Do you ring or cut?

[ASRG]

I have basically used the rings for several years. Seems to work pretty good if you make sure you've got both in the right place!
No horns (polled angus bulls) and just a shot of 8 way in June. An Id tag in one ear and a RFID tag in the other. Everything (not the 8 way) at birth. Makes things pretty simple?
No implants, no vitamin or selenium shot (feed a good mineral).

[smcgrath76]

I doubt that I could touch most of our
calves at birth without getting run over
which fits our management perfectly. We
cut, and as long as I can count to 2, we
don't miss any. At processing we
vaccinate with 8way and IBR, knife
castrate, Floppy and RFID. Pre-weaning we
booster the shots, and pull DNA samples on
the replacements just before a year old
when we brand them.

[grassfarmer]

Always have rung, never cut, some bulls get banded
with the Callicrate at a later age if we cull them. 8-
way and IBR/BVD/BRSV etc at processing and pre-
weaning. We actually quit that and only gave 8-way
for a few years then had a pneumonia outbreak last
Christmas. Costly exercise so we are back on the full
program.
Tried something new this spring too - we have had a
small but persistent pneumonia problem with about
3% of the calves every year at @ a week old. Always
on calves with suspect passive immunity i.e. heifers
calves, or occasional leaner 2nd calver's calves. Vet
couldn't really identify anything but we bought
enough Inforce-3, a modified live nasal vaccine
covering IBR, P13 and BRSV to treat @ 1/3 of the herd
and gave it to the most susceptible. Treated on day
one and we didn't have any cases. It was @$3 a dose
so $1 per cow spread over the whole herd seems like
good insurance. Was a convenient product to use in
our situation when we are catching every calf on day
1 anyway.

[gcreekrch]

Grassfarmer, how long does the coverage last with the intranasal on day one?

[kato]

We ring. Sometimes with the later calves, we'll leave them and do them in the fall with the XL bander. (or with the ones that Hubby writes down in the book as heifer. LOL)

That XL bander is the best thing since sliced bread. We started using it on the feeder calves a couple of years ago, and even on a four hundred pound calf, it's a one hand operation. No tail jack needed, which I appreciate. The scalpel and emasculator got parked when we got that.

Calves get Pfizer gold at pasture turnout and then again at weaning. Works well for us. The ones that go away to be custom grazed get pinkeye vaccine, mainly to make life easier for the guy who's watching them for us.

The nice thing about the intranasal vaccine is that there is an immune reponse really quick. Much faster than an injectable vaccine.

[grassfarmer]

Dave, I don't know how long it's supposed to provide
immunity - doesn't tell you in the literature. We do
them on day one then vaccinate as normal at
processing which is usually 1-2 months after birth so
it's really an extra we are giving them. Point is in our
situation it gets to work right away as we were getting
a problem with a few at week old stage every year. I
wish I could give all the vaccine up the nose on day
one it's really an easy, stress free way to do it in our
situation.

[gcreekrch]

Thanks, our problems don't show up until 4 weeks and older for the most part. We are going to try doing the live on the cow herd pre-calving with the scour vaccine next spring. It is suggested that the calves will get some immunity up to 2 months from the colostrum. We have been on a live vaccination program for years on our cows so should not have any adverse effect on the pregnant cows.
Maybe it is my opinion only but I don't feel vaccinating calves under 2 months with a live does a lot for them and our oldest are at 6 weeks when we brand and turn out. Gathering them for a booster as reccomended a month later is completely out of the question. Maybe combining an intranasal at branding might do the trick?

BTW, as for the thread question, we ring and tag with both tags at birth. ID tag losses to weaning are less than 1/2% and the few calves/tags we normally lose between calving and branding don't pay the difference for the extra hassle of one more thing to do at the calf table.

[SADIE]

gcreekrch--

There is presently the product Somnu-star Ph by Novartis that is recommended for calves to be vaccinated as a newborn calf. This gives protection for respiratory diseases caused by M. Pasteurella Haemolytica and H. somnus.

This is a very well used product now for those early pneumonia type conditions in baby calves.

Here our calves get ringed at 1 day of age, Animal ID only, Somnustar ph,

On the branding table calves get 7-way somnugen, Pyramid-4 or IBR, PI3 BRSV,BVD eguivalent. Check those ringed calves for infection, knife any calves that were missed or ring broke.

Rings---I like to use new packages each spring. ONe brand is better than the other--stronger rings.

Have seen sudden death in ringed calves and when sent tissues to lab have seen both tetani & clostridial problems. Often an antibiotic given at time of ringing the calf.

[gcreekrch]

Thanks Sadie, I hear you on the rings. Any left over here go in the trash can.
We have lost 1 calf over the years to tetanus caused by ringing. This calf died 2 days after recieving a vaccination for blackleg. Luck of the draw.

Will look into the vaccine.