phizer gold or prime protection

[just_wondering]

does anyone have any comments on the phizer gold or prime protection line of products?
do you see a benifit to going with a branded program, or piece togeather something that better fits local conditions?
Do you find value in vacinations at all?
Are there any feedlots that will pay more for these pre-conditioned calves?
More Questions to follow!

[smcgrath76]

We have used prime protection on our calves for the last several years on the advice of our veterinarian. It has worked well for us, although the Pfizer products work as well. I am not sure the buyers notice or pay for it, but we do note in on our manifests when we sell. Reality is that your calves will all be vaccinated on entry to a feedlot anyway. For us the biggest benefit is the health of these calves when we feed them ourselves.
A catch 22 since you don't know if the vaccination pays unless you have a wreck, but I know through BSE we had some neighbours that tried to save money by not vaccinating and they thought we were nuts to spend the money. They spent more on antibiotics in one week, than we spent on all our vaccinations/boosters/etc. for the the year on more cattle.
If you don't feed your own, probably no reward, but it is good risk management.

[grassfarmer]

We work with a package put together by the local vet - it suits the area and our management better than a package deal. I am adament we have got a premium for the calves health status every time we have sold - always weaned 8 weeks and preconditioned. We tend to retain a proportion of the calves through to February so it pays well on them. We haven't had to pull a calf for treatment post weaning in 5 years, that's good enough for me.
We have some early born calves this year from bought in cows that will probably head for a presort at weaning - we won't vaccinate them in that situation as there is no potential financial reward for us.

All this talk about feed efficiency and leptin gene testing - the industry would be hugely more efficient if calves were all weaned a while and vaccinated before being shipped. Still I guess that would break into cow/calf producers leisure time too much!

[wd40]

If you sell your calves as a commodity (auction mart) there likley won't be a reward. As a feedlot opperator we pencil in at least a 3% death loss when we buy at the auction.

HOWEVER if you have average calves or better, it's stupid to sell at the auction mart.

The auction mart is not true price discovery.

It's not hard to follow CanFax and take a drive around some feedlots and build a long lasting relationship with a feedlot, market (not sell) your calves and keep all the check-off's in your pocket at least. And a bunch of shrink I might add.

It's a win win.

[cowman]

What is the cost of phizer gold or prime protection? Personally I believe if it ain't broke why fix it?
Maybe some good old fashioned common sense goes a long way? If you are buying in cattle from every Tom, Dick and Harry then you might need to vaccinate for everything under the sun?
I do agree with grassfarmer that the way calves are sold right off the cow is a scandal? It isn't a question of will they get sick...it should be "how the hell do they not get sick"? But it seems to be the chosen system and the feedlots seem to be okay with it? I guess they just factor in the sick and deads as the cost of doing business! They don't seem to want to pay for pre conditioned calves...or at least I haven't seen it? Just my opinion.

[cowman]

Further on selling privately versus auction mart: I've done both and had good experiences both ways. I do believe it is better to have more than one bidder and I doubt anyone drives out in the country to pay you more than he has to pay at the mart!
A good part of getting screwed at the mart was taken away with the presort sale? They couldn't cut out that slightly Off calf and pay a lot less for him? Now I do realize you need a mart that can do a good job of running a presort and a lot of them don't.
Quite frankly as a cow/calf producer I believe the presort sale is the way to go? If you are doing it right your calves will weigh up and go into the good pens? I believe a big part is getting over your "ego"...thinking you raise something special? Really you don't? You raise a commodity and every calf will be nothing more than beef?
I also believe you can do better feeding heifers out at home than selling them as calves but I am sure many will disagree? And that is their right...I'm not always right...but I'll continue feeding my heifers.

[kato]

Pfizer gold runs about $4.50 a calf. Money well spent in my opinion. We vaccinate at spring turnout,and boost them at weaning. We also haven't treated a sick calf in years, other than the ones we bought in. Even with the calves we have bought, you can soon see which ones came from a producer who vaccinates.

Sick calves cost a lot more than just the price of drugs. Sometimes they are set back to the point where their profit potential is out the window.

[cowman]

So my next question is: What do you get for $4.50? Seems pretty reasonable.

[just_wondering]

Alongh with this presentation I went to the vet recomended deworming in the spring the wyeth brand product I can't remember the name they were stating the Benifits saying it helps keep the horn flys off in the summer .Does a oiler do the same thing or is it as effective?
wd40 what did you mean about the auction mart not being true price discovery? Some-thing that likely deserves its own post thanks.
As for selling privatly to feedlots around here (in the middle of the Sask grain belt our feed-lots seem to be buing cows in a feeder co-op and need to run them through a auction to do it. Doesn't sound right to me but we don't deal with the Fedder -co-ops.

[cowman]

kato: Still patiently waiting for your answer? Drumming my fingers! LOL