Meet De My name is Dean Hibbs, and I’m the dairy sales representative for the Yakima Valley and Columbia Basin region. As a part of the J.R. Simplot Company, Western Stockmen’s is diversified. We can make a calf from an embryo, raise her, feed her for her whole life, and then use the entire animal at CS Beef Packers to further benefit our customers. It’s pretty amazing. Simplot is good to their people and has a good reputation for building solid business relationships, so when I had the chance to sign on two years ago, I took it. Originally, I’m from Reno, Nevada. I currently live in Richland, Washington, and when I’m not working to help raise healthy animals,
Doc Talks: Caring for Calves
Summer pneumonia is a respiratory problem seen in calves while they are still nursing. By the time herds are out on pasture, the new calves are old enough to have lost the protection of antibodies from their mothers. This is when they are vulnerable to the severe infections that cause pneumonia. Both viruses and bacteria can cause summer pneumonia in calves and stunt their growth. This can be a major problem because treatments for each contributing factor do not overlap. Antibiotics are only effective against bacteria, and the intranasal vaccines that fight viral infection might not give a long-lasting effect. Coccidiosis, mineral deficiency, poor quality feed, and weather stress all act as contributing factors. To make matters worse, the cattle in the northwest region of the U.S. run in large areas, making it difficult to observe all calves on a daily basis. Calves are often sick for several days before they are treated. So what is the plan for when calves are already infected? For a conventional program, I recommend using long-lasting antibiotics in tangent with vaccinating with Inforce 3. Banamine (flunixin meglumine) is also important, as it helps reduce fever and inflammation associated with summer pneumonia. Zactran (gamithromycin), Zuprevo (tildipirosin), Draxxin (tulathromycin), Nuflor (florfenicol), and Liquamycin LA 200 (terramycin) are good examples of long-lasting antibiotics. If your calves are facing severe infections, consider using an antibiotic that works very rapidly, such as Baytril 100 (enrofloxacin). If incidence of disease reaches 10–15 percent, it would be more efficient to mass-treat all calves as a preventative measure. Health issues like these put natural beef producers in a precarious position, with treatment options being very limited. For a natural program, it would be best to vaccinate calves with Inforce 3 and supplement them with vitamins A and D to boost their immune systems. If the incidence of disease is high, treat all calves with this program as soon as possible. In some cases, calves have to be treated with antibiotics and marked to go into a conventional program. -Dick Fredrickson, DVM
Get the Inside Scoop With Sim Last year, we wanted to evaluate how we connect with our customers. Our Facebook page had been steadily growing and remains a method for us to reach out to the public, but we felt that we lacked a way to directly message our customers. Most of the folks who shop at our store are not social media users and would not be affected if we spread our reach to other websites like Twitter or Instagram. Using traditional mail could be costly since we planned to contact customers on at least a monthly basis. Email is utilized by many of our customers, and email messages received on cellphones behave like text messages. Most importantly, email is more direct than social media and more agile than traditional mail. With these aspects in mind, we set up an email list. Physical and online sign-up forms were made, and our stores took on the challenge of collecting completed forms. For extra incentive, we added a $5 voucher for any new subscriber to use on their next purchase. Hundreds have signed up, and we hope to continue pushing for more as we head into county fair season! The 4H and FFA members who purchase our feed and compete at the fairs have more communication options and can now hear back from us sooner. WHY NOT TRY EMAIL?
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