Livestock Management RANCHING
breeding season.” This will allow cows to be grouped for nutritional and health management over the winter, prior to the start of the next calving season, a practice that can allow fi ne tuning of the nutrition manage- ment program.
Cull cows a separate revenue stream Combining the lists of cows with physical defects,
opens or late-breds, and those with poor-doing calves provides a pool of cull cows that can be managed as a separate revenue stream. Spire says based on the size of the culled cow pool,
a rancher has options — hold the cows from the peak cull time, normally in the fall, or feed the cows. “Culled cows are a fl uid market commodity. De-
pending on how many you have, cost and adequacy of the feed supply, and current or projected market-value provide many potential marketing options,” he says. Once the decision has been made for which cows
to remove from the herd, the rancher can review the remaining pregnant cows, examine their body condi- tions and appropriately manage the nutrition program going into winter. He says, “It sets the stage for saying, ‘Now I know
exactly what my herd inventory is going to be. I know what their conditions are, I know when they’re going to start calving — this is how much groceries I’m going to have to put in them.’ It really allows us to manage our dollars better.”
When to deliver the health program With information in hand on which cows were
bred, their likely calving pattern, the quality of their offspring and the success of the nutritional program, the producer can also weigh options on the timing of the delivery of the health program. “Knowing basic management information of the
cow herd as to age and pregnancy status tells us how we can deliver vaccines to potentially prevent repro- ductive losses and calfhood diseases in a more timely fashion,” Spire says. “For instance, when vaccinating for scours control,
timing vaccine delivery correlated to when the cow actually calves is far better than taking an average of a large number of cows over a 100-day calving season.” If the herd has a history of scours, the producer can
look at the timing of scours vaccine application. The cows can either receive the vaccines immediately post breeding or, if the pregnancies are tightly grouped, 4 to 6 weeks before the cows calve out. Spire says this
68 The Cattleman November 2014
ensures there will be the ideal amount of antibodies in the colostrum. From a reproductive disease prevention standpoint,
the biggest concern with U.S. cows, year in and year out, during mid to late gestation is leptospirosis. Because there are several strains of lepto, using a multivalent lepto vaccine at pregnancy check is a good practice. However, “don’t neglect the viruses,” says Spire.
“Most of the time, our best method for virus control in the herd is to administer viral vaccines when the cows are open, prior to the start of the breeding season, and to practice good biosecurity, particularly against fetal BVDV infection. In some herds, where there’s increased risk of viral exposure, cows will receive killed viral product rather than a modifi ed live viral product due to the risk.”
The quickest and easiest
decisions are obtained through visual examination.
External control At the end of the breeding season, it’s also a good idea
to take care of external parasites. Treat for lice early in the fall, but keep an eye out for recurrence. The cows may need to be treated again later in the winter. This is also a good time for residual fl y control and deworming. Spire says the coming frost will also kill worm eggs
on pastures, leaving the producer with clean cows out on pasture. This practice has been shown to increase milk production post-calving and to result in very low fecal egg shed the following spring.
Bull care after breeding Managing bulls post-breeding is also important. As
Spire says, “They just came off their big time of the year. I really like to do a walk-around exam on the bulls at the end of the breeding season. I’m looking for any feet and leg issues they might have, any bumps — particularly lump jaw — and checking to make sure that they don’t have any swelling in the scrotum or any lumps or swelling along the sheath.” It’s a quick and easy examination. If any of these
conditions are discovered, the bull can be pulled out of the herd for further diagnosis. If the condition isn’t
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