Craig Burton (left) Annie Vivers and Georgie Burton on the job of vaccinating, checking for pinkeye and giving a selenium injection to all our calves.
We certainly have, we usually get our share but this year we have been hearing of very bad cases in herds. We have yet to solve the problem of eye troubles. Our “Maiden Creek” property has had virtually no pink-eye but in the past few weeks here at Glen Innes we have had a wave of it.
This week we will bring all of the cow mobs through the yards for the calves second vaccination plus a selenium injection. We have been treating and patching quite a few eyes. If you are wondering what we use…old jeans are cut into patches to keep the sunlight out and to stop the flies from transferring the bacteria, we treat with noroclox ointment (from the vet) and attach with a fantastic glue that comes in the KMar heat pads.
We are of the mindset that our cattle are not getting the necessary minerals from their feed to build their immunity to fight the bacteria. Anyway it is a problem that costs our industry millions each year and yet no one spends time and money to prevent it. We are starting our calves on a selenium program and hopefully this may help with immunity.