What should be in your mini cow's first aid kit?

Now that you are the proud owner of a mini cow it is time to make sure you have everything that it takes to keep your pet cow happy and healthy. Find out how to recognize signs of distress in your pet and how to prevent, or home remedy these situations. We want you to feel confident and educated about your little homestead ranch! 

The true art of ranching is often hand down from father to son on the farm. There are little to few books or online articles to teach you the importance of reading your animal and how to remedy what ills them. Believe it or not, the vet is not called upon very often when it comes to cattle issues other than vet regulated vaccinations and the annual pregnancy check. This blog post will help you build a vet kit of your own so you will most likely be able to fix, prevent or control minor health issues with your pet cow without having to haul your furry friend to the vet. 

 

Know who your vet would be incase of emergency.

First and most important issue on the list is: know who your vet would be incase of emergency. Most local veterinarians only treat small animals, although your cow might be small in structure, it is not considered a small animal in the world of medicine. You will have to make sure that you find a livestock vet in your area and save their number in your phone. Large animal vets are in high demand as there are not too many of them, so I would be wise to advice you to have a back-up veterinarian in your contact list as well. Just incase your primary vet is pre-occupied or unreachable. 

 

Quick list of supplies.

Most of the following items can be found at your local feed store, C-A-L Ranch or Tractor Supply. For a few of them you will have to call your vet and ask if you could buy them off of him next time he visits your farm.

Blue Kote - stop bleeding on minor and larger cuts or wounds.
Clay - wound care.
Pest duster - prevent or cure horn flies, flies, lice and ticks. (Use gloves)
Antibiotics - cure 'flu-like' seasonal illness.
Eye patch - protect and promote healing during pink eye.
Bloat guard - prevent bloating.
Bloat Eaze - relief bloat.
Vertricyn - heal minor cuts and wounds.
Benamine - anti-inflammatory.

 

Preventative matters.

A wise man said: "It is better to prevent, than to fix." And same counts for cattle. If we can prevent it, we can save our mini cows from going through the discomfort of having to fix it. 

Choose a time of year to vaccinate your cows and stick to that time frame every single year. That way you will not be late, or forget to doctor your cows. We like to do ours in fall. That way we can give all the new babies their mandatory vaccinations and our cows will be covered during their pregnancy and the nursing period. And a bonus will be that it is not so hot during 'ag-day' as we call it.

There are a few different options on preventative medication that you can give your herd but I am just going to tell you what we use and why we do it this way. If your herd is relatively small and you can walk up to all your cows you could just use a simple syringe and needle for your annual vaccinations. If you have a larger herd or animals that aren't letting you come too close, you will have to have a livestock squeeze chute. 

It is recommended to give all your cattle, not matter the age, the so called 8-way vaccine. This simply means that it is a cocktail vaccination for 8 different diseases. There are also a 5-way and a 6-way, and depending on where you live or what bacteria go around your area you could replace the 8-way for one of those. But here in Utah they like to use the trusted 8-way. Usually, newborn calves will get their first injection around June, when all cows have calved out. And their booster during the annual vaccination in fall. After they've been weaned they will only need one shot a year. Vira-Shield 6 vaccine is also recommended for once a year, to prevent respiratory, reproductive and leptospirosis diseases.

During the annual doctoring day we you can deworm your livestock as well. This can be done topical, oral or with an injection in the muscle. Most pet cow owners like to use the Ivermectin injection so they can remain physically affectionate with their cows without having to worry about getting it on their own skin.

When the weather starts to get hotter and the flies, ticks and lice come out, you can help your cows out with either fly ear tags or a topical substance. If you handle your cow every day you might want to use general horse fly spray as it is not hard on your own skin. This doesn't last very long though, so you will have to do that daily. A little harsher product, something you might want to handle with gloves, is a dust can. This will also help cure and prevent lice and ticks as well as flies and horn flies.

 

Required by state.

Most states will require your heifer calves to be vaccinated with the BANGS vaccine. Only your vet can give this to them and it will come with a traceable tattoo in your heifers ear. They only need this once in their lifetime and before they are 12 months of age. Another requirement, in pretty much every state, is the Trich test for your bull. If you have a bull, actively breeding or not, you are mandatory to have him tested once a year. This test will come with a metal ear clip that is placed in your bull's ear so authorities can check the status. It is the owner's responsibility to have this done in time and it will cost you a penalty if you fail to do so.

 

Common diseases.

Easily noticeable and common diseases in cattle aren't too many. But there are a few worth mentioning.

Bloat is the first one, if you see your cow's belly blow up like a balloon, it may mean that they are no longer able to pass gas. This is extremely painful and requires a vet attention. While you wait on your vet to come help you, you can give your dear pet some bloat ease to help with the matter.
Bloat can be caused by alfalfa grass or by stress. It would be wise to have a preventative available to your cows at all times. You can buy them in the form of a lick block.

Pink eye is the second one. If your cow is profusely tearing, blinking and trying to keep their eye shut you might have a case on your hands. When unsure, you should seek medical attention from your vet. Pink eye is very contagious and if possible, it would be good to quarantine your cow from the rest. If you can, place an eye patch on the affected eye to prevent spreading and to help with the increased light sensitivity. A shot of antibiotics might help the case, and some believe raw honey or aloe vera juice directly on the eye would be an organic solution.

Third is the common flu or other season related diseases. When your has a droopy nose, is couching pretty bad and lost their appetite you might want to help them through it with an antibiotic shot as this can get pretty hard on their respiratory system in the winter and fall.

 

How-to self diagnose.

Generally, when a cow is bleeding from a cut or wound it would be pretty obvious what is wrong with them. Other signs that there might be something off with your furry friend would generally start with the observation that they are not eating or drinking as much as they usually would. It is important to know your pet's habits so that you can detect any changes in them. 

  

How-to home remedy.

So to wrap it up, you can always ask google for help and there are many ways to make organic remedies at home. Some work better than others and sometimes we mis diagnosed the problem. When in doubt, always ask a vet for help. 

At our ranch we home remedy the following:
Cuts and wounds get blue kote on them to stop the bleeding. 
Open wounds get padded with clay to help them heal, little cuts get a layer of hydro gel vetricyn for healing and to keep the flies away.
Pink eye gets an eye patch to help relief light sensitivity and an antibiotic shot, read the label and repeat accordingly. If we catch it early we might try the raw honey and aloe vera juice directly on the eye first. Quarantine if possible.
Season related illness can receive an antibiotic shot if it is interfering with the cows appetite or water intake. Read the label carefully. 
Flies, lice and ticks get dusted with a dust can, make sure to wear gloves.
And once a year we vaccinate our herd and give them a dewormer.

 

I hope this article gives you an idea of where to start with building your own cow friendly first aid kit and makes you a confident pet cow owner!

Happy trails!