Who uses a Vet?

[kenny thomas]

How do you vaccinate for Brucellosis? Doesn't that have to be done by a veterinarian?

I only know of two farms that do it and they are both purebred operations. We are bangs free and it is not required or even recommended anymore.

 

[jedstivers]

I would use one more if I had one. My vet for the dogs is a very good LA vet but he has gotten older an won't do what he used to. He will advise me though. As far as the good meds I can get anything i need through my stocker program. If Draxx an A180 won't cure them then usually God just has to tend them.

 

[dun]

The big question is why would anyone want to go through eight years of difficult study to become a doctor of veterinary medicine, and go out and pull a calf for $55, and be used as cheap labor, and have to peddle drugs in competition with big supply companies?

Mechanics make more money and don't have to make housecalls and don't have to sell stuff to make a living. They can work in a climate controlled building with regular hours.

Our vet commented that he wished he could afford a better microscope. I asked him why he didn;t raise his rates. He and his wife the SA vet have a unique phylosphy that if people don;t get charged as much there is a better chance they will take better care of the health of their animals. Obviously they do it for a living but also because they genuinely like the animals they work with. I told him that when he gets ready to retire to give me a heads up a cople of months before so I can sell out before he retires.
There is a national shortage of LA vets, I wish there wasn;t but that doesn;t help much. I don;t blame them for wanting the eaiser money with better hours, that's why we value our vets so highly. That 24 bucks a head per year I guess needs to be a little higher becuase I didn;t figure in the gift certificate to their favorite restaurant that we give htem every year

 

[upfrombottom]

There are very few LA Veterinary schools in the US and competition to get in deters alot of potential students. A local boy was on a waiting list for two years and finally went overseas this year to get his education.

 

[dun]

If someone can;t qualify to get into vet school would you want them working on your stock?

 

[hillsdown]

If someone can;t qualify to get into vet school would you want them working on your stock?

I don't think it is a problem of qualifying, well at least not here as the standards are higher for veterinary medicine than med school for humans. But rather that we do not have enough vet universities and they are always full, we need more vet schools .

 

[rockridgecattle]

We use our vet when we need her. Bull testing, preg testing, both save money in the long run. As well, some births are just plain difficult. in 15 years farming 2 c sections. One was for a twisted utertus. Can't jack a calf out of that. Saved both the cow and the calf. The other was a really big calf. If we had tried to jack it out, the heifer probably would not have bred back again due to damage. When times were tight, we opted to jack out a calf which was badly presented. We could not pull up the head and feet or turn the calf. The long ordeal lost the calf (already dead) and lost the cow because she could not breed back. If we had the vet out to c section the cow would still be producing good calves.

Vets are good when you need them, and at some point it will happen. Large animal vets are a premium. The wear and tear on the body is tough. Especially when some farmers do not have adequate restraining systems

 

[upfrombottom]

If someone can;t qualify to get into vet school would you want them working on your stock?

I don't think it is a problem of qualifying, well at least not here as the standards are higher for veterinary medicine than med school for humans. But rather that we do not have enough vet universities and they are always full, we need more vet schools .

Absolutely, most get a degree in animal science before even applying for vet school. With the few schools we have in the US, local students are given priority over out of state students. If your state doesn't have a vet school your chances are slim that you'll get in. Alot of people don't realize that the government hires alot of the vets, as USDA inspectors and also as military food inspectors.

 

[upfrombottom]

http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos076.htm

 

[jkwilson]

Don't hit me ladies, please.

I know at Purdue, part of the problem is that the school is full and most students are women. They seldom want to be in a LA practice. I understand that the dogs and cats make the money, but something needs to be done to ensure plenty of LA practicioners.

 

[piedmontese]

we do our own vet work.vets arnt called unless its something real bad.had to pull a calf the other day.everything was fine the cow just was lazy about having it.

funny u should say that the cow was just too lazy to hav the calf because i was just wondering about that very thing the other day.so will u cull her?

 

[piedmontese]

In my case I got a vet 10 mins. away 24/7 Just never had a need to use him, can do many things myself, and I raise commerical cows.

I except the fact death is aways nearby...

so have u let animals die that a vet could have possibly saved?

 

[canoetrpr]

We had not found a vet who would come to us until late fall. Most farms around here are horse operations and the large animal vets specialize in them. Lots of money in horse I imagine.

Finally found one who will travel. He is 45 min away and charges $55 for the visit + labour and meds. We decided instead of banding our steers to have him surgically castrate them. It was done nice and quick. They healed very fast and we have decided it is worth having him up here at least once a year so that we have an on going relationship with him.

We do our own vaccinations etc. for both calves and cows.

Very happy to finally find a really good vet. Being newbies, it is really helpful even just getting handling tips from him.

 

[hillsdown]

Don't hit me ladies, please.

I know at Purdue, part of the problem is that the school is full and most students are women. They seldom want to be in a LA practice. I understand that the dogs and cats make the money, but something needs to be done to ensure plenty of LA practicioners.

Maybe the city girls do , but the girls I know here that are in vet school want to be LA vets.

But you know what ,who can blame people for not wanting to go into la . The way some people treat a vet is fricken pathetic, they wait until the animal is almost dead before seeking help, then when they do the animal dies anyways and they b@tch about the fees . :roll:

 

[Victoria]

But you know what ,who can blame people for not wanting to go into la . The way some people treat a vet is fricken pathetic, they wait until the animal is almost dead before seeking help, then when they do the animal dies anyways and they b@tch about the fees . :roll:

:clap: :clap: :clap: Very, very true.

 

[randiliana]

We have a vet. Use him when necessary, buy most of our vaccines, RFID tags, and drugs from him. He is just as cheap as any of the stores around, and if you figure out shipping, just as cheap as mail ordering most things.

We do our own vaccinating, most of our calving troubles we can deal with, but have the odd situation that we feel more comfortable taking to him, obviously if we need a C-section we go to him. He BSE's the bulls, although I do our own preg checking. And it is nice to have someone to go to when you have a question about something. He doesn't charge for advice....

Heard the other day that he charges $25 to fix a stag.
Took a cow with the start of cancer eye to him, charged $100 to cut the cancer out and freeze the area
(liquid nitrogen)
Had a C-section on a heifer last spring, $350.

So all in all, I don't think he is too pricey.... One thing about it is a dead animal doesn't begin to cover any costs associated with itself....

 

[rockridgecattle]

One thing about it is a dead animal doesn't begin to cover any costs associated with itself....

Very true!

 

[bigbluegrass]

I use a vet. I have him out probably at least once a year. Our vet charges right at $100 for a farm visit, but once you get him here the rest isn't too bad. Most of my vet bills are $150 or less. If it was a little less for the farm visit, we would probably have him out more often. I can always take the animals to him and save that cost of a farm visit if I wanted. I feel like I need to have his number on hand "just in case".

If you don't use a vet, I just wonder what are you going to do if your cattle get sick and a few die? How many will die before you start to panic? I think you will start digging in the phone book for a vets name and number. You will probably call the only one you can get that isn't busy. My experience tells me his isn't busy for a reason. For me, that is not the time I want to see which local vet is the best. I don't want the local dog vet, who hasn't seen a cow since his college days. I want to know him/her ahead of time and I want him/her to know who I am and what I do. That way we can cut through the BS and he can get right to work on the real problems, not asking me if I vaccinate and worm and if the herd is closed and when the last time was I got a cow from the sale barn and so forth and so on.

On the other hand, growing up my folks had a lot more cattle and made a living off them. I don't ever remember a vet coming out. We had a neighbor who did the preg. checking. We traded help with him when he worked his cows and calves. Another neighbor knew how to C-section. We helped him a lot as well. We cut the bull calves, dehorned, branded, vaccinated, wormed, treated any illesses the best we could. You don't need to be a vet to do most of those things. We didn't bangs vaccinate, but I think Dad is thinking about it next year so he can sell his heifers as replacements out of state rather than slaughter. He will need a vet for that. Last time I talked with Dad he said he was working with a vet now on some problems he was having. I still doubt he calls the vet for the "day to day" things. I know I use a vet more than he does. Just different ways of operating. Different levels of comfort.

 

[bigbull338]

we wont cull for that.but if a cow has breeding probs she is culled.an i dont bother having her checked.now if its a reg cow ill have the vet make sure she is open or bred.an if open she goes to the sale.

 

[Dave]

I have a pretty good LA vet. They have 6 vets in the office. Two who are mostly LA vets, two who are small animal and two who do both but mostly small animal. They aren't cheap but they have always been somewhat reasonable. The other day I took my dog in to get her spayed. I found out how they keep the doors open. It cost me $80 more to spayed a dog than it did to have the vet come out to the farm preg check 40 cows and bangs vaccinate 6 heifers. I hope all those dog and cat owners keep subsidizing my vet.