Air January 19, 2005

Thank you Jerry, and good morning everyone. Forecast high temperatures ABOVE freezing are the nicest thing I've seen in a long time!!

Those of you who braved slick roads and ugly weather got to hear some really good presentations at the 4 state beef cattle conference last Thursday. For the rest of you, I'll try to bring you bits and pieces in the coming weeks. What I want to talk about today is pre-conditioning calves. This has been talked about for 40 years and after all that time what we've managed to accomplish is a lot of discussion! I think part of the reason for this is that many folks think of these preconditioning programs as a vaccination program. But in reality, they are, or should be, much more than just a series of shots! What we are trying to do is simply keep calves from getting sick by keeping them as healthy as possible. And the best way to do this, is to stress them as little as possible. Think of those calves like you would think of yourself or your own kids. You try to keep them healthy by making sure they get enough sleep, you try to get them to eat right, get plenty of water to drink and keep them from doing too much. Because when do we always catch a cold? Right after we've been busy trying to do too much and been around a lot of strange people. We're tired so our immune system is compromised, and then we get exposed to lots more germs and viruses than we normally would be exposed to. Bingo, you've got a cold or worse! Cattle are no different. All those things we are vaccinating them for, are around all the time. We just hope we keep them healthy and immune enough so that they don't become susceptible. But then look at what we do to those calves. In the space of a few weeks, or even a few days, we wean them, castarate them, maybe dehorn them and then ship them off to be around a bunch of strange cattle. No wonder they get sick. Spread those things out as much as possible so that they only have one stressor at a time. Sure, it may mean handling them a few more times, but even if you retain ownership, if you can keep them from getting pneumonia their performance, and profitability will be enhanced. Just remember, treat them like you would want to be treated!

This is Chuck Otte, Geary County Extension Agent, with Ag Outlook 2005.

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