Herd Health

Working with your veterinarian to develop a comprehensive herd health program is an important part of being an intentional beef producer.

The word “closed” is usually a simple, straightforward, black-and-white adjective – but when it refers to a cow-calf herd, there can be a significant amount of gray inferred in the description.

Solving a disease outbreak in a group of calves may require intense investigation. Veterinarians and producers often find themselves looking for clues and asking questions to point them to the culprits.

Livestock vaccines are biological products that must be stored and administered properly in order to elicit the desired immune response from animals. The label instructions for most vaccines state that they should be stored at 35ºF to 45ºF.

Here they come! Those four little words that Oklahoma cattle producers despise in the summertime: “high pressure heat dome.” Understanding and avoiding heat stress in cattle can be a valuable management tool for summertime in Oklahoma. Most areas of Oklahoma have 10 or more days each year above 100ºF and 70 or more days with high temperatures above 90ºF. This means that most cow calf operations will be working cattle on days when heat stress to cattle is likely. 

There is a big difference between animal rights (animal extremism) and animal welfare – the terms need to be clarified.