ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL CAT CLINIC

We were pleased to have castrated over 350 cats at our free clinic this year.  We had 5 vets working including Meghan from the clinic in Montfort. With the help of all the staff plus 5 volunteers, we were able to get the cats all done before noon. It was a busy morning, but everything ran smoothly. Thanks to all who brought in cats and spread the word of the event.

We appreciate all the hard work from our staff getting things set up in the garage and outside to direct people. Thanks to everyone for their patience. We are glad to provide this community service.

Watch for next year’s event the 2^nd Saturday in October 2018.
 

REMEMBER TO PREG CHECK YOUR BEEF COWS

The cull cow price is down and even though feed costs are still low, you really can’t afford to feed an open cow all winter. Now is the time to get scheduled to preg check your beef cows so you can make some wise culling decisions. You can schedule to preg checks on the same day as you are working the calves, if that is convenient for rounding up the cows.

So far this year, we have been seeing a slightly higher percent open than last year”in the 6-10% open rather than 3-5%.  Depending on when you pull the bull, we can preg check your cows by sleeving them or using the ultrasound. If you have left the bull in until preg check, you may benefit from having us ultrasound them. With the ultrasound, we can determine if a cow is pregnant at only 30 days instead of having to wait till 45 days to sleeve them.

We can also give the right vaccines and dewormer to your cows at preg check time. We are happy to preg check cows on a Saturday, if that is what works best for you and your help. We can bring our chute when we come or you can pick it up ahead of time and get things set up.

NEW HEADGATE ON CHUTE

You will be impressed with the new Q-catch head gate that we bought for one of our chutes. The head gate on that chute was always hard to operate, so Sally had Jim Murray take that one off and replace it with the Q-catch instead of buying a whole new chute.  It works great.  Plus we got a one handed head catch system that makes implanting, tagging and dehorning much easier and quicker. The chute is taller and heavier now, but it is worth it.

CHANGES TO THE ON-LINE STORE

We have decided to make changes to the on-line store.  Jill has already talked to those of you who have made use of the store over the last couple years. If you have not, please give Jill a call and find out how the new drop ship system will work.

We will no longer have a store that you can access from our website. We have also changed some other things on the website, lancastervetclinic.com, so give it a visit if you haven’t stopped by lately. You can send an email with your order or you can call and talk to Jill.  We are still working on a catalogue where you can view what is available.

INFORCE 3 WORKS IN FRESH COWS

You know that through the years we have learned that calving is a big stress on cows and causes tremendous immune suppression.  We have preached not to give any vaccines to cows during the 35 days after calving. They simply are too immunosuppressed to respond to any vaccination. 

Well, now we have Inforce 3 vaccine which is given intranasally. What does that do in fresh cows? The studies are still being conducted, but it looks like Inforce 3 given at calving will result in significantly lower incidence of metritis, mastitis and pneumonia. The cow’s systemic immune system is suppressed, but not the local.

The Inforce 3 also stimulates interferon release which is anti-viral and helps the T cells of the immune system better adapt and fight infections of all kinds. The local immune system is divided into 2 parts”one for the respiratory and reproductive system and one for the gastrointestinal system. So, stimulating the mucous membranes of the nose with a vaccine helps the cow fight off infections in the uterus! It also helps the immune system as it shifts to protect different at risk sites.

Please call if you have questions about how to best use Inforce 3 in your fresh cows.

FLEA & TICK CONTROL PRODUCTS

We have been seeing lots of ticks this fall on dogs and cats and horses and LOTS of fleas on dogs and cats. We have the spot-on Advantix and oral Bravecto for dogs and the Seresto collar for both dogs and cats. The Advanitx spot-on cannot be used on cats. You can use the Seresto collar for tick control on cats or the spot-on Bravecto for cats. Be sure that you are using a cat product for your cats. They are very sensitive to all insecticides and can be killed by a dog product.

For tick control on horses, we have a pour-on product that contains a long acting permethrin. It lasts about a month after you apply it.  Hopefully, it will be cold enough by then that the ticks will be less active. Both fleas and ticks are definitely looking for a blood meal and a warm place to spend the winter right now.

Ticks can transmit a variety of diseases to the animals (and people!) they bite, including Lyme disease, tick fever, babesiosis, anaplasmosis and tick paralysis. We have blood tests at the clinic that we can run to see if your animal is infected with one or more of these diseases. The best prevention is to use a tick control product and to check for ticks frequently. In order to transmit most of the diseases, the ticks have to be attached for over 24 hours.

NEW SALMONELLA IN CALVES

Veterinary diagnostic labs in the Midwest have recently been identifying a new Salmonella dublin infection in Holstein calves. This bacterium infects calves at 5-7 days of age and causes high fevers (104-106 degrees), lethargy and lack of appetite. The calves seem to have pneumonia because they are breathing hard with the high fevers, but the lungs are fine.

These calves fade away and half of the infected ones will die in a few days. The infection is actually sepsis in their bloodstream rather than pneumonia.  The only obvious sign on necropsy is huge mesenteric (intestinal) lymph nodes.  The bacteria can be cultured from organs such as the liver, kidneys and spleen. 

 What can you do to prevent this nasty infection in your calves? A clean, dry calving pen is the most important. This bacterium can be shed in manure and picked up by the calf in the first moments of life. It can also be shed in colostrum, so sanitary collection of clean colostrum and/or pasteurizing colostrum will help. Entervene D vaccine given orally at 3-4 days of age is the only vaccine we have that will do any good in these very young calves. You can do blood tests on your cows or milk cultures to see which cows are shedders.

We hope that none of you are fighting this nasty infection in your calves. Please call and have any calves that die posted so we can see what is going on. Sometimes it is worth sending in samples to the lab and sometimes we can get a good idea just by looking at the tissues of a dead calf.

HAVE A SAFE FINISH TO THE HARVEST!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!