Hobby Farm Animals. Chris McLaughlin
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should be able to vaccinate a herd of twenty to thirty animals in well under two hours without getting any manure splattered on your pants. But wear old pants just in case.
| How Not to Handle Cattle In the movies, cattle are handled with horses, lariats, and a big crew of cowboys. Calves are roped, flipped on their sides, and branded. It’s strenuous work, even with little calves, and for some reason filmmakers never do show how the cowboys vaccinate the full-grown cattle—not by flipping them on their sides with a rope, I’m sure. In real life, some owners with small herds will pen cattle against a wall or in a corner with a loose gate; some will crowd them tightly in a small pen; and others will somehow get a rope around a cow’s neck and tie it up tight to a stout post. What these methods have in common is that they’re highly stressful to cattle, fairly unreliable as far as getting every head in a herd treated, and quite dangerous for both cattle and handlers. |
Loading and Transporting Cattle
Getting cattle on a truck or trailer breaks some of the rules for cattle handling. You’re asking them to go into something that’s dark and a dead end, and it’s an unfamiliar step up to get there. Once again, have some patience. If you are loading into a low trailer, you can load directly from your chute. You can use a pair of loose gates on either side to fill in any gap between the headgate and the trailer gate; if you do this, tie the gates down. If you’ve got enough cattle to warrant bringing in a semitrailer, you’ll need a ramp or some other device to get the cattle up to the level of the truck. Ramps are available commercially, or you can build your own. Semitrailers need a lot of room to maneuver, so put the ramp where the driver will be able to turn and back up easily.
If you’re moving just a few cattle, get them into the crowding tub well before the truck pulls in. Because the noise will upset them, it’s best to have them as far along in the process as possible before they begin to tense up. Once the truck or trailer is in position, begin moving the animals down the chute. The one in front, with the best view of where this is all going, will probably be reluctant. The ones behind may begin pushing the leader along, which is usually OK. Don’t rush things. Give the steers time to look at the step.
You will probably need to use a little more persuasion than you would in other handling situations. Have any helpers stand out of sight of the cattle, or try walking quickly from the head of the line to the back. You can slap a rump, but don’t yell and don’t whip out the electric cattle prods. For one thing, it will cost you money because stressed cattle on their way to auction, the processor, or a buyer have more “shrink,” or weight loss, than do unstressed cattle. Stressed animals won’t eat or drink, either, so they’ll lose more weight in the pens at the auction barn. Stressed animals also release a lot of adrenaline into their bloodstream, which darkens and toughens their muscle. These animals are known as “dark cutters,” and their meat is less valuable.
After Handling Days
The day after you’ve worked your cattle, go back to the same old routine. You want to erase any bad impressions of the day before with all of the good things that will continue to happen if the cattle come when called and follow when led. They won’t forget about getting shots or tags, but getting their grain or water and remembering that the quickest exit is through the chute will gradually become uppermost in their minds again.
| ADVICE FROM THE FARM Handling Cattle At times, it is helpful to impress the cows with size. I either hold my arms out to my sides, like I learned to do when playing basketball as a kid, or carry my trusty ‘cow chasing stick,’ which extends my reach to the side. This stick is not used to strike an animal; it just gives the illusion of size. When I get in pretty close proximity to the cows, I start making a kind of sshshsshsshh noise. It gets their attention. When I want them to move, I change the noise to more of a shhooo, soft and low-pitched. I want them to move quietly, not run. —JoAnn Pipkorn One of the most important things we have now in the industry that we didn’t used to have is the self-catching headlock. Have a swing gate on at least one side. It makes you willing to do some of those chores you’re supposed to do. —Rudy Erickson One thing I always do, and it’s something my Dad did, is whenever we have beef cattle out in the field, we always have a piece of machinery, like a wagon, in the field. I tell the boys if something starts coming after you and you can’t get under the fence, then get under the machinery or on the other side of it. I keep the boys out of there when we have the bull. And you don’t want kids running around in the pasture when the cattle are just getting outside in the spring and they’re feeling goofy. You can never trust a bull, and you have to have an exit strategy. —Randy Janke |
Keeping Beef Cattle Healthy
Beef cattle raised outdoors on pasture and hay are naturally hardy animals that tend to have few health problems. When they do become ill or injured, it’s important to identify the problem and treat it quickly, before it worsens and causes permanent damage to or kills the animal. As a cattle owner, you have a responsibility to take the necessary steps to prevent problems, to recognize abnormal behavior immediately, to treat minor health problems, and to call the veterinarian for conditions beyond your skill. Your cattle health program, then, should have three parts: prevention, diagnosis, and treatment.
Prevention
Preventing your cattle from becoming sick or injured is much easier than dealing with a half-ton patient that has no interest in your nursing or a vet’s ministrations. Start your cattle wellness program with these few simple actions.
Balanced Diet, Exercise, and Shelter
Like humans, cattle are healthiest when they get enough exercise and plenty of fresh air, are kept warm and dry in cold weather and cool in hot weather, and eat an adequate diet that includes the necessary vitamins and minerals. As previously discussed, they also need salt and clean water available at all times, although it doesn’t hurt them to have to walk a distance in order to get to the water—that can be part of their prescribed exercise program. In addition, maintaining a low-stress environment and a regular routine will contribute a great deal to the overall health of the cattle.
Vaccinations
Along with good nutrition, water, and shelter, the best and cheapest insurance against cattle disease is vaccination. Every cattle owner should work with a veterinarian to develop a vaccination program appropriate for the ages and types of his or her cattle and for the region.
| Cattle Diseases and People Tuberculosis can be transmitted to people through raw milk from infected cows as well as through the air in poorly ventilated barns and sheds. Brucellosis, or Bang’s disease, in cattle is transmitted to people through raw milk or during the delivery of calves from infected cows. Anthrax can be transmitted when people handle infected meat or hides, as can foot-and-mouth disease. Cattle owners can also acquire mange, ringworm, toxoplasmosis, leptospirosis, and tapeworms from their animals, though, thankfully, none of these afflictions is common in people today. All the same, it’s a good idea to keep your cattle’s vaccinations up to date and your premises clean and well ventilated. |
Types of Vaccinations
Every program should include vaccinations for calves and annual booster shots for adult cattle. In the past, combination vaccines were often formulated to address only diseases that were a problem in the region in which the cattle lived. Today, with cattle traveling so often and so far, it’s standard to give all cattle a nine-way vaccine that covers bovine rhinotracheitis, viral diarrhea, parainfluenza, leptospirosis, and several other diseases.
A nine-way does not cover the clostridial diseases, which include tetanus, botulism, anthrax, “wooden tongue” (actinobacillosis), and blackleg. There are vaccines for these, but because they’re hard on the animal and because those diseases aren’t common in cattle in northern Wisconsin, where we live, they aren’t usually