Doctoring as a Crew
#bfrdpwy #aginternship #RightRisk
Over the course of this week I learned the importance of doctoring sick calves and how to properly do so. It came in handy having enough people to head and heel a calf instead of just doing it yourself, and this week I was able to experience both! It is important to stay at the back of the calf when doctoring and making sure the calf is set before administering the shot. Similarly, if you are doctoring by yourself and have a calf heeled, it is important to make sure you have a tight enough dally and your reins are over your rope to keep your horse always looking at the calf. Little tricks like these I found very interesting and it was a really cool experience to be apart of!
A concept from this week that I would challenge is the flexibility of ranchers when it comes to vaccines. I really admire how this ranch is always striving to find the best ways to treat sick calves, and if one vaccine doesn’t work, they are already looking for the next. They also make it a priority to frequently ride through their herd looking for sick calves instead of just ignoring them. Losing a calf is sometimes inevitable, but little steps like these can decrease calf mortality in your herd significantly.
Some questions that remain after this week are: what are some other common disease calves get? Are the diseases’ location specific? I would also be curious to know the research being done on these diseases and the new vaccines that are coming out to treat them. Lastly, I would also be curious to see if there are any correlating diseases between humans and cows and their crossovers since I am currently a nursing student!
I plan to use what I have learned this week in investing the time and money into good vaccines to treat the occurring diseases. Along with this education comes flexibility when a vaccine doesn’t work to try a new one. Lastly, herd monitoring is extremely important to see if these vaccines are effective, and monitoring sick calves.
Submitted by: Chloe Henderson
Edits by: GrowinG Internship Team
