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 28 from 3-8 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 and activities in a tent on the south lawn, so everything will be easy to find.  In case of rain, we will move into the clinic garage.

Of course, you are welcome to tour the clinic and see the new tile in the kennel and the exam room 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! 

CLIENT APPRECIATION PARTY

You and your family are invited to our annual Client Appreciation Party at the clinic on Friday July 28 from 3-8 pm. We hope that having the party on Friday this year will make it easier for people to come.

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 and activities in a tent on the south lawn, so everything will be easy to find. In case of rain, we will move into the clinic garage.

Of course, you are welcome to tour the clinic and see the new tile in the kennel and the exam room 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 new dog park taking shape north of the clinic.

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 17. 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.

Good luck to all fair participants!
 

NEW TETRACYCLINE SCREENING IN MILK STARTING JULY 1

Starting July 1^st, a new pilot program will start to test bulk tank milk for tetracycline type antibiotics. Currently, all bulk tank milk is tested for beta-lactam type drugs such as penicillin, ampicillin and cephalosporins. The number of bilk tanks testing positive for beta-lactams has dropped to only 0.011 percent last year. That is only 1 out of 10,000 samples! Milk testing positive is never used for human consumption.

Antibiotics in the tetracycline family include oxytetracycline, tetracycline and chlortetracycline. Under the pilot program, if a bulk tan is found to have violative residues of tetracyclines, a trace back to the farm of origin will occur. The offending farm will be responsible for the value of the dumped milk and may temporarily lose their milk license.

Please review which tetracyclines you have on your dairy and make sure that you have accurate dosing and withdrawal information. You may have bottles of LA200, LA300, or Oxytet100. These all have different doses, uses and withdrawal times. Another use for tetracycline is treating hairy heel warts. This use is extra-label and so requires a vet prescription.

Sally would be happy to answer any questions you might have about how to avoid having tetracycline residues in your milk. You can have an individual cow tested before putting her in the tank if you have any question about the drug withdrawal. If you have any doubt about the presence of a drug, hold the milk and test the cow.
 

HEAT STRESS CAUSING PROBLEMS

We have been treating a number of animals suffering from heat stress. Animals can start seizuring and lose consciousness and die if their body temperature gets too high for too long. Some animals never completely recover from the brain damage caused by the high fever. Half of affected animals will die.

Animals like dogs and pigs cannot sweat and must rely on panting to cool off. Horses and cattle can sweat, but they also increase their respiratory rate for evaporative cooling. If animals cannot get out of the sun or don’t have enough to drink, they can get overheated in a hurry.

If you have an animal with a temp of 105 or higher, if possible, move the animal to a cool place in the shade and soak the animal’s body with cold water. Make sure the animal has plenty of water. Provide air movement with a fan or breeze. Animals that are not drinking may need IV fluids. A calf that Sally was treating died despite the IV fluids.

You can prevent heat stress in your animals by providing shade with a high roof, air moving and plenty of water. Feeding a high quality forage 2 hours after peak temps will help cattle and horses generate less internal heat. Minimize stress and handling and work animals early in the morning or later in the evening after things have cooled off. The same preventions work for people!
 

DAIRY BREAKFAST BACK ON THE FARM

Thanks to everyone who helped out with the Dairy Breakfast this year at the Todd Fischer farm in Bagley. It was great having the breakfast back on the farm instead of at the fairgrounds where it has been for the last 16 years or so. The event was well organized and the weather cooperated to allow parking at the farm. Sally helped serve seconds during the early shift. More farms have offered to host the breakfast in the future, so we can look forward to future Dairy Breakfasts served on the farm.
 

FENCE UP AROUND THE DOG PARK

The city has been making great progress on the new dog park north of the clinic. The fence is up, the pathway is done and the water fountain on the north end is ready to go. Now they just need to get the area reseeded so the grass can grow back. You are welcome to have a look at the park when you come to the Client Appreciation Party, but unfortunately, no dogs will be able to play in it until probably next year when the grass is established. We don’t want to end up with a mud hole.
 

STRANGLES IN HORSES

We have been seeing a few more horses with strangles this spring and answering a lot of questions about the disease. Strangles in horses is similar to strep throat in people-mostly occurs in the young, can be self-limiting to very serious. We recommend the intranasal vaccine against strangles for horses under 5 years old who will be going to a trainer or attending events with other horses. Any horse that is traveling and exposed to many other horses is also at risk and should be vaccinated.

Horses that are infected may ran a fever, have swollen/abscessed lymph nodes, snotty nose and cough. Some horses get dehydrated or go off-feed because their throats are too swollen to swallow. These horses need rapid, intensive care. Please call if you have any questions about strangles.

MAY 2017

CLIENT APPRECIATION PARTY

You and your family are invited to our annual Client Appreciation Party at the clinic on Friday July 28 from 3-8 pm. We hope that having the party on Friday this year will make it easier for people to come.

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 and activities in a tent on the south lawn, so everything will be easy to find. In case of rain, we will move into the clinic garage.

370. course, you are welcome to tour the clinic and see the new tile in the kennel and the exam room improvements. 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 new dog park taking shape north of the clinic.

Everyone is welcome! Please bring the family, have some food and join in the fun.

ONLINE STORE FOR HORSE AND SMALL ANIMAL SUPPLIES

Our on-line store for cattle medications and supplies is working well and has been very popular with clients. If you have any questions or would like to get an account set up at the store, please call the clinic and talk to Jill.

We will have on-line store set up for horse and small animals, too. Start at LancasterVetClinic.com and click on the On-Line store. You can order supplies, toys, treats, feed supplements and equipment. You will also be able to get prescription items such as heartworm preventatives and dewormers as long as you have a prescription from one of the vets here at the clinic.

LOTS OF LICE, FLIES ARRIVE

The flies have been slow this year with the cold, wet spring, but they are coming on strong now. We have some new fly tags at the clinic which contain a different insecticide than the ones we had last year. If you noticed some resistance problems at your place, we recommend changing tag types. We still have the same cheaper ones that work well for most people.

577. have been seeing lots of lice on cattle and horses this spring. We have a couple different permethrin pour-on products for use on horses, dairy and beef cattle that do a great job killing lice and keeping flies off. The cattle product is applied at the rate of 1 oz per 200# so a gallon treats about 25 cows. You need to reapply every 3-4 weeks. The horse product is 8-16 ml per horse applied as needed.

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 tha 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.

DOG PARK LOOKING GOOD

We hope you have had a chance to drive by the area north of the clinic to see the developments in the dog park. The city has been working on leveling the area, building a circular path through the park and adding water lines. It will take a while for the new grass to fill in, but we are happy to see the progress.

RURAL SAFETY DAY ON JUNE 13

This year’s Grant County Rural Safety Day is scheduled for Tuesday, June 13 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 9. 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!

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 2.

GRANT COUNTY DAIRY BREAKFAST SUNDAY JUNE 11

See you at the Grant County Dairy Breakfast! This year the event will be held at the Todd Fischer farm in Bagley. Parking and shuttles will be available at the Blakes Prairie Fairgrounds in Bloomington. No parking at the farm. 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 am. Cost is $5 for adults, $2 for kids, under 6 are free. Hope to see you there!

WE HAVE A HORSE STOCKS

Now is the season for breeding and preg checking horses. We have a stocks in the garage at the clinic that works great for keeping the horse and the vet safe when palpating mares rectally. We can ultrasound the pregnancy starting at 14 days so you will know if you need to watch the mare coming back in heat.

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.