La Nina

[malleefarmer]

Currently australia is going through a lanina weather pattern and has been suggested it will last till mid next year.It extremly wet on east coast of aust which goes with lanina.
Elnino on the other hand go with drought here in aust.

How does lanina weather phenomina affect canadian and USA farmers im under the impression it turns things dry and correlation? And how long since the usa had it dry over a large area, seems at times the usa crops live and die about 4 times during growing season and still harvest very good crops.

Thanks guys im looking at above average crops but not bin busters, some are going to have best ever wereas West Aust is diabolical

[grassfarmer]

And the question was ;o)

[kato]

I have a question. We don't use one, since we've got a nifty trap door on the side of our headgate. It does the job just fine.

So I'll ask. What do people think about neck extenders? I would think it would be slick on a hydraulic chute, but how about a manual one? Do they cause a problem with horns?

[burnt]

We don't have any horns to deal with. But, the neck extender on our manual chute eliminates 90% of the back and forth movement on the cattle we put through it - from calves right up to old cows. No more bent needles once they stick their head through it.

[charliep]

Only comments on winter impact.

[URL="http://www.manitobacooperator.ca/issues/ISArticle.asp?aid=1000389965&ref=rss"]el nina impact[/URL]

[smcgrath76]

It looks to me like the Morand has the cow
in the headgate and then the Shoulder
holder, pulls the animal back. The others
look like the cow goes in the headgate and
the immobilizer pulls them forward. Is
this the case?
I would highly recommend detectable
needles. They are sharper and stronger
and do not bend and break like the old
kind.

[kato]

When we vaccinate we use 5cc disposable plastic syringes. The syringe will break before a needle will, and the syringe allows you to be accurate. If you're accurate with your shots, you can always get eleven shots from a ten dose bottle of vaccine. (As long as it's a 2cc dose) It doesn't sound like much, but over a hundred calves you've got some nice savings.

We'll have to give the neck extender some thought if we ever go shopping for a new chute.

[smcgrath76]

We have recently upgraded to an Allflex.
They are deadly accurate and fast. Two
of us separated and vaccinated 75 calves
in under an hour this fall. (then we
put the calves back with the cows for a
couple of weeks). I agree on the extra
dose with MLV. We only use 10 dose
bottles of modified live and we always
wind up saving quite a few doses. We
also check and regularly ensure the
dosage on all of our syringes as part of
VBP.

[smcgrath76]

And for the record, we don't use a squeeze
or even a headgate when we vaccinate...

[grassfarmer]

Same here Sean, I find you can vaccinate faster and easier in an alley with less stress on the animals and I've never broken a needle yet. Grew up vaccinating sheep and that was always done in the alley so it seems logical to do the same for cows. The squeeze chutes and hydraulic chutes and the added neck extenders are all rather metal heavy solutions in my opinion. I don't see the average cow/calf herd would get enough use out of them in a year to justify the expense.

[ALLFARMER]

We put everyone through to replace lost tags, our cattle were on bush this summer and they lost at least 30% of their tags. We also had a bunch of new cows that needed new numbers. Calving season next season will be nice win no more 3 #36 cows and such. We were going to put a numbered tag in each ear in the event the cow lost one we would still have the other but decided that would only help somewhat and result in more ripped ears. We are now looking for a 1/4" by 1" metal band that has rounded edges and snap locks into place. I am wondering if the Angus association uses this for the registered angus program. We found this tag in a couple of our cows and figure you would nead a grinder to get it off and twine or trees wouldn't snag and rip it out. The one band we found had a A.Black on one side and 4309 stamped on the other. I just can't see how a cow could ever loose them.

[perfecho]

I have used the metal Kurl-loc (by Ketchum)on calves before I tattoo. You can order then with any sequence of numbers/letters stamped in them. Have bought through our local Co-op. Make sure you get the same sized applicator and Kurl-Locs.....

[littledoggie]

smcgrath76 - how are you vaccinating your cows accurately if not using a squeeze/headgate? Over the top of the alley? Which Allflex gun are you using?

[smcgrath76]

We pack the chute and vaccinate over the
top. All shots are sub-Q in the neck
(just ahead of the shoulder). The gun
is an Allflex repeater. We store all
vaccine in a cooler, and only use 10
dose bottles of MLV so it never sits
more than a few minutes. Needles are
changed at regular intervals (only
detectables) and are disposed of in a
marked sharps container.
The alley keeps them calmer and they
cannot throw their heads around like in
the headgate. At our place it is much
safer and faster for everyone. We can
usually sort and do two dose vaccinate
on 100 cows in just a little over an
hour.
A squeeze is pretty useful for real
procedures like branding, milking (god
forbid) or other such things.
Cows all have a metal curl lock tag, a Z
tag floppy(these stay in very well), a
CCIA tag, are branded and all have DNA
on file in Saskatoon. Theoretically if
a cow lost all her ID, I could pull tail
hairs and have the lab find out who she
is.

[smcgrath76]

Forgot...
No crowding tub on our stationary unit
either. Once I got looking on the
internet, I realized we actually have had
a Bud Box for about 70 years. Having used
both I prefer the Bud Box, but to each his
own.