At spring workup we castrate, tag any calves we missed when first born, womr and de-lice. Vaccinate for the stabdards around here, blackleg, BVD, IBR, etc.. You local good large animal vet can tell you what is appropriate for your area. We also do a quick annual physical, check teeth, fvaluate feet and legs, check heifers for reproductive tract condition, trim tails, check for eye cancer (we've never had any, but some herds around here have a real problem with it). Make note of the BCS for each cow/heifer. I've been thinking of maybe giving our gomer "steer", a shot to make him even hornier but haven't decided yet on that. Any cow that hasn't already been detected as being in heat after 40 days from calving get a quick check of their ovaries for any problems, and maybe a shot of GNRH to get them cyceling. We haven't implanyed in probably 20 years. Anything that would increase the load on the pasture would (I think) be detrimental in the long run. This year we'll be doing a blood test on a heifer twin to check for freemartinism. The test is only 40 bucks and she'll bring more then that if she isn't a freemartin. In the fall we worm, delice, vaccinate and preg check. We spring calve, if we fall calved we would just reverse the cycle.
dunmovin farms
> We live in eastern Ok and will be
> working our cattle this spring. I
> plan to castrate our bull calves
> and deworm all of our cows. I'm
> interested in hearing what other
> vaccinations I should give to my
> cows and my calves. We are opting
> to NOT give hormone injections
> this year in our calves (I'm not
> convinced they pay off!). What do
> you think?
