His job at the calving ranch involves managing people and their mental health. When 14 to 30 calves are born every day for three months and problems arise, sometimes officials just need a refresher.
“Mental perspective makes our success. Communication allows us to help each other. We all want to do better and be better and that makes the cattle better at Silver Spur,” Spiller emphasized.
VACCINE SCHEDULE
For cattle, Silver Spur Ranch focuses on providing a good health program throughout their lives — it’s very important for them to thrive. On the ranch, it starts at birth, when the calves receive their first vaccine. They are also given an ear tag for identification and relevant information is collected including date of birth, birth weight and sex. Every time the calf is treated for an illness, the ear tag is cut. This allows them to track which calves cannot enter the Non-Hormone Treated Cattle (NHTC) program if they are sent to the feedlot.
“We’re always cautious about the health of calves when they’re born in extreme cold because we tend to see more enterotoxemia in them,” he explained. The goal is to have them in good calving health throughout their lives, and a proper vaccination program helps with that, but Mother Nature can present challenges.
“By the time the calves are tagged, they’re about 45 to 60 days old, and they get their first round of full respiratory, black foot and BVD (bovine virus diarrhea) shots,” Spiller said.
In August, the cows are checked for pregnancy and given a full round of vaccinations, as well as an examination for internal and external parasites. This will last the cows until they receive their pre-calving injection 45 to 60 days before calving. In August, calves are also pre-vaccinated and checked for parasites. They get a booster of these vaccines about 14 to 21 days after the first shots.
Virgin heifers are injected pre-breeding several weeks before being artificially inseminated. Bulls are also injected before breeding and tested for trichomoniasis. While virgin bulls do not have to be tested, some states, such as New Mexico, require a negative test for all bulls. Since some go to Silver Spur’s ranch in New Mexico, they will be sure that the bulls have been tested.
PREVENTION OF FOOT ROT, PARASITES, DISEASES
Spiller said they started using a foot rot vaccine a few years ago on replacement heifers and bulls. “Some areas of the ranch have more foot rot problems than others because of the terrain. It is better to use a low-cost preventive measure than to try to catch an animal in the pasture to treat it,” he added.
Some growers prefer to change the worm from year to year, but Spiller said he won’t make changes unless a change is needed. “My experience is, unless there’s a heavy parasite load with a bug that doesn’t respond to what you’re using, then why change,” he said. “We rotate pairs and have a good forage base in our pastures, which helps prevent most problems.”
Problems in nature can also cause health problems. Ranch cowboys said the wild animals can become a real nuisance by destroying fences and equipment, but they don’t cause many health problems. Silver Spur staff watch for diseased deer and elk, as chronic wasting disease (CWD) can be a problem in parts of Colorado. Rarely a problem in cattle due to other wildlife diseases. If the cow herd has the proper vaccinations, it avoids most of these other diseases.
Noxious weeds can cause problems if they emerge and grow before grass. This is another reason to constantly rotate pastures to avoid these weeds such as lupine, lupine, larkspur, and cattail.
Once the grass starts to grow, these weeds are not the preferred forage and are less of a problem. A mineral with a high magnesium content is given to cows, especially in the spring, to avoid grass tetany.
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Editor’s Note: To view the first two stories in this series, go to:
— “Follow a Colorado Cattle Ranch Through the Year,” https://www.dtnpf.com/…
— “Silver Spur Ranch in Colorado shares calving and tagging system tips,” https://www.dtnpf.com/…
Jennifer Carrico can be reached at [email protected]
Follow her on Social Platform X @JennCattleGal
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