Melissa8191
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ok...so me and my husband are new to owning cattle. We are trying to raise beef cattle...just for our families consumption but have had so much trouble were reconsidering. :-( Any solid advice would be greatly appreciated as we are apparently on a huge learning curve.
Some background...(bear with me please).
We have about 10 acres of fenced pasture...not used in several years so the grass is high. We purchased 2 heiffers and a bull from an operation that had been previously used by a friend of ours doing the same for his family for the last 4 years. They warranty their cows for 3 weeks and our friend claimed he had never gotten sick cows from the man...
So home come the heifers (I did not accompany my husband to pick them out...it was a man's field trip) and we come home with one very small heifer (6 months) brown swiss/black angus mix, a red angus bull (6 months), and another brown swiss/black angus heifer (8 months old). We put them in the back pens at first (tall grass) and they happily begin grazing. We de-wormed them all, and the feed store told me I should give them a CDT vaccine, which I give to the two heifers, but the bull kindly refused. Immediately we have problems...
I notice that the older heifer is shedding hair. 4 days later I notice a cough and green discharge coming from her nose. It is rodeo season where I live, so the vet is not available. We speak to her several times on the phone and she assures me that a lot of animals are sick up where we are right now because of the crazy temperature swings. She tells us to go to the local feed store and they can get us penicillin that should do the trick. I'm not crazy about filling her up with antibiotics, but she is moving a little slow, we give IM Penicillin for a week and she appears to be doing better. Day 8 we go out to give her the shot and she is staggering and foaming at the mouth. We call different vet from in the valley who comes within 2 hours, shoots her up with stronger antibiotics. She dies 4 hours later...
The next am we notice green discharge coming from the noses of the other two. The bull is so mean and hard to catch that we just end up dumping oxytetracycline in his water for a week and it clears up without developing any other symptoms. Same goes for the heifer, but now she has diarrhea. We take the feed store advice once again and change her over to oat hay. She has just finished the oxytetracycline, and the other two do not have diarrhea, so maybe feed related.
The bull looks great for 3 weeks...the little heifer develops some circular spots of hair loss on the side of her head...and then one on her forehead that appears crusty. I am thinking ring worm? Then over the course of a day she develops what appears to be a grapefruit size abscess under her right jaw. Goody! The diarrhea has turned to mashed potatoes, but not resolved. We put her out to pasture to get her to a fresh environment. So the vet tells us to watch it and it will probably resolve on its own. She is eating, bouncing around, not acting sick, gaining weight. We wait...
However, the first heifer that died was under warranty. So my husband goes back a little more cautiously and ends up getting x2 steer calves to replace her. Hey look ok...
and five days later..one of them mysteriously drops dead. The other one appears to be doing fine and gaining wt.
And now the new steer, bull, and the heifer appear to may be have ringworm? small circular patches of missing hair on their head.
So currently
Big D (stand for Diablo because he is mean) : Maybe ringworm?
Small Heifer : Abscess (can't drain it yet because it is still too solid), ringworm? Diarrhea (mashed potatoes)
Steer: Ringworm?
Every thing we try seems to illicit another problem. We did de-worm them all again. I was able to get a needle in the abscess and drain out a small amount of puss but nothing significant. We can't get anything topical on the bull for ringworm because he is impossible to catch. Was told that there was an iodine based treatment for ringworm I could mix with their grain? I'm at a loss...
Some background...(bear with me please).
We have about 10 acres of fenced pasture...not used in several years so the grass is high. We purchased 2 heiffers and a bull from an operation that had been previously used by a friend of ours doing the same for his family for the last 4 years. They warranty their cows for 3 weeks and our friend claimed he had never gotten sick cows from the man...
So home come the heifers (I did not accompany my husband to pick them out...it was a man's field trip) and we come home with one very small heifer (6 months) brown swiss/black angus mix, a red angus bull (6 months), and another brown swiss/black angus heifer (8 months old). We put them in the back pens at first (tall grass) and they happily begin grazing. We de-wormed them all, and the feed store told me I should give them a CDT vaccine, which I give to the two heifers, but the bull kindly refused. Immediately we have problems...
I notice that the older heifer is shedding hair. 4 days later I notice a cough and green discharge coming from her nose. It is rodeo season where I live, so the vet is not available. We speak to her several times on the phone and she assures me that a lot of animals are sick up where we are right now because of the crazy temperature swings. She tells us to go to the local feed store and they can get us penicillin that should do the trick. I'm not crazy about filling her up with antibiotics, but she is moving a little slow, we give IM Penicillin for a week and she appears to be doing better. Day 8 we go out to give her the shot and she is staggering and foaming at the mouth. We call different vet from in the valley who comes within 2 hours, shoots her up with stronger antibiotics. She dies 4 hours later...
The next am we notice green discharge coming from the noses of the other two. The bull is so mean and hard to catch that we just end up dumping oxytetracycline in his water for a week and it clears up without developing any other symptoms. Same goes for the heifer, but now she has diarrhea. We take the feed store advice once again and change her over to oat hay. She has just finished the oxytetracycline, and the other two do not have diarrhea, so maybe feed related.
The bull looks great for 3 weeks...the little heifer develops some circular spots of hair loss on the side of her head...and then one on her forehead that appears crusty. I am thinking ring worm? Then over the course of a day she develops what appears to be a grapefruit size abscess under her right jaw. Goody! The diarrhea has turned to mashed potatoes, but not resolved. We put her out to pasture to get her to a fresh environment. So the vet tells us to watch it and it will probably resolve on its own. She is eating, bouncing around, not acting sick, gaining weight. We wait...
However, the first heifer that died was under warranty. So my husband goes back a little more cautiously and ends up getting x2 steer calves to replace her. Hey look ok...
and five days later..one of them mysteriously drops dead. The other one appears to be doing fine and gaining wt.
And now the new steer, bull, and the heifer appear to may be have ringworm? small circular patches of missing hair on their head.
So currently
Big D (stand for Diablo because he is mean) : Maybe ringworm?
Small Heifer : Abscess (can't drain it yet because it is still too solid), ringworm? Diarrhea (mashed potatoes)
Steer: Ringworm?
Every thing we try seems to illicit another problem. We did de-worm them all again. I was able to get a needle in the abscess and drain out a small amount of puss but nothing significant. We can't get anything topical on the bull for ringworm because he is impossible to catch. Was told that there was an iodine based treatment for ringworm I could mix with their grain? I'm at a loss...