Working Ranch Magazine - Index

Working Ranch Magazine - magazine - Index

Longer-use tags are needed on commercial
and purebred operations that
run mother cows. According to Rainey,
the three most important things these
producers desire in a plastic ear tag are
retention, readability and color stability
because the tags will be in their
cows’ ears for a number of years.
As cattle move up the supply chain
to the feeding sector, ID tags are needed
for a short, one-time use. These
tags are used for about 100 - 200 days,
so economics is a primary consideration,
along with retention and readability.
Cattle that enter the feedlot
are often tagged as a group or pen, but
Rainey relays that feedlots also tag cattle
sequentially in order to tie individual
animals to pen numbers.
One-piece tags are often the product
of choice for feeders because these tags
are cost-effective and easy to apply.
According to Rainey, more feeders are
also using the two-piece tags in order
to identify cattle in specialty programs.
Two-piece tags offer long-term
retention and are made with more
plastic for longer use. The collar on a
female tag allows it to rotate on the
male stem. Therefore, as the tag pivots
PHOTO BY JEAN ARMSTRONG
36 |WORKING RANCH | JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2008
with the animal, the hole stays the
same size.
RETENTION
One rule of thumb for retention is
size can matter – typically the larger
the tag, the poorer the retention. But
this rule does hinge on an animal’s
environment, especially the terrain,
and more importantly tag placement
and tagging technique.
To maximize retention Rainey
Kick Scours
off the Ranch
The last thing cow-calf producers need at calving
time is more work, and a scours outbreak can
cause plenty of it. Vaccination can be a helpful
scours management tool.
A cow will start to make colostrum about five
weeks before she calves, and that’s why a scour
vaccine like ScourGuard® 4 KC is given in the last
three months of gestation.
“Colostrum has a lot of whole antibodies and is a
great natural product by itself,” explains John
Herkner, senior territory manager for Pfizer Animal
Health’s Livestock Products Division. “ScourGuard
enhances that colostrum.”
Herkner bills scour vaccination as an investment,
especially for replacement heifers. “We do
know that colostrum is better from a cow than
from a first-calf heifer. So let’s give her a boost.
It’s a common-sense approach.”
Scours is a tough fire
Nobody wants to see this
healthy calf get struck down in
the first few days of life with a
deadly case of scours.
to put out once you have
it. “If we hurt the calf early in life,” Herkner adds,
“the disease can negatively affect how that calf
performs throughout the rest of its life. We’re just
trying to get it off to a good start.”
ScourGuard® 4 KC helps protect calves against
the four common causes of calf scours. This
product is given 6-9 weeks pre-calving in firstcalf
heifers and mature cows unvaccinated the
year before. Because it is a killed vaccine, new
vaccinates need to be boostered at 3-6 weeks
before they calve. Annual revaccination pre-calving
is recommended.
Steve Thonney of Thonney Ranches near
Prosser, Washington understands the difficulty of
calf scours first-hand. “It seems like we were
late to realize the value of vaccinating for scours
prevention,” he says. “But now that we have
been doing it, there’s no way we’ll quit. We got
along for years without a problem, but when the
problem did hit it was a big mess. Now, we vaccinate
the cows with ScourGuard® 4 KC two
times just before calving season starts, and the
scours problem has practically disappeared.”
Herkner adds. “One of the frustrating things
is we don’t always know what is causing
scours – is it a viral or bacterial scours?” He
recommends producers work with their veterinarian
to carry out any diagnostics and to build
a prevention plan.