CLIENT APPRECIATION PARTY

Most of you will already have enjoyed our annual Client Appreciation Party by the time you get this newsletter in the mail. We hope to see all of you at the clinic on Friday July 27 from 3-7 pm.

We will have free food and beverages and fun and door prizes and lots of things for kids to do. We are planning on having food in the garage and activities in a tent on the south lawn, so everything will be easy to find.

Of course, you are welcome to tour the clinic and see the new improvements. Kids will be able to bring their stuffed pets and practice bandaging them. We will have a duck pond and bounce house and a cow to milk. You may even win a prize!

We will have some special visitors from the Humane Society and lots of kittens to see.  You can also tour the dog park north of the clinic. We will have a survey for dog park users to collect suggestions on how the dog park can be improved.

Everyone is welcome! Please bring the family, have supper with us and join in the fun.

GET READY FOR THE FAIR!

It doesn’t seem like it should be time for the fair already, but here it is. Sally will be helping check in animals on Thursday August 16. Please call if you have any questions about the paperwork that you need. Sally will be taking care of on farm pig inspections, so just call and make an appointment for her to come out and look at your pigs. We are looking forward to seeing the pigs and the swine show in the brand new swine barn.

TERRIBLE PINKEYE PROBLEMS

The hot weather and humidity have contributed to the fly population and resulted in terrible pinkeye infections in calves and cows. We have even been seeing some eye infections in horses. The best treatment for pinkeye is either Draxxin or LA300 giving as soon as you see a watery eye or any drainage on the face. This year, it seems if you wait, you will be dealing with a white eye or one already blown out.

Suggestions for preventing pinkeye:

1. Install rubber or oiler with fly repellent at mineral feeders
2. Vaccinate. We have vaccines with “regular” pinkeye and “winter” pinkeye bacteria in them. You can also have eyes cultured and make a vaccine for your farm.
3. Keep grass mowed or clipped.
4. Consider feeding a mineral with tetracycline. Talk to Sally about this option.
5. Use insecticidal flytags to keep flies away from calf’s faces.
6. Keep cattle as spread out as possible.
7. Monitor daily and treat as soon as you see any moisture on the face.

EXCEDE CAN BE A PROBLEM WITH SLAUGHTER HOLD

Many of you like using Excede in your milk cows because you do not have to hold the milk during treatment. Excede is approved for treating metritis, BRD and foot rot. The approved treatment for BRD and foot rot is 1.5 ml per 100 lbs one time under the skin at the base of the ear. Metritis is two doses, 72 hours apart.

Even though Excede is approved for lactating cows with no milk hold, it has a 13 day slaughter hold. You need to make sure that you are keeping track of which cows have received Excede so that you know when they are able to be culled, if necessary.

For instance, a cow calves on July 30 and you give her Excede on July 31^st because she had a dead calf and now has a retained placenta and a rotten uterine discharge. You repeat the treatment on August 3^rd. The cow gets over her metritis, but never does come into milk very well. You decide after a couple weeks since calving to cull her. Even though you have never had to hold her milk, you cannot sell her until after August 16”13 days from her last treatment, 17 days since she calved.

 Another problem with Excede is how you give it. If you give it under the skin AT THE BASE OF THE EAR, according to the label, the slaughter hold is 13 days. If you give it in the muscle, the meat withdrawal is 90 days. If you give it under the skin elsewhere in the body, the hold is 140 days.

Please call if you have any questions about Excede and how you are using it in your cows.
 

SALLY CHECKING LOTS OF HORSES

The strange cold weather and snow that we had this spring seems to have thrown mares off cycle and out of synch with the season. Sally has been ultrasounding a lot of mares who are still open. It seems like the stallions fertility was also hampered by the weird cold spring.

It is getting late in the mare breeding season now. If you still have mares that you would like to get pregnant, please call ASAP to get them checked.
 

PENICILLIN GONE AGAIN

We were excited to be able to get regular penicillin back in stock after many months of backorder. Now it seems to have disappeared again. Maybe the manufacturers are just filling all the accumulated backorders.

We still cannot get long acting penicillin. Please call if you have questions about what is the best antibiotic to use for your situation.
 

WELCOME MELISSA OKEY

We are happy to have Melissa Okey working full time as our kennel supervisor. She takes care of the dogs and cats that are boarding at the clinic and the dogs that come in for day care. It is a big job. She supervises the high school help that we have afterschool and helps promote the services that we offer. We have hired a lot of new people lately”we hope this will be our team now for a long time!

You can meet Missy and the rest of the team at the Open House and say “Hi.”

NOT TOO LATE FOR HORSE VACCINATION

It is not too late to get your horse protected against tetanus, sleeping sickness, flu, rhino, strangles and West Nile Virus. These diseases show up in the summer because of mosquito transmission and horses moving around to trainers, breeding, sales and shows. Tetanus is a year round risk because of the injuries horses get.

Please call if you have questions about which vaccines you should be giving to your horses and when.

GOOD LUCK TO ALL FAIR PARTICIPANTS!