Tetanus and calf banding

[farmerjan]

JMJ; what are you going to use to band with? We use the callicrate bander. It says to give a tetanus TOXOID shot when banding. That is what we do. Have banded bulls from 200 to 700 lbs with it. When we are doing smaller ones, don't normally give them tetanus except in the blackleg vaccine combination. But we have never had a problem, we do like Gizmom does. We will make sure a calf gets tetanus if he is more than a couple of weeks old. IT IS CHEAP INSURANCE. If you have them in to band then it's no big deal to give a shot. We have never used the antitoxin shot in the cattle, but use only that in the sheep.

One thing, we always band when the sign is in the waning full moon. It is in the "thighs" I think. Blood runs higher coming up to the full moon; proven with people, animals, etc.... so we do it after the full moon going down to the last quarter to the new moon. Gives you about 2 weeks to do it, as long as it is after the full moon going away....Also do any dehorning then, and have been dubbing the purebred old english game bantam males then, for years.

 

[JMJ Farms]

Jan, Callicrate is what I'm gonna use. Not thrilled about the whole deal. I like banding or cutting them right after their first belly full of milk. But that wasn't an option this time so banding it is. There's only 6 of them but I refuse to knife cut them at 550 pounds. Knocks em back too hard IMO.

I have never banded by the moon but I have knife cut, weaned, etc by the moon. There's something to it for sure!

 

[farmerjan]

JMJ; we will never go back to knife cutting unless there is some real odd situation. I let all my dairy and dairy cross bull calves stay as bulls until they are in the 3-500 lb range. Depends on time of year, if they are going to pasture...whatever. Prefer to do the same with the beef calves, but sometimes it is just circumstances that they get banded as small calves, especially when they are going to pasture in the spring. Some places we don't have facilities to get them in to work them, just set up catch pens when they need to be moved. But we like the growth of the intact bulls better. The dairy bull calves don't seem to get the pot/hay bellies either if they are kept as bulls. Maybe my imagination.... And I can say that we have had very good results with the callicrate bander. If you get it tight, they will hurt for a little while, but it gets numb very quick. Most of ours will be back on the cows, or back in the bunk eating within an hour or so. We do keep them at the barn in the lot where we can check them for about 3 days. By the third day their nuts should already be cold to the touch. We have run them in the chute at times just to check. If they are acting okay, and they are eating, then that's it. Good luck with it, I hope you have as good a result as we have.

 

[JMJ Farms]

JMJ; we will never go back to knife cutting unless there is some real odd situation. I let all my dairy and dairy cross bull calves stay as bulls until they are in the 3-500 lb range. Depends on time of year, if they are going to pasture...whatever. Prefer to do the same with the beef calves, but sometimes it is just circumstances that they get banded as small calves, especially when they are going to pasture in the spring. Some places we don't have facilities to get them in to work them, just set up catch pens when they need to be moved. But we like the growth of the intact bulls better. The dairy bull calves don't seem to get the pot/hay bellies either if they are kept as bulls. Maybe my imagination.... And I can say that we have had very good results with the callicrate bander. If you get it tight, they will hurt for a little while, but it gets numb very quick. Most of ours will be back on the cows, or back in the bunk eating within an hour or so. We do keep them at the barn in the lot where we can check them for about 3 days. By the third day their nuts should already be cold to the touch. We have run them in the chute at times just to check. If they are acting okay, and they are eating, then that's it. Good luck with it, I hope you have as good a result as we have.

Thanks Jan. I hope so too. I've never given tetanus shots. But I am on these few as this is my first go around with the Callicrate. Don't want any mishaps. I do have a friend who's gonna band them for me as he has experience with the Callicrate. Maybe LuckyP will chime in on my planned sequence on shots.

 

[sstterry]

Michael, I banded a 550lb bull on Thanksgiving weekend and used the Zip-Bandit. I can not recommend it enough. It was easy and fast and worked like a charm. That, now steer, had a limp so I am going to feed him out for the freezer in the late spring.

 

[JMJ Farms]

Michael, I banded a 550lb bull on Thanksgiving weekend and used the Zip-Bandit. I can not recommend it enough. It was easy and fast and worked like a charm. That, now steer, had a limp so I am going to feed him out for the freezer in the late spring.

Thanks Steve. I will check it out. Probably go with the Callicrate just bc a friend of mine has one. I would buy my own but I don't foresee needing one since I band at birth. But I guess one never knows what situation or opportunity may arise. Thanks again.

 

[snoopdog]

We used the callicrate last year as we were late getting it done, and used covexin , we like the growth also leaving them bulls for awhile.

 

[farmerjan]

Michael, I banded a 550lb bull on Thanksgiving weekend and used the Zip-Bandit. I can not recommend it enough. It was easy and fast and worked like a charm. That, now steer, had a limp so I am going to feed him out for the freezer in the late spring.

Thanks Steve. I will check it out. Probably go with the Callicrate just bc a friend of mine has one. I would buy my own but I don't foresee needing one since I band at birth. But I guess one never knows what situation or opportunity may arise. Thanks again.

Makes sense if he is familiar with it and you don't often do them at this size. Have read some about the Zip-Bandit. We already have the callicrate so that's what we use. We have done a few for some others who had one 'get by them' as a calf type of deal. Wouldn't mind to try the other to see if there is a difference in using or results. Good luck.

 

[BC]

A question for you guys that refuse to cut a bigger calf - don't you guys ever get together for calf fries? I could founder on them and fried jalapeno slices.

 

[sstterry]

Michael, I banded a 550lb bull on Thanksgiving weekend and used the Zip-Bandit. I can not recommend it enough. It was easy and fast and worked like a charm. That, now steer, had a limp so I am going to feed him out for the freezer in the late spring.

Thanks Steve. I will check it out. Probably go with the Callicrate just bc a friend of mine has one. I would buy my own but I don't foresee needing one since I band at birth. But I guess one never knows what situation or opportunity may arise. Thanks again.

Makes sense if he is familiar with it and you don't often do them at this size. Have read some about the Zip-Bandit. We already have the callicrate so that's what we use. We have done a few for some others who had one 'get by them' as a calf type of deal. Wouldn't mind to try the other to see if there is a difference in using or results. Good luck.

The thing I liked was that for one larger calf, I did not have to buy a whole new system or cut him. For about $3 and 30 seconds it was done.

 

[elkwc]

Michael, I banded a 550lb bull on Thanksgiving weekend and used the Zip-Bandit. I can not recommend it enough. It was easy and fast and worked like a charm. That, now steer, had a limp so I am going to feed him out for the freezer in the late spring.

Thanks Steve. I will check it out. Probably go with the Callicrate just bc a friend of mine has one. I would buy my own but I don't foresee needing one since I band at birth. But I guess one never knows what situation or opportunity may arise. Thanks again.

We use both. Have used the Callicrate bander for 3-4 years with gsat results on calves from 300-600 lbs. Purchased the Zip andits in June and gave used it on several head with good results. On calves from 375-500. Worked good. Most fell off and were gone by 2-3 weeks. We did the last ones in mid Nov. Used both. The vags on both dried up in a few weeks but were very slow to drop off. I had the same issue in winter once before so was careful to naje sure I gad the proper tension on both. Y using a band they dob't skip a beat.

 

[JMJ Farms]

Michael, I banded a 550lb bull on Thanksgiving weekend and used the Zip-Bandit. I can not recommend it enough. It was easy and fast and worked like a charm. That, now steer, had a limp so I am going to feed him out for the freezer in the late spring.

Thanks Steve. I will check it out. Probably go with the Callicrate just bc a friend of mine has one. I would buy my own but I don't foresee needing one since I band at birth. But I guess one never knows what situation or opportunity may arise. Thanks again.

We use both. Have used the Callicrate bander for 3-4 years with gsat results on calves from 300-600 lbs. Purchased the Zip andits in June and gave used it on several head with good results. On calves from 375-500. Worked good. Most fell off and were gone by 2-3 weeks. We did the last ones in mid Nov. Used both. The vags on both dried up in a few weeks but were very slow to drop off. I had the same issue in winter once before so was careful to naje sure I gad the proper tension on both. Y using a band they dob't skip a beat.

Thanks elkwc. It's winter here also. I think. It was 77 degrees yesterday. Supposed to be 40 something tomorrow. So I thinks it's winter. Been a tough year all the way around for me regarding the cattle business. But it could always have been worse. Just wish we had some consistency with the weather. Just a little bit.