Spring Cattle Conversations

Spring is an exciting time in livestock. To help manage the excitement, Dr. Mick Harding returns to the Sioux Nation Podcast to share production tips and strategies to help producers successfully move through calving and into warmer summer months.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:23

Welcome back to the Zoo Nation Podcast, where we explore the story, science, and challenges shaping the livestock industry today. I'm your host, Jill Funky. Joining us is Dr. Mick Harding, Director of Veterinary Services for Sue Nation Ag Center. Thanks for returning to us.

SPEAKER_00 0:38

It's a pleasure to be here.

unknown 0:40

Great.

SPEAKER_01 0:41

I didn't twist your arm or anything.

SPEAKER_00 0:43

Nope.

SPEAKER_01 0:44

During this episode, we will be discussing spring cattle protocols and production tips, current disease concerns, and how to optimize herd management for best future outcomes. Whether you're a producer with 20 or more years of experience or just starting out with your first group of cattle, this episode is full of insights you won't want to miss. So let's get into it. So, Mick, so far this winter has been mild in temps in precip, and you know, while there's still time, we talked about that for a late season snowstorm. You know, I think cattle seem to be faring much better than they have, you know, after suffering through challenging other winter seasons from previous years. So can you tell us a little bit about what you and the vet staff is currently busy with right now?

SPEAKER_00 1:33

Well, we definitely never count out snow here in the Dakotas. Most of our snow does occur in March and April. So we always tell people to have plenty of colostrum or and electrolytes and whatever fluids you may need to have on hand because uh as this we're talking now, there they're talking some snow in the area coming this weekend. So that's always the first thing. And you know, it goes without saying you always gotta have your cows in in good condition and just to be prepared for any housing or any extra bedding you may need for those calves to prepare for storms because they will come.

SPEAKER_01 2:20

Considering that we have had a mild winter so far, what kinds of advice are you giving producers? What should they be focusing on? Yes, making sure that they have what they need in case we still do get the snow, but considering what's already happened this winter, what are they what should they be focusing on?

SPEAKER_00 2:37

Well, right now there's probably really no reason to make sure our cows don't get too fat. That can be a bad thing, too. There's really no need to maybe artificially confine them right now. We still have adequate use of, in some areas, corn stalks. You know, I'm not saying there's much out there to eat, but obviously we can keep them spread out because most of our calf challenges you might say come through the manure of the cow and then it gets amplified in the calves. And so the closer we keep them, the greater the exposure. So I encourage people to spread them out as much as they can, but pay attention to the weather. Let's not get caught with them miles away either. So that doesn't work for everybody, but better we can spread them out, the the overall general calf health.

SPEAKER_01 3:23

And so how does our outlook this winter differ from, like I said, some of the management challenges we had in harder winters?

SPEAKER_00 3:32

Uh actually, probably our feedstuffs probably go a little longer. So that's that's a positive. You know, and everybody's in a different boat of how much they f farm and raise and and and forages. But uh one of the biggest challenges actually is we can get our cows too fat. And I think as you come further eastern part of the state, it tends to happen more often as we don't have maybe the the spaces you might say to spread animals out. And it's just a function of how we feed them too. We have readily more grain supplies, silages, and cows can get a little fleshier, which isn't great. And definitely it's a tendency as cow prices are high, pounds are paying.

SPEAKER_01 4:18

So true. So you're right. I mean, it has been warm and in some places, even not very far from our region or within our region. Cattles are getting getting ready to go on grass or have already been turned out. So, what types of advice do you normally give in regards to early turnout and then how that can affect production down the road?

SPEAKER_00 4:42

Early turnout obviously is a function of how grasses are coming and/or if you have pastures rented, when do they let you on them? Main thing is, especially with the value of these calves, I tend to be more aggressive with preventative vaccines than maybe we would in a normal year. As an old rule of thumb, I kind of used uh the further away from home they are, the less you could check on them, the more we were gonna vaccinate.

SPEAKER_01 5:09

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 5:09

Now I think price is definitely involved, so I would encourage being aggressive with preventative measures with our vaccines going to grass. Realizing that they're not, the animals are still young and the response to those vaccines is low, it does prevent sickness on pasture for later in the summer.

SPEAKER_01 5:30

What about early turnout and then dewarming? Does an early turnout change your dewarming schedule?

SPEAKER_00 5:38

Once green grass start coming, worms are there as a rule. Our big larval intake is starts with the first green grass coming. And so I'd say as soon as you turn them out, be thinking about dewarming.

SPEAKER_01 5:54

And so you had mentioned vaccines, vaccination work. And so I kind of wanted to pick your brain and get some advice for that. Maybe and a lot of this could be refreshers, but what factors should we keep in mind, particular to the current conditions that we have this year when we're looking at our vaccine program?

SPEAKER_00 6:13

Yeah, let's say uh we do end up being dry. It's not unreasonable to see pastures gone by the end of June.

SPEAKER_01 6:22

Right.

SPEAKER_00 6:22

I mean, that happened. So basically, if you can start maybe with uh some internal vaccines, they tend to overcome the maternal antibody interference we can get with our injectables. I'm not saying our injectables aren't important, because they are. I mean, even if you give them at a young age and we can't like pull blood on them and measure a systemic response. The animal knows it got it. And so when you go in with like maybe your pre-weaning, if you do that, I'd recommend, they will remember that they've had that first shot. They will respond higher to it. It's maybe not necessarily that we are getting a major response, but it's there, even though we can't measure it. It is there. And the ultimate goal of like our pre, like our going to grass uh branding time shots, we might call them, is to prevent those animals getting sick on pasture. And we will see that in feed yards that uh buy cattle that don't don't have uh like springtime shots. They can those calves can go on to pasture, get sick, and recover, and then when they get sick in the feed yard, it's not their first time and they don't being sick and they don't respond as well to vaccines. And hence we get our, oh, this antibiotic isn't working here at my place. It's because there's they've been sick before. And it and the and those springtime shots prevent that.

SPEAKER_01 7:51

So they would have missed that. So is that advice you give to a feedlot? Yeah. Is you know, vaccinate them no matter what.

SPEAKER_00 7:57

The advice is I give feedlots is try to source cattle if they can from ranchers or calf raisers that are doing springtime shots. And I say you should, they should go to the top of your list of who you're looking for.

SPEAKER_01 8:13

And so talking about calves, and it makes me think, you know, when we're thinking ahead a little bit about implanting, is there anything you'd like to say about that process and timing and what to look for this year?

SPEAKER_00 8:26

Implants in general, it's the one thing we can talk about that does give a dollar return on your investment. We can talk about all the vaccines and talk about getting sick. There's no guarantee they're gonna get sick anyway, even if you don't vaccinate. But implants I can guarantee you, they will put on pounds, which translates to money. We can take our current implants that are labeled for sucking calves and with no detriment to future fertility, even they're labeled for that, like after 30 days of age. The ones labeled, I mean, we're looking at 20 pounds of weaning weight. Well, in today's world, that's that's a big dollar amount for our two dollar implant. Yeah, my purse just got heavier. You know, and even if I'm half wrong on the weight, it's still pretty good.

SPEAKER_01 9:16

Yeah. The math is still mathing on that. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Do you have any other advice about any other health protocols or anything for our producers for this particular year?

SPEAKER_00 9:27

Uh, the one thing we're seeing that's raised its head in the maybe the last few years and getting more is anaplasmosis in cows. It's pretty subtle usually. It might be some infertility, increased opens to as severe as, which is severe enough in its own, but it's tough to put a finger on, to actually dead cows. It gets the cows. It it's one of the diseases that picks on the mature population, whereas most diseases we talk about, it's the it's the calf we worry about. And uh I don't I'm not sure that there's a vaccine that's available. I there was one in the south for a while, and I I don't think it's I don't think it's currently available, but uh it can be overcome with uh long-term feeding of tetracyclines and and it can be managed, but just realize it's it's out there.

SPEAKER_01 10:20

Is there any other diseases that you guys are running across in the region that you want to comment on?

SPEAKER_00 10:26

Uh that's the main one that's probably new. You know, the ones we always have to talk about when we talk about adults is anthrax.

SPEAKER_01 10:33

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 10:34

That's another one. We're in the Dakotas. Um if anybody asks me if they should anthrax their cows, I say yes, even though it's probably never been on your place, but we are in South Dakota, so it's here somewhere. And it's again one of those diseases that tends to pick on the adult animal.

SPEAKER_01 10:50

So if we take a more holistic look at cattle production, you know, what would you like to say about working with nutrition experts to really optimize production programs and management schedules?

SPEAKER_00 11:04

Yeah, that's always a battle with uh veterinarians and nutritionists. We notoriously buttons. Uh I I can't say I'm I think I'm humble enough now that I realize that uh I you don't come to me for much nutrition advice, and it's great that I work with some great nutritionists and and uh I go to them for advice. I mean, or drag them in to when I'm seeing something. In the same token, they'll drag me in when they're seeing something. I guess along that line, nutritionally and veterinary-wise, one thing we're seeing across, I can't say all of South Dakota, but I would suspect it is, is we're seeing our well water, those are feeding well water. Incredibly high sulfate levels.

SPEAKER_01 11:49

Right.

SPEAKER_00 11:50

Doesn't really necessarily affect the cow as much. I I think they're a bigger animal, have a bigger tank in them, and probably been exposed to higher sulfates over the years and maybe have a different bug population, and we're not feeding them the same as a high concentrate, so it doesn't tend to pull up as we do see it in calves. Right. And it is real.

SPEAKER_01 12:12

So with that in mind, do you recommend water testing?

SPEAKER_00 12:18

Yeah, if you're well watered, you definitely test if you suspect the problem. I've already notified our nutritionists on staff, and I think we're gonna just especially in South Dakota, is our mineral products are gonna have an increased level of thiamine above and above and beyond. Yeah, because it's it's the big deal with uh the sulfate levels is it messes up the rumen bug population and destroys thiamine. And and ruminants are prone to that d thiamine deficiency we call polio. It's not the human polio, it's it's the brain lesion polio.

SPEAKER_01 12:59

But uh and thiamine is the antidote, so and I can see how having you and the nutrition staff at the same table talk through some of these issues that can be addressed both on the veterinary side and the nutrition side, that's really a one-two punch then for producers.

SPEAKER_00 13:17

Definitely. We work we work definitely hand in hand. I mean, I try not to cross the line and they do the same.

SPEAKER_01 13:25

You do, right.

SPEAKER_00 13:25

And it's kind of a dangerous deal. You start getting nutrition advice from a veterinarian, uh be careful, and you start getting animal health advice from quote your feed person, be careful too.

SPEAKER_01 13:38

I mean, well, all of us are full full of our advices, but well, there's a reason that you all specialize in what you specialize in. That's right.

SPEAKER_00 13:46

I try to stay in my lane.

SPEAKER_01 13:48

Good to know. Well, is there anything else that you would like producers to know?

SPEAKER_00 13:52

No, just other than be prepared for the winter. It's not over yet.

SPEAKER_01 13:57

You keep saying that with a twinkle in your eye, and I'm just gonna wait and see. I'm gonna call it like mid-April. So I'm not gonna get too excited until I'm not getting my boat out yet. Well, yeah, that's probably that's probably good no matter what. So anyway. Well, thank you, Mick, for sitting down with me to talk about cattle production in the spring. And thanks to our listeners for tuning in. We'll catch you next time with more guests and topics related to the current ag climate.