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Life is too short to eat bad food! Sharing great recipes, farm life, stories and photography from our Northern California dairy farm.

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Showing posts with label cow magnets. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cow magnets. Show all posts

December 9, 2010

Dairy Farmers & Cattle Ranchers Keeping the U.S. Food Supply Safe - Vaccinations

Last week I mentioned that our bi-monthly vet appointment was happening for the dairy cows and how vaccinations were given. All cattle, nationwide {dairy and beef} are required to be given the vaccination for Brucellosis and  in the state of California it's also required to be given by a veterinarian. {I’m not sure if this vaccination is required to be given by a vet in all other states or if it’s just CA}. There hasn’t been a Brucellosis outbreak in the U.S. in many, many, years and this vaccination along with a tattoo placed on the inner part of the animal’s right ear identifying what brucellosis vaccine was given, is also required in the U.S. to assure us this disease will not become active once again. This is just one of the many procedures we, as dairy farmers and or cattle ranchers must abide by to assure a safe food supply in the U.S.

Today, here on the farm, was once again vaccination & cow magnet day. Dominic gives our calves any other vaccination that is needed and today they were vaccinated for Staph and Ecoli. Paige and I decided we would go down to the barn to help.




















First thing's first, separate the calves that need to be vaccinated.  Here's one girl that was extra friendly.













Paige oversaw the entire process.














Next, lock the calves in the sanctions so they can eat and remain stationary while given their vaccinations.













And for the calves that don't already have cow magnets in their bellies, Dominic uses a bolus gun to insert a cow magnet.













After that process was over, it was time for the daily barn scrape. 













Paige is always up for helping Daddy and a tractor ride.













While the cows are outside of the freestall barn, Dominic scrapes all the solid waste from the barn into the solid and liquid waste pit for recycling next summer

It's now time for a shower.

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May 3, 2010

And the Winner of the Cow Magnets is........

Congratulations to Patrick Tillet! Who has won the set of cow magnets! 
Patrick, I need your mailing address, you can email me with it Please! Pin It

April 28, 2010

How a Magnet Can Save a Cow's Life

Cow magnets.  Not only are they used in a cow's stomach, I also find them scattered throughout my entire house because the Rugrats love playing with these magnets.

All of our dairy cows have a magnet in one of their four stomachs.  Cows are ruminants.  Most ruminants have four-chambered stomachs for digestion.  When a cow eats her food and swallows, the food first goes into the large rumen where the food is softened.  The rumen can hold up to 25-75 gallons.

Dominic places a magnet down the cow's throat with a bolus gun (used for pills) and the magnet eventually ends up in the stomach called the reticulum (the hardware stomach).  If a cow happens to swallow a piece of metal such as a nail, a small piece of wire, a staple, etc. while eating, it ends up in the reticulum stomach.  Over time the piece of metal can lodge into the honeycombed lining of the reticulum and will threaten the surrounding vital organs causing irritation and inflammation, known as Hardware Disease. It can also work it's way to the heart, killing the cow.  By having a magnet in place in the reticulum, any metal the cow happens to swallow stays in the reticulum attracted to the magnet.





Magnets await insertion........


Dominic inserting a magnet into a heifer using a bolus gun.......







If you would like to WIN a set (2) of the magnets (kids LOVE them!), you must:
  1. Become a Follower of this blog (if you haven't already) - on the column on the right, sign up under 'followers'
  2. Leave a comment under this post telling me how you like to experiment with magnets.
I will randomly select a winner using random.com on Monday morning.  I will post the results on Monday as well!

Happy Wednesday! Pin It