Herd Health

With calving coming to a close for most producers, it is time to organize an efficient and safe branding and processing day before the cow-calf pairs are sent to pasture.

“Wow, I finally understand the problem a few persistently infected (PI) calves can have on my cattle. More than 60 percent of the cattle in all my pens and pastures were exposed to BVD because 30 percent of the loads I received had one or more BVD-PI calves on them.” This is a typical statement a cattleman makes after experiencing a BVD-PI herd health problem.

Cattlemen, Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC) and USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) are waging a constant battle to keep the fever tick contained in counties along the border to Mexico.

What’s worse? The bloodsucking swarm that never seems to end until the sun goes down? Or a few million “shew flies” working together harassing and harrying their victims into exhaustion?

The adage “out of sight, out of mind” may avoid a few of life’s problems, but internal parasites are not one of them. It’s common knowledge there are countless microscopic predators lurking in the cattle environment.

By this point, chances are you’ve seen, utilized or are at least somewhat familiar with remote drug delivery systems (RDDS) in cattle.