Heifer is the term for young female bovines… though generally, those about to have their first calves. The girls we worked with today are just itty bitty heifers, about ten months old. They received their bangs vaccination today. I’ve gone into that in more detail other times, just type in bangs in my search bar, and it will pull up many posts on it.
These heifers are a year away from their first calf, and bangs vaccination helps deter the brucellosis bacteria. Brucellosis can cause a cow to abort her calf, which is bad news for cattle ranchers. Brucellosis can also be found in elk, sheep, pigs, dogs, goats, and buffalo (bison). No one wants to mess with it. The bacteria is zoonotic as well, meaning humans can catch it.
The Good Doctor is bent over, tattooing this heifer’s ear, while the boys run the chute, the special eartags, and wormer, and Johnny keeps track of numbers on his clipboard.
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Thanks for all your questions! I’ll get to them soon!
Three generations of hard working men in this photo!! You are a blessed family to have such a generational ranch! It is nice to see Johnny still involved!!!
Who knew how much work goes into raising cattle. You can’t just let nature take its course.
Can the heifers get bangs from eating grass in fields where elk have grazed? In other words, how is it transmitted?
the next generation of ranch cows in the making!