May Newsletter
CLIENT APPRECIATION PARTY
You and your family are invited to our annual Client Appreciation Party at the clinic on Friday July 27 from 3-7 pm. We had a great turnout last year on Friday evening, so we decided to try that again.
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 our most recent improvements and landscaping. Kids will be able to bring their stuffed pets and practice bandaging them. We may even have some special visitors from the Humane Society. You can also tour the dog park north of the clinic.
Everyone is welcome! Please bring the family, have some food and join in the fun.
GRANT COUNTY DAIRY BREAKFAST SUNDAY JUNE 10
See you at the Grant County Dairy Breakfast! This year the event will be held at Banner Ridge Farms, 7573 Banner Road in Platteville. Parking will be available at the corner of Banner and Richter Roads. Call the Grant County Extension Office if you have questions or would like to help or make a donation. Breakfast will be served from 7 to 11:30 am. Cost is $5 for adults, $2 for kids, under 6 are free. Hope to see you there!
WELCOME TO NEW STAFF
We are happy to welcome Kristin and Patricia to our LVC team. Kristin is our new Certified Veterinary Technician. She has lots of experience with pets and also with calves and other farm animals. Sally hopes to be able to take her along to help on chute jobs.
Patricia is our new kennel manager. Racheal has done a great job for over a year now as our kennel manager, but she will be moving in June, so we had to find a replacement. We are looking forward to a smooth transition and continued growth of our boarding and dog day care program.
Please welcome Patricia and Kristin and be patient as they learn to serve you and your animals.
GOAT MEETING SUCCESS
Thanks to all who took time from the busy spring planting time to come to the recent goat meeting at the clinic. We had a great potluck lunch and shared facts and frustrations concerning the “Big Three””Johne’s, CAE and CL. Sally has summaries of the information we shared if you would like to have a copy.
If you missed this meeting, watch for the next goat meeting in September. All are welcome!
PENICILLIN STILL BACKORDERED
We still have not been able to get more regular penicillin or long acting penicillin in stock. We do not know how much longer this backorder will continue. We have other options for you to use instead of penicillin.
We have been able to get more of the Polyflex antibiotic in recently.
FLUIDS HELP WEAK CALVES
We have been treating a lot of beef calves with scours this spring. Most of them pop right back after IV fluids. What can you do to help a calf if you can’t get the fluids IV or until you can get the calf to the clinic? Lactated Ringer’s solution or Normosol fluids can be given under the skin to a scouring calf to help get its blood pressure up and treat the deadly dehydration that goes with the scours. You can give a 1000 ml (one liter bag) under the skin of a calf’s neck in a couple different spots. The fluids will be absorbed into the bloodstream as the calf needs them. Once the fluid pocket under the skin disappears, you can give some more if the calf is still weak.
Please ask for a demo if you have questions about treating your calves at home.
RURAL SAFETY DAY ON JUNE 12
This year’s Grant County Rural Safety Day is scheduled for Tuesday, June 12 from 9:30 am — 3:00 pm. All children in grades 2-8 this fall are encouraged to attend. The program is free. Registration forms should be turned in by June 8. The first 500 kids registered will get a free t-shirt.
This year’s safety topics include Electrical safety, Pool and river safety, ATV Safety, First Aid, Tug of Grain hazards, Guns and Lawn mower safety. If you have attended this program before, you can still come and learn something new! Steve Woodward former Brewer pitcher and MLB player will be doing a presentation at the start of the program this year. Sally will be doing a presentation on farm animal safety.
Lunch, beverages and snacks will be provided. 4-H members in grades 9 and over who would be interested in facilitating at this event should contact Cathy at the Extension Office, 723-2125 by June 1.
LOTS OF SUMMER INTERNS
We will be having students job shadowing and interning this summer at the clinic. These students will be riding with us on farm calls and working with pets in the clinic.
We are also having a vet tech intern. Thank you for your patience with the students and for allowing them to look at your animals and give them some real world experience.
TICKS ARE TERRIBLE THIS SPRING
We have been hearing lots of complaints and seeing LOTS of ticks on animals at the clinic. People are also finding ticks on themselves after being out in the woods for only a short time.
The Seresto flea and tick collars for dogs and cats work great to kill and repel both fleas and ticks. These collars contain compounds that are released slowly over 8 months. We also have the oral Bravecto product that kills both fleas and ticks if you don’t want to have a collar on your pet.