.

I typically rotate between pymethrins and organophosphates for fly control. This is the year for pymethrins, so the ivermectin will give some protection at application then I will follow up with delice. I would like to try the IGR (altocid), but with my two neighbors lack of any kind of program, I don't know if that will work.

I get my stuff from http://www.myvetsupply.com

They seem to generally have the lowest prices. Sometimes they will match a competitors price on certain items.

Smoky

 

[rockridgecattle]

Bovi sheild gold fp 50 dose $167.5
8 way 50 dose $27.3
bovishield for calves $110
One shot $94.99
Ultra 7/som(black leg)$48.75
All 50 dose
5% off cash sale
2.5 L Dectomax $137.00
Dectomax is the same price here as ivomec.
is cattle master ML or killed

 

[msscamp]

If your not carefull and very gentle you could get abortions. We did our scour guard 2 weeks prior to calving and i was all jitters about the stress on the soon to be mommas. We did not put them in the squeeze just in the alley chute and IM the vaccine.

I disagree. Generally speaking, the more cattle are worked the calmer they are in the chute, and while being handled. We routinely scour-garded and never had an issue with abortions due to stress, but our cattle were always worked pretty frequently and knew the routine.

 

[rockridgecattle]

Before we never worked our cow so close to calving as this year. Asked the vet and she said to take it easy and quiet cause you could stress them out and well, you know the rest i said.
We work with our cattle several times a year and we try to mantain a low key enviroment cause we want to continue to work with them safely.
We had 2 guys work with us this spring helping on our special day, one was real good, quiet, not yelling, easy handling of the squeeze. The other was quite the opposite. He'll not be coming back. Stressed the cattle out alot.

 

[msscamp]

Asked the vet and she said to take it easy and quiet cause you could stress them out and well, you know the rest i said.

That goes without saying. Riled cattle tend to try to jump fences and gates, go over chute walls, not cooperate, go through gates, as well as a few other things. It appears that I'm assuming things I shouldn't be assuming - again - my apologies.