CAT CASTRATION CLINIC COMING UP OCTOBER 13

This year’s annual Cat Castration Clinic will be held from 7-noon on Saturday October 13, the Saturday after the Harvest Fest parade.  Last year, we castrated over 300 cats!  Let’s see if we can do that many again.

On October 13th, we will anesthetize and castrate for free any male cat brought to the clinic.  We will not be doing female cats or male dogs or declawing.  Vaccinations, flea treatments and deworming will be available at regular prices.

Please take advantage of this opportunity to have your male cats castrated.  They will be much better pets.  You will also be helping to cut down on the feral cat population which is responsible for spreading diseases like feline leukemia and ear mites and for killing song birds.

 Please call if you have any questions. We will be set up in the garage again this year, so come around back after you park.  We will have a waiting area set up for you complete with coffee and snacks.  We will have a donation box if you feel like supporting the free clinic.

Cats are taken care of on a first-come, first-served basis.  Please bring your cat in a carrier or box and plan on waiting till your cat is done to take it home right away.  Everyone is welcome, so tell all your friends and neighbors to come, too!

THANKS TO ALL WHO CAME TO THE GOAT MEETING

We had a great turnout of goat milk producers at our meeting at the clinic on September 20^th.  Sally will continue these meetings and sharing among producers to help solve problems.  We can all learn from each other about making quality milk with goats.  If you missed the meeting, please call and request the information sheets from the topics discussed.

Watch for the next goat meeting in January.  Please let Sally know if you have any suggestions for topics to discuss.

VFDS NEED TO BE RENEWED

We have worked with many of you to write Veterinary Feed Directives (VFDs) for antibiotic use in feed for your animals.  Remember that these VFDs are only good for 6 months.  After that, or after all the feed that the VFD covers has been purchased, the VFD needs to be renewed.  The renewal fee is only $20 compared to $25 for a new prescription. 

You will not be able to purchase feed if your VFD has expired.  We get renewal reminders for the VFDs written electronically through Global Vet Link, but the hand written ones are harder to keep track of.

The amount of feed covered by a VFD can include all of the animals that you will be feeding the same antibiotic during the 6 month period.  You do not need a new VFD for each group of feeder calves you purchase, for instance.  As long as you are feeding the same antibiotic with the same directions for each group, you only need one VFD.   Please let us know if you have any questions about your VFDs.

VACCINATION PROTOCOLS FOR FALL CALVES

            We will soon be busy with fall chute work as you get busy with weaning calves and deciding which calves to sell and which to keep for replacements.  We have recommendations for vaccinations for fall calves and options for implants if you are going to finish your own animals.  We want to help you figure out what is best and most cost effective for you.

Beef calf vaccinations:
 

Prewean:  

• Ultrabac7
• Bovishield Gold 5/One shot

Weaning:   

• Bovishield  and Ultra 7 booster if prewean was first dose

At mixing:  

• Inforce 3

Your individual calf protocol may be different depending on when your cows calve and what diseases are present on your farm.  The biggest change is the addition of Inforce 3.  Studies have shown a decrease in pneumonia and increase in weight gain after weaning in calves given Inforce 3.  It boosts their immune system and Interferon levels to help get them through the stress of mixing.  You want to avoid giving the Inforce at the same time as the Bovishield so that you don’t overload on the viral exposure.

DEWORMING QUESTIONS

Do you deworm your cows and calves in the fall?  In the spring?  Both?  Never?  What should you be doing?  In general, we recommend deworming when cattle come of grass in the fall.  Being out on pasture is when and where cattle are most likely to pick up parasites.  However, the best way to answer deworming questions is with a fecal test.

We can do a fecal test on individual animals that are thin or have diarrhea or on a mixed sample from a group to see how the group is doing.  The fecal test looks for internal parasites such as giardia and campylobacter as well as eggs from worms such as stomach worms, Nematodirus and whipworms and cysts from coccidia.  We do a fecal egg count to determine if the amount of parasites in a sample is worth treating or not.  The different types of parasites require different types of treatments, so you can’t just “treat for worms” in general.

BULL BREEDING SOUNDNESS EXAMS

Some of you are done with your beef cow breeding season and getting ready for fall preg checks.  However, if you are a client who likes to have cows calve in the fall, or if you have both a fall and spring group, now is the time to get your bulls checked to breed the fall group.

Bulls should be checked before every turnout, not just once a year.  A lot can happen that will decrease fertility in a 12 month span.  It is especially important to check young bulls that have not been used for breeding before.  Some of them will not be fertile yet or may have physical problems that decrease fertility.

We do a full physical exam when we do a bull breeding soundness exam (BBSE).  We do not just check for “swimmers” under the microscope.  A bull must be able to walk, see, eat and stand up on his hind legs in order to get cows pregnant.  We also check for microscopic abnormal sperm structure that may make a bull sterile even though he has good “swimmers.”

We measure scrotal circumference as part of the BBSE.  The size and health of the testicles are the major determinant of scrotal output and how many cows one bull can breed successfully.  A bull that is determined to be a “satisfactory breeder” in a BBSE should be able to breed 25-30 cows within the next 60 days.  However, the test does not measure libido.  About 1 out of 5 bulls will fail the BBSE and not be good breeders.

In order to perform the BBSE, we need you to have a chute that will hold your bulls, a power supply close to the chute and a table to set the microscope up on.  Please call if you have any questions about testing your bulls.

Fleas have been terrible this fall.  Make sure you have your animals protected with Advantage/tix, Seresto or Bravecto.  Please call if you have any questions.