I have 3 cows. one 7 month steer , one 8 month heiffer, one almost 2 year old heiffer. They've never been medicated, shots, or wormed. But the 2 year old was vacinated after birth by her previous owner. one of the others may have been , but not sure. We're only raising them for meat, though we tried to breed the 2 year old this fall, but I don't think she took. She may have been too young yet.
I'd like to raise them without any antibiotics, vacinations, or any other harmful stuff. But my DH wanted me to find out if there were some things that they had to have . We're going to slaughter the steer next summer somet ime.
What's in those big muck buckets that's at the local feed store that's full of this lick stuff, some says it's medicated, some not. We do give a regular salt block and feed sweet feed, and hay to them.
Any help would be appreciated.
kathy
Do my cows need any medication?
Recommended vaccinations would be for IBR, BVD and lepto. Young stock need blackleg vaccinations and Bangs vaccinations. The Bangs vaccination is as much for their safety as for yours as an animal with Bangs could transmit undulant fever to you and your family.
I applaude your wish to raise an animal without antibiotics and hormones but highly encourage you to have a vaccination program. Healthy animals decrease the need for antibiotics.
More than likely the "lick stuff" is some type of molassas protein supplement. This is usually given to supplement poor quality hay. It may or may not have medication in it.
I might suggest that you use a free choice mineral and salt mix instead of straight salt. It takes cows a lot of time licking a salt block and that time could be used to eat and produce more milk or meat. It takes them less time to lick up a free choice mix and get their needs met from a salt block.
Janet
By all means I would worm them also. Parasite free cattle will gain weight better and be healthier all around. Ivermectin was my first choice of wormers because it also takes care of ticks, lice on the outside of animal also. The 2 year old heifer is plenty old enough to breed. Generally as long as the animal is big enough for its age, you can breed heifers at a year and a half so they will have their first calf in their 2nd year. If you don't have a bull on site and are relying on artificial insemination you will have to watch the heifer for standing heat and breed her 24 hours after she starts coming into heat. Karen
Thank you so much for your replies, I was affraid my post would get overlooked.
I will check into the vacinations. Have any idea where to get them at? I know that the 2 year old was vacinated before we got her, I think hey mentioned that would be all she would ever need ? would that be true? We're not possitive we're going to breed her, we may have her slaughtered, and just raise calves for the freezer, instead of worrying about where to get a bull for breeding at.
Also, the steer is l0 months old, I had to go back and check his age. would vacinating now be harmful if we slaughter him this summer?
I'm kind of not wanting to use ivermech on the cows, There has to be another way of worming them that doesn't go against our raising the meat in a more natural way.
I'll write down those vacinations, and check into getting them, I can give shots, but these cows are skiddish and we don't have a means to lock them up LOL. we'll have to figure something out.
also, Janet. The ibr BVD and lepto, are 2 of those vacinations for the blackleg and bangs? or do I need other vacinations for those I'm not up on the vacinations, and have no clues LOL
The brucellosis (Bangs) vaccination will need to be done by your local vet. They'll tag the animal and register it with your state. Some states no longer require Bangs vaccination if they have been declared Bangs free.
You can vaccinate for everything else. If you look around you can probably find a vaccine that will do IBR, BVD, PI3 all in one shot. You might even find the lepto thrown in. READ AND FOLLOW LABEL INSTRUCTIONS. Some vaccines can't be give to pregnant cows. Some need the animals up to a certain body weight or age.
Blackleg is usually given to the young stock up to 2 years of age. Vaccinate at 2 and 6 months and then a booster 12 months later.
Don't hesitate to check with your vet to see what they recommend as a vaccination program. There may be other regional diseases that need to be addressed,
Janet
Thanks Janet, you've been a great help to me!
Can the steer be tested first to see if they have Bangs before vaccinating them?
I wouldn't have a clue to that. I was told to contact my vet , and others locally have told me that theynever vacinate their cows, if their just raising them for themselves to eat. we've never had any cows on our property before. so we've chose not to vacinate our cows either.
If an animal tests positive for Bangs your herd is quarantined and all animals that are positive are destroyed. The vaccination is a preventative, not a cure.
I realize this,
2 of my two cows were vacinated,
I've talked to alot of folks about this, and chose not to vacinate again, we probably won't raise any more either.
Thanks for the info!
Animals vaccinated for Bangs, to my knowledge, are not vaccinated again in their lifetime.