Ranching, Weaning, Pinkeye.

Work, stress, Illness.

I thought I’d take a pause from the series “Covid 19, Through My Eyes” and write about some recent events in the life of the Rancher Doctor.

I was born into a farming / ranching family and have continued this legacy handed down by my late father. Our ranching operation is called Ginger Hill Angus and was started somewhere around 1959 by dad and Pops (my grandfather). We have continually bred and selected these angus cattle for a multitude of traits that are aimed at economically and efficiently producing beef in an environmentally sound manner.

We have a saying in the cattle business that rings true to me: “Ranchers, the original environmentalists.” It’s always puzzling to me to see attacks on animal agriculture from environmental groups. Don’t they realize that most family farmers and ranchers are excellent stewards of the land? And why wouldn’t we be? We live on this land. This is our home where we’ve raised families for generations. These are our communities that we have deep ties to. We love this land and care for it immensely.

Each May we wean the calves from their mothers. This can be quite stressful to both the cow and her calf ( as well as me). But we take steps to lessen that stress as much as possible. Generally the process starts with weighing the calves, administering pre-weaning vaccines as well as treating the calves with a dewormer (Ivermectin applied along their back line) and applying a fly tag in the calves ear. Applying this liquid Ivermectin pour-on can be messy. It is usually spilled and splashed on the person applying the medication. I can safely say that with all the ivermectin I’ve used over the past 20 years on our cattle, if it were “dangerous” as many in the media and ‘big pharma’ driven health care industry claim, I’d have been dead long ago! It does a wonderful job at preventing ticks, lice, worms and flys on our livestock.

We also place a plastic nose flap on the calf to be weaned, to prevent him from being able to nurse his dam. This allows the calf to stay with its mother but keeps him from nursing, lessening the emotional stress from being removed from his mother 1 week later.

This year has been a very frustrating season with regards to the health of some of our younger cattle and calves that haven’t built a robust immune system. Specifically, our herd has been unusually affected by “pinkeye” (kertaoconjunctivitis). What makes it so frustrating is the fact that we’ve tried to take every step that we can to prevent this disease: vaccinating all the cattle, providing good nutritious grass, fly control, and providing plenty of shade and water for the cattle. Even with all this, I have been treating 3-5 new cases each day. Thank goodness for my dart gun that enables me to sedate and treat the calves out in the pasture without stressful handling.

They develop swollen red conjunctiva excessive eye drainage, and if untreated, it can lead to a scar on the cornea and blindness. It was becoming so very depressing seeing all these calves with weeping squinting eyes in the bright sunlight. I decided to take some cultures from the eyes of some of the affected animals. I also discussed it with my vet as well as other rancher friends.

The cultures came back positive for Mycoplasma Bovovulus, a bacteria that is very hard to create a vaccine against. While speaking with my good friend, fellow rancher and past president of the United States Cattlemen’s Association, Kenny Graner, he suggested an injection of “Multimin” a mineral injectable that contains copper, selenium, manganese and ZINC! Why hadn’t I thought of that? I’m the doctor that uses zinc in all my patients to stimulate the immune system to prevent and treat Covid 19 complications!

On Wednesday and Thursday of this past week we rounded up the “ little doggies” and weaned them from their mothers. We caught each calf in our Foremost chute to remove the weaning nose flap and give them a shot of MULTIMIN. We also treated several new cases of pinkeye.

The calves were separated from their dams and fence line weaning was performed where the calves were placed in a familiar pasture and their dams are placed on the opposite side of the fence in an adjacent pasture. (Needless to say you must have a sturdy well maintained fence to prevent those critters from getting back to mom! ) Plentiful grass shade and water is in both pastures.

I am happy to report that it’s now Sunday and we’ve had no new cases of pinkeye in the cattle given MULTIMIN injections. Many thanks to my good friend,Kenny Graner, for suggesting what I should have already known, being a physician that relies on nutrition, vitamins and minerals in promoting the health and wellness of my patients. I guess this just proves the point that one should never stop trying to learn no matter your level of experience.