a progressive veterinary practice engaging in cattle care and consultation
What types of production records are important for the commercial cow-calf operation?
A lot of information is available on the farm, but which pieces are important and how they are used will differ between farms. By recording a few pieces of information at key management events, cow-calf operations can be rewarded with useful data to monitor their production and progress over time. Bolinger Veterinary Service utilizes a computer software program called Cow-Calf 5 to produce Herd Production Reports. Within these reports, a producer can track important data both on the individual cow level and at the herd level in the form of SPA parameters. SPA stands for Standardized Production Analysis, which is a uniform method for comparing and analyzing beef operations. We can also provide you with a customized Herd Book for recording these important pieces of information.
Why use a customized Herd Health Program instead of a published vaccine protocol?
The published vaccine protocols do have value, but sometimes they lack in flexibility and include vaccines that may not be necessary for your operation. With a customized Herd Health Program, Bolinger Veterinary Service considers more than just vaccines. We evaluate the entire operation and look for opportunities to match management events with disease prevention strategies, as well as what types of biosecurity considerations that may be appropriate for your operation. Each cattle operation is unique in philosophy, timing of management events, resource availability, and goals. So, it stands to reason that an approach to disease prevention and biosecurity that is built to work within the framework of the operation will work better than a program that forces your unique operation to work within its framework.
Where is the value in pregnancy diagnosis?
Over the last several years, the cost of the inputs needed to maintain a cow for the year has increased greatly. The annual cost of maintaining a cow can now reach over $1,000. It is valuable to identify the non-productive cows because this knowledge allows you to manage these cows to match your operations goals. The data gained at the time of pregnancy diagnosis allows you to make the choices to minimize the amount of high-cost inputs that goes into non-productive cows and optimize the amount of resources that is utilized in productive cows.