I wish I was a truck driver again this morning. I think it would be easier to face Big D traffic than do what I had to face when I got to the pasture about 7 a.m.
The first calf I spotted was nursing and squirting. It looked like it was going in one end and coming out the other. Bad sign, and then I saw two more and about that time I noticed the ones standing around with their ears flopped. Sure enough had a case of scours and I hate that, really hate it.
I called the offspring into service and they helped me catch up all the ones showing symptoms and gave them extra large doses of pig scour medication. This is a very costly epidemic; flies are bad and, with the scours and flies both, a feller has to be extra vigilant. The hair can be permanently removed if a scoured area gets flies working on it. I know from experience how bad it can get.
The offspring hauled a couple of the babies to the barn so we could wash them down. I’d sure rather do the clean up before the fly eggs hatch. I can hardly put the word on paper it is so gross: maggots infest and eat the calves so eagerly that it is a long haul to get them over it. I hooked up a hose and donned rubber gloves and washed the calves down. The poor little fellers didn’t appreciate their baths but they are much better off.
We decided to get the whole bunch up after dinner and gave the vet a phone call. He advised us to separate the scouring pairs and give them Neuflor or Baytril. I was elected to go to town and took the trip gratefully. I know I have to “man up” and handle some of the jobs that are so disgusting but, believe me, grown offspring come in mighty handy.
My close relative rode into town with me and we visited about the cattle, the offspring, her benevolent ladies club, and that she would be glad to bake some pies this afternoon if someone could help her in the yard for about an hour.
Guess what I did? I, being so chivalrous and handy, volunteered immediately. My thinking is such that I can easily trade an hour’s worth of watching for more scours for an hour’s worth of weed eating!
We doctored the calves that were sick and turned out the well bunch. I hate to have scours in the hospital pens but you can’t help it sometimes. We keep lime available in the feed room and it will be used generously.
It is my opinion, and everyone has one, I believe some of the malady of scours is produced by the over production of rich milk. We have bred AI for twenty years and used high milk and low birth weight bulls to improve our herd. Never have bred all the cows AI, but I believe you can look and tell by eyeballing which ones are out of bulls I could never afford to own.
I may be paying the price for messing around with nature again! Mankind can’t perfect what God has allowed us!
Bill is a pen name used by the Gravette author of this weekly column.
Opinion, Pages 6 on 04/24/2013