Herd Health

For Eric Evans of Celeste, Texas, 2011 was a tough year to be a cattleman. Like most beef producers in the southern U.S., record-low rainfall levels left the Hunt County, Texas, operation low on feedstuffs and searching for answers on how to keep the bottom line in the black.

Often at cattleman seminars, a speaker will sound the alarm on gastrointestinal worm resistance to anthelmintics (dewormers).

Is the alarm justified? Is there a resistance problem?

Backgrounding may seem simple: Buy calves right, feed them well, keep them healthy and sell them for more.

But all the details behind that list prove how difficult the job can be, as noted during the recent “Backgrounding for Quality” field day at White Brothers Cattle Co., near Chickasha, Oklahoma.

At the seminar, co-sponsored by Oklahoma State University (OSU), Pfizer Animal Health and Certified Angus Beef LLC, local veterinarian Bruss Horn emphasized that good management starts with the buy.

Strategic deworming success is the result of precise timing. Once perfected, cow/calf producers can expect to see many benefits to their operations — not only in their wallets but in the health and productivity of their cattle as well.

It’s often said that the most expensive vaccine is one that fails to work. And with current calf prices, it’s crucial that producers protect their calf crop just like any other investment – starting with guarding against summer pneumonia at branding or summer turnout.

Most cattle veterinarians get this phone call from clients often, in some cases daily. The message is: “My cow (calf, weaner, bull) is sick; what’s wrong and what should I treat her with?”