Newborn Calves (castration, shots, ect.)

[cornstalk]

Hello all,

First year with a fleet of my own !

Some people in our area band and give vit A, D shots on the spot,.....right after birth.

I'm wondering what everyone here thinks? Band em when they hit the ground,.....or wait 8-10 weeks?

Typically, growing up,.....after birth, all we did was sink an ear tag in their ear,......and off they went. Then presummer, before they were shipped out to pasture, they would be banded, vaccinated, branded ect.

Any insight on this ? Also, please list all shots these calves should be getting,....just dont want to miss anything.

Thanks!!

:cboy:

 

[Scotty]

I a have done all types of castrations. Usually waited at least one month to do anything other thatn the occational polly seriem shot. I have started banding now at about 400 lbs. with a tri bander I got from Valley Vet. supply. Kind of doing my own trial of waiting to see if the return is worth the effort. Supposedly some think if you wait the calves grow better and are more efficient. Give a tetnus shot with each one I band regaurdless of age at the time of banding. Blacke leg try to do at three and five months. Never given A and D shots. Don't know if I am missing anything or not. Befor I sell I do some weaning and backgrounding on some calves. You can go to Jordan Cattle Auction of San Saba TX and they have a premium weaned calve sale. To qualify you use the VAC 45 program and they want bulls knife cut. Hope this helps and hope you enjouy the cattle business. ;-)



Scotty

 

[Kelly]

Everybody has their own opinion. We cut them either shortly after birth up to about 2 months. If you band them make sure you give them a tetnus shot. Some slow starters we have given the Vit A & D shots but not as a rule. One year we gave the oral vaccine - calf guard at birth . Now at weaning or when is convenient after about 3 months we vaccinate them all with 8 way Blackleg & 9 way virus. The heifers we do the Brucellosis on also. Good luck!

 

[D.R. Cattle]

Our Spring and Fall workups are scheduled so that all the calves will have been born by then. We tag them when they hit the ground so you can keep the calves mammied and records up easier, but castration and shots happen at workup with the rest of the herd. Would be pretty easy to castrate a new calf, but the boys have fun and get calf roping/hog tying practice in the pens by doing it at workup. Bull calves seem to get a better start intact. The vitamins and all that other stuff is a decision to made herd by herd. Our cattle are pretty tough and the calves hit the ground running usually. Definitely aren't being born in the snow.

 

[Scotty]

http://www.jordancattle.com/prem_weaned_guidelines.pdf


Check this out and see if it helps Cornstalk.



Scotty

 

[Workinonit Farm]

When mine hit the ground, they get tagged, banded(if bulls) and an A&D shot.

Katherine

 

[CattleAnnie]

We tag, band and A,D & E w/ Se within the first few days. Easier to catch and process the calves when they're younger. If there have been any scour cases in the older calves, we'll also give the new ones a shot of Biomycin.

Calves that develop a swollen navel get a shot of Nuflor. That's about it.

Never have given tetnus shots when banding, and so far no problems.

Take care.

 

[Farmhand]

We band at birth, give a shot of BOSE if the calf seems slow or weak, and spray the navel with iodine. Lots to think about - calves may get a little behind by banding early. May also get behind by going off feed when castrating later. Did some research and decided difference between the two was not much. Decided on banding rather than cutting 'cuz risk of infection is less. Be sure to band low tho. Got one too high and got infected. Folks had same problem. Also thought stress was less when little too. Iodine does the trick for us to keep the navel from getting swollen and infected.

 

[brokenmouth]

Band em when they hit the ground,.....or wait 8-10 weeks?
Any insight on this ? Also, please list all shots these calves should be getting,....just dont want to miss anything.

no big deal either way just band em and shoot em when you can catch em

 

[erunde]

Our calves get banded and dehorned when young; eventhough the burning dehorn method is never a guarantee it seems. But we band when the calves are still on milk; we have never had any trouble and it seems the calves never get infected. The few that we have waited on; infection has been more of a problem. We also do not give tetnus shots with banding.

Best of luck;

 

[dun]

There is sort of an art to the burning method of dehorning. We found that when we burned them enough that the horn cap could be popped off, then the white tissue under the cap burned to blend in with the shape of the head and we didn;t have any problems. Takes a bit longer, but it looks better and you can be 99.99% sure you've gotten it all.

dun

 

[tapeworm]

Mommas get paid to take care of babies here...we try not to touch em til weaning. Best art to dehorning is at bull turnout. Least thats my take on it. To each there own

 

[Medic24]

I think I am liking the poly serum at birth trick. especially on bottle fed calves when we are not sure of culostrum intake.

 

[1848]

Some people in our area band and give vit A, D shots on the spot,.....right after birth.

I'm wondering what everyone here thinks? Band em when they hit the ground,.....or wait 8-10 weeks?

Typically, growing up,.....after birth, all we did was sink an ear tag in their ear,......and off they went.

I guess it's necessary to give them vit shots in some areas, but I would have thought moma would already pass some of that while in the womb if you are supplementing your cattle for the deficiency in the first place.

Our calves get nothing. Not even iodine on the umbilical cord. If a calf is very weak, which is seldom (probably jinxed myself), we may give it a shot of B12. I don't band any more, but when I did I waited some time to "make sure" I could "get them both".... ;-)

They get all ther vacs at about 4 months or so, then boosters at weaning.

 

[Daybreak]

Howdy,

When the calves hit the ground.
1. ear tag
2. strong ticture of iodine on cord
3. shot of B.O.S.E.
4. banding done <-never had an issue with infection or need for tetnus.
5. actual scale weight taken.
6. scored (rating for calf)
7. move calf and mommie to another field. (a lot easier to see when a new one comes)

Not a whole lot of banding here since the herd is all registered.

 

[jcarkie]

tag and band within a couple of days. no shots till 3 months, implant and dehorn too.

 

[Victoria]

We give them a tag at birth so we can keep good records. Our area is low in Selenium. We give the cows mineral blocks with extra selenium and that is usually enough to keep everyone healthy. BUT if we find a calf is a little slow or weak we give Vitamins A&D as well as Vitamin E&Selenium to perk them up.
We do our castrating early fall using Burdizzos. More swelling but the flies don't get in (we had one - it was awful and we never cut again). In the fall they also get vaccinated before shipping day.
Everyone has their own method and the key is finding the one that works best in your operation.

 

[sidney411]

We have never given any sort of vitamin shot to calves, can someone explain what these shots do and why they are given by so many people? I am wondering if I shoud be giving a vitamin shot to the calves also.

 

[tapeworm]

We have never given any sort of vitamin shot to calves, can someone explain what these shots do and why they are given by so many people? I am wondering if I shoud be giving a vitamin shot to the calves also.

Sidney411 you sound like me...we let the cows take care of the babies...at least we hope they do...sometimes nature needs a little help. What ever works for people is what they should do

 

[sidney411]

Yeah, I figure that way too, I just want to know what the purpose of giving the vitamin shots is for.