Dave Ramsey, a talk radio show host who discusses financial matters, is fond of saying that people who make expensive financial mistakes “just paid the stupid tax”. In my opinion, “stupid mistakes” of any kind are learning opportunities and sometimes that education can be expensive, but if you learn from it, that mistake and the subsequent education can be priceless.
In the Summer of 2019, we moved full-time to our bug-out-location (BOL). In the spring of 2020 we purchased our first animals for our homestead, chickens. We soon added pigs and cows. Like any living creature, animals have basic needs and are susceptible to illness. In order to have a good return on investment (ROI) on livestock, it is best to do as much of the health care for your livestock as you can.
But where can you learn about veterinary care? Over the years I have picked up a few books on veterinary care, unfortunately most of the books have a problem. As the books age, many of the veterinary medicines are replaced with newer drugs. Recent FDA guidelines are also making it harder for a farmer/homesteader to gain access to certain drugs for the care of animals. One of my solutions was to look back at publications printed before the advent of penicillin and modern drugs. I found some great publications from the late 1800s and early 1900s on the USDA website. There are also a great selection of veterinary medical books available for free on the Project Gutenberg website.
Besides books, there is the Internet that is full of information. Some of it good and some not so good. The source of information we found the most helpful was just asking others who have been raising and caring for livestock for years for their thoughts. You can still get a wide array of advice for the same problem but is that not true with doctors for humans too?
Our first sick animal was a Holstein calf who had a problem with her eye. We picked up a tube of Terramycin Opthalmic Ointment and successfully treated the cow. Soon after the calf’s eye healed (without loss of sight) the calf became weak and was not eating well. I called a neighbor who grew up on a dairy farm and who then successfully ran a dairy farm for decades. He said that the only thing I could do was to provide penicillin to the calf and see if that would work. This was in the middle of the Covid supply chain disaster and getting penicillin was extremely difficult.
I was still working and each day I would check at least one Tractor Supply for injectable penicillin. I was lucky enough to get one bottle so I had it on hand to the dairyman’s amazement. As his sons were now running his dairy I said if they needed any let me know. I provide penicillin from that bottle to two farmers in the area. This demonstrates how important it is to have veterinary drugs and supplies on hand before you need them. The calf recovered and later I was talking to the dairyman that helped me and he asked me how the calf was doing, I told him fine and he said I did a good job because he did not think the calf was going to make it.
Like humans, there is a lot of preventative care that animals need. Piglets need their teeth clipped, a shot of Iron, and to be castrated, if male. This would be extremely expensive if you had a veterinarian do it. I was lucky enough to have a neighbor who had lots of piglets who taught me what to do. We get bull calves and band them to make them steers. The last banding did not work so we had to wrestle the calf and put another band on him. Lesson learned, always double band from the start. We have had calves get sick but I find that probiotics and/or providing them with an electrolyte solution really gets them back on their feet.
Up until this Spring, we have only had to do routine vet care ourselves. I purchased two calves from a local dairy. One a Jersey bull calf and the other a Black Angus and Jersey heifer calf, just like I did last year. Everything seemed to be going good until both got scours (diarrhea). I have not had a cow with scours, let alone two. The calves became very erratic in taking bottles. Sometimes they would drink their milk replacer and at the next feeding they would not. Then we got to the point where they would not drink at all. On top of the scours one of the calves managed to get themselves wedged under the stall gate and halfway under the barn door. I came out in the morning to find her hypothermic. She seemed to have a leg or back injury (probably from flailing all night). I went to a local farm supply store and got some boluses and an oral tube feeder kit.
When I got back I found that both calves were in dire straits and the wife called a vet. The vet came and gave the injured calf about a 20% chance of survival. We decided to euthanize that calf. The vet said the other calf had pneumonia, provided it with an antibiotic and some vitamin shots. The Vet showed use where and how to give an IV to the calf (which was easier than a human IV). The vet then showed us how to use the oral tube feeder. The vet left us with another bag of IV fluid and several syringes with an antibiotic specifically for respiratory illness.
Before we euthanized the one calf we call our dairyman neighbor and he suggested trying to get the other calf nursed back to health. So we tube-fed that calf. The vet left supplies only for one calf. The wife, the dairyman and myself had a debate about taking some of the medicines for the calf with pneumonia and providing some to the calf we discussed euthanizing. I had to explained “triage” and the scare allocation of resources to my wife. I did disaster planning and response for over 20 years so these were not new concepts to me.
Everyone agreed not to use the medicines that were earmarked for the calf with pneumonia. A half-hour after that decision, the calf that we planned to euthanize, died. I told my wife it was a good thing we did not use those medicines on that calf. We spent the next three days nursing the calf with pneumonia. We tube feed him with both milk replacer and electrolyte solution. I got to the barn for the evening feeding and that calf had also died.
I told the wife that this was a very expensive learning experience but that we learned a lot. One thing, I think, that contributed to the calves getting scours was that I did not give the probiotics like I have all our other calves. Again this was the first time we had a calf with scours. Our probiotic supplier moved so I had to order them and did not have them until after the calves died. The other contributing factor, and the one that I believe is the main reason, was bad milk replacer. I was at a farm supply store and saw that they had a 25-pound bag for $43 and it was made by a familiar company. It was not until we changed the milk replacer that we had the issues with scours.
Fast forward two weeks after the death of the calves and we got two new calves. I went and got a different brand of milk replacer and started to feed that to the new calves and we had no issues. We still had a five gallon bucket of the cheap milk replacer so about two weeks of feeding the calves with the better milk replacer with no problems I started to add the cheap milk replacer with the new (2 new to one of the cheaper). At the third feeding I noticed both calves stools were getting loose. We stopped using the cheaper milk replacer and on advice from our dairyman neighbor provide each calf with 20 CCs of penicillin orally in their milk replacer. The stools went back to normal. So I’m sure that the milk replacer was the culprit.
But what does one do with about a five gallon bucket of bad milk replacer? Solution, give it to the pig! I mixed some of the milk replacer up and put it on the pigs grain and the pig would not eat his food. I came back into the barn in the morning and it was still there. I ended up going with a new brand of milk replacer. I was buying a soy based replacer and on advice from the local dairy I went with a whey based replacer. I have not had any problems since.
Everyone told me it was not the cheap milk replacer but I do not believe that. I also found it interesting that I walked into a different farm supply store and they had three bags of milk replacer from the same company marked down 60%. (Not the same blend but just from the same company). I asked the clerk who I’ve known from visiting that store for several years if they were getting any complaints from customers about the milk replacer from that company. She said “no”, but did acknowledge that it was odd that that milk replacer was marked down and on clearance.
Some lessons learned are: Don’t buy your feed based on price. Buy a high quality, non-soy based, milk replacer for your calves. I am a firm believer in the use of probiotics. Act aggressively at the first sign of scours. Have medicines and supplies (like the oral tube feeder) on hand. Keep a few packets of electrolyte solution on hand all the time. I think the electrolytes solution is what kept the calves from dying sooner.
Learn as many veterinary medical skills as you can. I have been visiting the dairy farm just to learn new things about their cows daily diet and medical care. Calling a veterinarian is expensive but if you learn a skill from the visit it is worth it. Triage techniques developed for humans seem to work for animals too. Develop relationships with others who have the same animals as you do for advice. Taking care of two sick calves was intense. We had to cancel plans and stay close to home and constantly monitor the calves.
Our two new calves are doing great and we are currently just about done weening them off the milk replacer. One of the older neighbors who has been raising cows for beef for about 30 years stopped by to give me a catalog from a vet supply store that has a veterinarian available via phone who may prescribe antibiotics or other medicines. The homestead is definitely a nicer place with all healthy animals