Sunrise Veterinary Services Cattle Producer Newsletters

SUNRISE VETerinary SERVICES 2017
CATTLE Producer NEWSLETTERS

CURRENT INFORMATION THAT YOU CAN USE
TO MAKE INFORMED DECISIONS
REGARDING YOUR HERD'S HEALTH AND WELL-BEING.

Sunrise Vet Services Dec. 2017 Producer Newsletter

HO HO HO, whoa whoa whoa; Oh my gosh!.It’s almost the end of the year! Where did 2017 go to? Yes, I was gone for ⅓ of it on vacations and taking naps, but come on, the year’s almost gone? I might be willing to make my new year’s resolution right now. Less vacations and more naps! Yep! It works for me and those resolutions never last that long anyway.

   What does the end of the year mean for me? In addition to me hopefully getting tons of presents, (Yes Santa, I have been good.) I start thinking about what I’ve done and where I’m going. Have you thought of these questions? Do you have a plan or idea of where you want to be at the end of 2018? What are your goals for 2018? We would like to know this too. Why? Well, we’re here to help people achieve their goals. Do you want to reduce your services per conception, increase milk production, wean more pounds of beef, or consider selling quality replacement cattle? We want to help you with these and any other goals you may have. Please bring them up with us the next time we’re out, and we’ll try to help you achieve any goals you have.

   With goals/plans for 2018, should you be talking about farm transitions? Having seen some smooth ones and some really bad ones, you can never start planning too soon. Communication is key in transitions, as all parties should have it clearly explained and spelled out as what is expected from everyone involved. Failure to plan will result in upset feelings, frustration, arguments, and pissed off people. If you see a farm transition in your future, please start planning now, as it makes it a lot easier and less stressful on everyone down the road.

   Rebates: Don’t forget that we’ll do them for you. Lisa asks that if you purchased products that qualify for rebates from somewhere else, please get her a copy of your receipt. This way she can mail it in for you. If you have any questions, feel free to call the clinic and talk with Lisa.

   Even though it may not feel like it, winter is here! OK, it really doesn’t feel like it, and doesn’t look like it, but we are in the winter season. No big deal right? Just continue on as normal? Well, let’s rethink that a little bit. Calf Jackets: Get them clean and put them on. Extra Bedding: Yep. Keep them dry. Minimize Drafts, but don’t seal up the building so tight that you start to have pneumonia problems. Get ready for Extra Feedings when the temperature does start diving towards the bottom of the gauge, or use Higher Fat/ Protein Levels of Milk Replacer. If you have Electric Water Heaters, make sure they are in working order as the weatherperson is on the naughty list right now with cold weather forecasted. Keeping your animals clean & dry with a minimum of drafts, in combination with a good vaccination program should help your cattle grow in the toughest of conditions.

   Did you know that with a 10° decline below 30°s that it takes a cow 13% more energy to maintain body condition? How about that a 20 MPH wind is equal to an additional 30°s of cold? Did you know that with colder weather digestive efficiency goes down as the feedstuffs need to travel faster through the digestive system? Don’t limit the water as that will limit feed intake. Take care of those teats in cold weather with teat dip with extra emollients. Damn! Why do we live here again?

   In the agricultural industry, we continue to move forward in these challenging times. In discussions with many of you, we understand that the bottom line is quite tight. Do we have ideas on how to help your situations? Well, each of your farms are unique and we may have ideas on how to help, so feel free to ask us to use another set of eyes on your operation and see if you have more options.

We are planning our winter producer meetings and will have more information in the next newsletter. I am expecting one in January and one in February. One meeting will be on calf scours/ Salmonella dublin/ respiratory disease/pneumonia.   The others we are still working on.

New Product: First Defense with Tri Shield. Some of you have used First Defense boluses in the past, and it does provide protection against E coli. and Coronavirus scours. However if we have found or suspect Rotavirus infection, then we highly recommend using Calf Guard Vaccine which must be given at birth before any other vaccines or colostrum. With this new USDA licensed product you can now vaccinate with one product for E coli., Rotavirus, and Coronavirus all in one easy step. It comes in a single dose oral syringe paste and it will need to shipped and stored at refrigerated temperatures. The bright blue color will come through in the manure which allows easy monitoring on employee compliance. Another good point is that this product is made with Bovine origin antibodies, which will not be deactivated by the colostrum you give from the dam.

From everyone at Sunrise Vet, we all wish you and your family a very safe and merry holiday season!!!!

Sunrise Vet Services Nov. 2017 Newsletter

Ahhh... snow and rain from the same cloud. Can life get any better? ... Wet corn still standing in the fields, soybeans swelling up like grapes, mud everywhere, no corn fodder made, cattle coughing. Damn! It’s like someone wants Sunrise Vet to take all of your money! Well, who am I to try and fight the system?

But in all seriousness, during these tough times, how can you make more money from your farm? Let’s look at a few ideas.

Older milk cattle make more milk. With that being said, you should always be reviewing how and why you are culling cattle. Not every cow should be kept at any cost. The problem cow that is producing at above average milk production should still be put on the DNB (Do Not Breed) list and then wait and sell her once her production falls below average.

Should you add more cows? Well, everyone else is, why not? Okay, not the best answer, but for some of you, it may be a viable answer. However, this can be a double edged sword, as it may lead to increased overcrowding. More overcrowding brings in a whole host of other problems, most importantly of which are, the pre-fresh and post fresh time for your cows. If you can increase the bunk space for these two groups and minimize overcrowding, you will be rewarded many times over with better reproduction and milk production.

How is communication with the rest of your team? Do your employees know what the goals of your farm are? It might be time to sit down with them prior to the winter to help them understand what your farm’s target is and how you want to accomplish it so that together you can all hit the bullseye dead center.

Another way to improve the profitability on your farm is by increasing feed quality. Granted, the time to make quality forages have left us for this year, but this is a reminder for next year. The higher the quality of feed you make/feed, the less you have to buy in supplements and the better the health that your herd will enjoy.

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT DOING THIS TIME OF YEAR:

Now is a great time to get hay equipment ready for next year.
Stall comfort; Have you laid in your cow’s stall lately? Is the sand filled to the proper level?
Do you need to fix any stalls before winter hits us like a ton of bricks?
Do you have the sprinklers drained?
What about exhaust fans covered?
It’s time for calf jackets to be put on. Keep those calves warm and dry and you won’t have to be seeing us any time soon.

Use your calf pens, but remember to wash/disinfect your calf pens between pulling out one calf and putting a new calf in. Calves in pens are less likely to get sick, so they’ll grow faster and they grow bigger.

UPCOMING PRODUCER MEETINGS IDEAS: What do you want to learn about? Here's some of the topics we’ve come up with:
Calf wellness, cleanliness, and health issues
Dairy cattle diseases: ketosis, pnuemonia, milk fever, & mastiis
Doing routine fresh cow checks
Methods of increasing immune response with mineral injections
Improving fertility
Milk quality & mastitis with an udder wet lab
Heat abatement
Ventilation/stocking densities & effects on respiratory system, esp. calves.
Let us know and we can try and tailor topics to those who are most interested.

*NOTE: The Eprinex applicators have had some issues this year with their plastic tube cracking and breaking and so they have sent us “improved” replacements. If you purchased Eprinex from us and had trouble with your applicator, please come in and get a free replacement applicator.
*Also, if you haven’t purchased your Eprinex yet, please come and get it from us. The price is now controlled and so it’s the same everywhere, but we can give you a free applicator and also, if you buy two of the 5 Liter bottles, we can get you a free “Yeti” like cup! Buy Local!

Sunrise Vet Services Oct. 2017 Newsletter

   Can you smell it in the air? Fall has arrived and we may not be feeling it, but colder weather is coming. Since September started, we’ve been seeing an increase in the number of sick animals... Lots of calves with scours, cattle with pneumonia, etc. We think it’s likely due to the weather being so weird with lows in the forties and highs above 90 degrees. However, it does give us a chance to discuss prevention and treatment of certain cattle issues.

Calf Scours: It can be caused by different kinds of infectious agents. Examples are; viruses (Rota and Corona), bacterial (E. coli, Salmonella, Clostridial, etc) and parasites (Cryptosporidium and Coccidiosis). All of these infections come from other infected animals excreting the pathogen into the environment and the calf picking them up orally .

Viral Infections can not be treated with antibiotics as antibiotics do not have any effect against viruses. Prevention is done by vaccinating cows prior to calving (ideally 3 and 2 months prior to calving with products such as Guardian, ScourGuard 4KC, etc). Calves can be vaccinated with Calf Guard at birth; however, it must be given 30 minutes prior to feeding colostrum. Treatment is supportive with fluids (electrolytes),and we may recommend antibiotics depending on the animal/animals infected.

Bacterial Infections can be very fast acting and difficult to treat. Vaccinations can be somewhat effective depending on what bug. Combo vaccines will have E coli. in them and they are effective if it’s given properly to the dams prior to freshening. Salmonella is really wicked and much harder to prevent. That being said, SRP vaccine has been working quite well for us. Treatment is supportive care (electrolytes) and antibiotics. Please ask us as to which to use at what rate.

Crypto/Coccidiosis Infections may be a little bit easier to treat, but still can be really tough on the animals. For Crypto, we recommend prevention with daily use of Calf Pro in the milk/milk replacer. For coccidiosis, whole group treatment is best as the entire group has been exposed so the entire group will need treatment. Corid or Deccox are the two best treatments for this infection.

   In our trucks, we are now carrying a new calf side test for common calf scours. It will tell us in ten minutes if your calves are infected with Rota, Corona viruses, E coli, or Crypto. Now, it doesn’t tell us every bug, but these are some of the big ones. Cost is $25 per test. If we
need to do a more detailed test, we will send in samples to the diagnostic lab. Results usually take about a week to get back.

With all of these diseases; prevention, early detection, and treatment leads to a much better outcome. If you’re having any problems, please give us a call and we will gladly work it up for you.

   Eprinex Pricing: Yep! We got the good stuff again! Get two 5 liter bottles and get a free gun. Do you have a large herd to do? We have a battery powered doser for you to use, no more cramped hands from squeezing the gun 285 times in a morning. $290.37 for 5 liters Eprinex is the best price you can get anywhere, period. If someone sells it cheaper, let me know. And don’t forget, when you buy from us, Lisa will send in your rebates for you so that you don’t have to worry about receipts or bar-codes!

Embryo Transfer: What is it, Who should you do it on, and Why? Embryo transfer is a process of giving a female bovine of breeding age or older a series of shots to have them produce a large amount of follicles. The animal is then breed several times and approx. one week later Dr. Natalie will come out to flush the embryos out of the uterus and either transfer them into recipients or freeze them in liquid nitrogen. You will want to use this procedure to collect embryos from your best animals in the herd and then play those superior embryos into your lesser cows, as you can make a large amount of high quality offspring from her quickly (one flush usually results in 0-10 viable embryos with 0 to 8 pregnancies). Breeding your best females to the very best males and utilizing embryo transfer will rapidly increase the quality and quantity of your best offspring for your herd. I will be doing this with my own herd of beef cows this coming spring. We will be flushing 2-3 animals with hope of creating 6-15 pregnancies.   Pricing: Please contact the office and talk with Dr. Natalie.

And finally, don’t forget to call us with your Fall Processings so we can get that on the schedule. We have lots of options for you. We can bring the portable chute, scale, tub, and extra help if you’d like. We’ve already been out getting started on those, so give us a call and reserve your spot soon!

Sunrise Vet Services September 2017 Newsletter

Ahhh! John is gone on a vacation and loving life. Us poor suckers are stuck having to work for John and clean up his messes while he’s relaxing. Damn this doesn’t seem fair, but such is the life of the employees of Sunrise Vet. However now that the boss is away, we might get some real work done! So let’s talk the real talk now!
What do we all do for you? It’s a good question to ask as we are always trying our best every day, but we’ve decided to make a little list for you:

Herd Health & Pregnancy Diagnosis via ultrasound.
Breeding Soundness Exams for breeding bulls. (This should be redone yearly!)
SVS provides FREE Client Education Meetings.
Sick cow Diagnosis and Treatment.
Surgical Procedures: LDA, RDA, C-Section, etc.
Regulatory Medicine for Interstate Transport.
SVS is a Valuable Resource for information on many topics such as...Buildings (new and remodeling projects), Air Ventilation, Drug Choices & reasons on what to use, Farm Transition Planning.
Catalog Services through Zumbro with GREAT prices (have you compared lately?) and an online version through MWI also.

This is just a short list of what we can do for you. Just imagine the possibilities if we can actually get John to work a little bit harder when he gets back!

Well, we are getting closer to fall, but we’re still seeing Pinkeye in cattle. I know we’ve talked about it quite a bit already; however, the lesson we need to harp on is regarding our SVS Autogenous Pinkeye Vaccine: For next year, remember: 2 doses work a lot better than just one…A LOT BETTER!

FALL PROCESSING
Eprinex is here! It’s $290.37 for a 5 Liter bottle, but with a $20 rebate we’ll send in for you, your final price will be $270.37. You shouldn’t be able to find a better price anywhere! (No 2% discount on Eprinex purchases.)
Eprinex price guarantee. If you can buy Eprinex cheaper than we’re selling it for, we’ll double the difference in price on two conditions. 1) You provide SVS with a copy of a paid receipt from the company you bought it from and 2) The receipt the company’s information on it.
Eprinex Power doser. We now have our own power doser for you to use for those large groups of cattle you need to deworm. Please give us a call to reserve it. Talk with Jill.
Scheduling Fall Processing. Please call the office to set up a time for processing your beef & dairy cattle. The ladies up front do a great job of organizing our days (Okay, John’s day is easy: nap, lunch, nap), but for setting up chutes and the tub going when and where, they excel at it. Remember...One chute has a scale to evaluate how your cattle did on pasture which gives you valuable data you can use at sale time.
Preg Check Beef Cows. Why? Beef farming is low input, so why spend the money? If you tell me you can feed that cow for free, I will drop off 1,200 head of cattle next week and have you feed them for the next 5 months! No one can feed a cow or calf for nothing, and if the cow is not pregnant, fire her!
(Some of you may have seen a different charge on your statements describing OB levels I, II, III; What does this mean? The charge is for the cost of the equipment used and the skill level needed to get the calf out. Level I is when minimal equipment and skill is needed. Level II is usually uterine torsions, twins, head snare used, etc. Level III is when we are dealing with a very bad situation such as the removal of a dead rotting calf with OB wire and not throwing up. (Super-Hero skill required.)
Cystorelin is on backorder. What should you use instead? At this time you have several choices: Factrel & Fertagyl are both GNRH products (2cc per head IM) that can be used instead of Cystorelin, but both need to be refrigerated to remain effective.
Polymast Mastitis Tubes: It was called Hetacin K, but they have renamed it Polymast. It is basically Polyflex in a mastitis tube and has been proven to be effective against both Gram negative and Gram positive bacteria. It’s labeled for one tube every 24 hours for a maximum of 3 days of treatment. If you have been looking for a different mastitis tube, this may be an idea to try. It does have a milk hold of 72 hours and a meat hold of 10 days.
Broken Bovikalc Replacement Policy: If you give us a broken Bovikalc, we will replace it with a brand new one, no questions asked. Never give a broken Bovikalc bolus. NEVER!

We have exciting news! We sent Dr. Natalie back to school and she has learned a new skill. Dr. Natalie got trained in embryo transplant & will now be able to provide that service for our clients!

Got to go and take advantage of this time before John returns! Have a good one!

Sunrise Vet Services August 2017 Newsletter

  Ahhh!!! My naked rain dance is working like a charm. Little did I know that I was sooo good! 5+ inches of rain in one night with more forecasted for later this week, damn I should try to control myself. Now for those of you who are a little bit tired of the rain, I am offering a new business for you to hire. “El Stoppo Raino”. Yep, guaranteed to stop rain as long as the business is on your farm. Wow, I will start and stop the rain and get paid for doing both, I almost feel like a politician!
FYI: August has arrived and some heat is coming our way. Remember that heat abatement is a 24 hour process, not just when you are out in the barn, so keep the fans on if it’s above 65 degrees.
  Who do you call when you need vet work? It better be us, but please call the office, rather than an individual doctor, as this is the best way to contact us. When you call the office, it helps with how we schedule our days. Also, there may be times when we will not be around our phones for 2-4 hours and if you call and want service or questions answered, we may have someone in the office to help you more quickly. Also, we may be able to service your cows even more quickly depending on where vets are going that day. So please call the office so I can get my power naps in, and we’ll be able to do an even better job helping you.
  We are continuing the farm special with reduced spay/neuter prices for August. Please call the office to set up appointments. All surgeries are done on Thursdays and we need to know ahead of time if you are bringing in animals. The ladies at the office will be able to answer all of your questions about this program.
  Pinkeye: Damn it’s getting bad out there! Now is the time to be using fly spray and fly control. For Dairy, use Cyclence or Ultraboss. For beef, use Standguard. I have talked with some people about VetGun which is like a paintball gun that shoots fly insecticide balls. For those who have used it, they are happy with the results. If you would like to get one, Farm and Fleet have them. Using dusters with powder is another option. Make sure you put it in a place where the cattle must pass by to ensure more cattle contact. One giant request from the vet clinic; If you have pinkeye in your cattle, please let us sample it at no charge to help improve our vaccine. Also, if you have used our vaccine, remember you need to booster the vaccine after the first dose. With only 1 dose, you will get “protection” for 30-60 days, but that will not be the whole season. For season long protection, you need to use 2 doses of vaccine.
Fly tags placed in cattle will be active for the next several months until the end of fly season. We suggest using Patriot fly tags this year. Remember the more fly pressure there is on your cattle, the less performance you’ll get out of them. Control the flies, maximize growth potential.

Fall Processing: What do you use, when and where to maximize your dollars invested into your cattle. You're making the best cattle you can to sell or retain as replacements.

Calves to be Sold at Market
Vaccine           used for        dose           repeat in 4 weeks
Bovishield OneShot       Respiratory       2cc SC in neck       Yes
Or
Vista Once           Respiratory       2cc SC in neck       Yes
Inforce 3           Respiratory       2cc in one nostril       No
BarVac CD/T        Tetanus       5cc SC in neck       Yes
Eprinex           Dewormer       5cc/110 lbs           No
Alpha 7            Clostridial       2cc SC in neck       no
Multimin           Mineral        1cc/100 lbs SC in neck   no
Band bulls calves       castration       done at second time thru the chute with second dose of BarVac CD/T
If heifers are big enough to have been breed buy bulls:
Lutalyse HC or Synchsure Abortion       2cc IM in neck       +/- talk with vet

Retained Calves (Bulls and Heifers)
Vaccine           used for        dose           repeat in 4 weeks
Bovishield Gold 5L5       Respiratory       2cc SC in neck       Yes
Inforce 3           Respiratory       2cc in one nostril       No
Alpha 7            Clostridial       2cc SC in neck       No
Eprinex           Dewormer       5cc/110 lbs           No
Multimin           Mineral        1cc/100 lbs SC in neck   No
If heifers are big enough to have been breed buy bulls:
Lutalyse HC or Synchsure Abortion       2cc IM in neck       +/- talk with vet
Ear tags put in ear       Identification

Cows and Breeding Bulls
Vaccine           used for        dose           repeat in 4 weeks
Triangle 10            Respiratory       5cc IM in neck       No**
(if first year vaccinating with product, booster in 6 months, if repeat vaccine, good for 1 year)
Alpha 7            Clostridial       2cc SC in neck       No
Eprinex           Dewormer       5cc/110 lbs           No
Multimin           Mineral        1cc/200 lbs SC in neck   No
Ear tags in ear       Identification

When you are ready to set up your processing for your cattle, please give us a call. Two portable cattle chutes and a portable tub are ready for cattle!

Sunrise Vet Services July 2017 Newsletter

Well, I have truly outdone myself this time! Someone had complained about 4-6 weeks ago about the ground getting dry and dusty and had requested that I do something about it, and boy did I ever. I did the naked rain dance in the back yard and look at the results! Rain every day or at most 48 hours between showers. Man, I provide results when asked… Just don’t tell my wife about that as my honey-do-list is still not completed! 😁
With this amazing weather, I do realize what a challenge it is trying to make quality feed. We’ll be paying for this weather for the next 12 months, but try and keep your spirits up.
With the summer heat upon us, please remember that all the animals need heat abatement just like we do. Fans running smoothly with belts tight. Sprinklers turned on with good clean water running through them. Keep an eye out for spoilage on the feed bunker faces with summer heat scorching away at bunkers and silo bags.
Pinkeye. Yep. We are stitching eyes and treating animals of all sizes and ages. Let’s go through the important points of Pinkeye Control:

Autogenous Vaccine from Sunrise Vet made with pinkeye samples found from cases on or around your farms… MUCH more effective than standard pinkeye vaccines!
Topical Fly Sprays: Dairy: Use Ultraboss or Cylence. Beef: Use Standguard.
Fly Ear Tags: Use Patriot brand this year.
Manure Management: Don’t allow manure to pile up and make breeding areas for flies.
Fly control with mineral containing Altosaid IGR to prevent flies completing their life cycle.
If Pinkeye is found: Use Draxxin per label or Excede for dairy cows.
Let us get samples of your animals Pinkeye to further improve our vaccine. The more samples we take and get to grow, the better our Pinkeye Vaccine becomes. Let’s continue to make it better and better!

We hope everyone has had a chance to meet Dr. Jim, but if you haven’t, don’t worry. He’s still out fixing sick cows right & left. Just for your information, Dr. Jim’s been working his way up the dead cow list here at the office, so feel free to pick on him when he shows up at your farm.
It’s Fair time! The Sauk County Fair will be going July 10-16th at the fairgrounds in Baraboo. They will have animals of all different kinds, great foods, and lots of shows. I’m hoping my personal favorite will be there again… Deep Fried Oreos. Heaven help the person who gets in my way. Those things are delicious. Come on down to the fair and please take the time to stop and talk with the kids about their projects and animals. The kids have been working really hard on their projects and they are proud to show them off and explain them. Heck, you may even see some lazy vet lying around.
Here is information on a reduced spay/neuter program Sunrise Vet Services is offering our farm clients. We are offering it in July, August and September. If you have cats and dogs that need some fixing, please read through the details and bring in those critters. Remember; These amazing prices are only being offered to our great farm clients.

REDUCED COST SPAY/NEUTERS THIS SUMMER
As a thank you to our farm clients, Sunrise Vet would like to offer low cost spay/neuters for cats and dogs on Thursdays in July, August, & September 2017! We will not be advertising this service to the public. It will only be available to you - our dedicated clients.
Because we will continue regular business at our small animal hospital during this time, there will be a few stipulations. We need to assure that all of our clientele, staff, and patients stay safe and healthy.

All dogs must be on a leash and all cats must be in a carrier. Live traps are acceptable. (We have $5 carriers available too.)
Any fleas or internal parasites noted at the time of the procedure will be treated at a cost to the owner. (approximately $17)
To keep costs low, no pain medications will be included in the price of surgery. Owner may elect to have their pet receive pain medications at an additional cost.
Proof of Rabies vaccine needs to be provided. If no Rabies vaccination can be verified, the pet will receive a Rabies vaccine on the day of surgery. We will also be reducing the cost of this vaccine, as part of the promotion. If you have one of our large animal veterinarians on the farm prior to surgery, they can vaccinate your dog for Rabies!
If you choose, a distemper vaccine can also be administered to your pet on the day of surgery. If this is their first vaccination, a 2nd booster vaccine should be given 3-4 weeks later. The booster vaccine can be dispensed to you, for administration at home.

**If you bring in 3 or more pets, you will receive an additional 10% discount off your entire bill. **
Prices for cats:
Female spay- $45.00
Male neuter- $30.00
Prices for dogs:
Small female spay (less than 25 lbs): $100.00
Medium female spay (26-50 lbs): $110.00
Large female spay (51-90 lbs): $150.00
Extra large female spay (over 90 lbs): $180.00
Small male neuter (less than 25 lbs): $70.00
Medium male neuter (26-5 0lbs): $80.00
Large male neuter (51-90 lbs): $90
Extra large male neuter (over 90 lbs): $100
Prices for Vaccines:
Rabies $5.00 Cat Distemper $10.00 Dog Distemper $10.00

Sunrise Vet Services June 2017 Newsletter

HAPPY DAIRY MONTH!!!  Yep! We live in the best damn dairy state in the world & this is the month to let your derriere (dairy air) shine! As always, we enjoy working with the best and hardest working people anywhere!  FYI: Dr. Darren’s going on vacation the 1st week of June & he’s predicting it will rain that week. Thus far, he’s way better than any weatherman with predicting rain when he’s on vacation. Plan ahead. Rain is coming & IT’S ALL DARREN’S FAULT!

   Even though it may not feel like it, the summer heat is rapidly approaching. It’s time to think about heat abatement.  Fans… Have you checked the blades and belts this spring? Any bird nests that need to be removed? Get new belts so they run more efficiently. Sprinklers... Units installed and ready to spray? Filters cleaned out so the nozzles are not getting plugged? Anytime the temperature gets above 60 degrees, cows will have heat stress. They are expecting 80+ degrees this weekend. Please get the fans and sprinklers going ASAP.

Pinkeye: Damn! We are seeing it already. What should / can we do?  Well, let’s talk fly control.

Fly pour on: Dairy Cattle ⇒ Cyclence or Ultraboss

Beef & Dairy Youngstock ⇒ StandGuard

Fly tags: We are using Patriot this year.
Clean up areas where flies can lay eggs ⇒ No manure piles.
Pinkeye Vaccine ⇒ Sunrise Autogenous
Treat any infected animals to help improve recovery & minimize spread to other animals.

How many times have we suggested to you that you should ship that cow? Are we recommending this just because we don’t like her? (Maybe she did hit me with her switch while you weren’t looking?) Well, let’s talk about unprofitable cows and young-stock. Every farm has a break-even point on milk production for their cows, and it’s not the same for all farms.When a cow falls below that point, what is the reason for keeping her? She is losing you money every day. No one can feed a cow for free, and an unprofitable cow is taking up a very valuable space at the bunk and in a stall. Simply put, she is losing you money. Cull cow prices have climbed a little bit, so why keep her? Young-stock: Do you need all of those cattle at your farm? Do you have 1 or 2 heifers that are a group or two behind in their growth? Guess what? They will never catch up to their herd-mates and they will continue to be poor cattle for the rest of their lives. It is time to be realistic and make the hard decisions.

Sunrise Vet Service and Zoetis are having a meeting on June 7th at 6 PM located at the VFW Hall on the East side of Reedsburg. We will be covering several topics: Cattle vaccines and Cattle implants (grass and feedlot): What to use and when to use it, and Genomic testing. A fun and informative meeting for everyone… and maybe a give-away??? In addition, this meeting has been approved for one Meat Animal Point by the Sauk County Fair committee. Bring the whole family for learning and listening to Dr. John!!!

Stop on in for some chocolate milk! Ask for it at the front desk... In honor of June Dairy Month!

Sunrise Vet Services May 2017 Newsletter

  Ahhh, the sun has started to shine and I am thinking about how wonderful it will be to finally get some good sunbathing in. Yep, my backside definitely needs some Vit. D treatments to start looking better! Now that my knee has gotten fixed up, I’ll be able to lay out in the sun for physical therapy every afternoon at the clinic. Honk if you're going by! By the way... Someone at the clinic may have suggested that OSHA has been following me around to make sure your barns are handicap accessible. Feel free to have a wheelchair available for me to use when at your farm.

Now for some BIG news! We are very excited to have Dr. Jim Vandenlangenberg join Sunrise Vet on May 1st. Dr. Jim was the owner of Kilbourn Country Vet Service located in the Wisc. Dells. Dr. Jim contacted us about 2 months ago as he was looking for a professional change. In our discussions, we came to an agreement that he’ll now be coming to work with us. Dr. Jim has 20+ years experience as a cattle vet and seen almost everything to do with cattle. Dr. Jim has one rule that everyone needs to know about. Dr. Jim will not pregnancy check cows or heifers due to an injury he has sustained. If you have animals to pregnancy check, please let the office know, but do not ask Dr. Jim to do it. Dr. Jim will be doing cattle processing work, sick cow work, and other jobs, but no herd health work.

IT’S LONG RANGE TIME: Yep, time to give those parasites their packing papers to get out of Dodge. If you are looking to improve your rate of gain on Dairy (under 20 months of age) or any Beef cattle on pasture, LongRange is your answer. And it stays on the job for up to 150 days of parasite control. They have a guarantee on their product that your cattle will perform better with LongRange than without. Last year they had a study of 20,000 cattle throughout the US that showed the positive impacts of using LongRange. Not very often will you hear this, but it really pays to use this product. Dr. Darren and I both use it and have seen the extremely positive results on our own cattle. Dosage is 1 cc /110 lbs SQ in the neck with no more than 10cc per injection site. Give us a call for all your LongRange needs.

For spring processing of cattle, please give the office a call to set up a time. If you need the tub and chute, please let us know. Call early to get the best times available.

  For 2017 we are using the Fly Tag Patriot from Bayer. Every year we change the fly tag brand and chemical class to help reduce resistance in flies. In addition, we would like farmers to think about fly sprays / pour on products.
This year we are using StandGuard pour-on for all beef and youngstock fly control needs. Dosage is 10cc if less than 600lbs, 15cc if greater than 600lbs. We have been told the guns are really nice and able to shoot well for up to 20-30 feet. It is not labeled and cannot be used on dairy cattle. For those, we will need to use Cylence or UltraBoss Pour-On to help control flies.

  When should you use fly tags and fly pour ons? They can be effective for up to 5 months, but in reality, they last closer to 3 months. We recommend you put in the fly tags as close to the fly season as possible which is usually late June / early July. I do realize that time frame may not work for every farmer, so use them accordingly. With pour on products, I would not use them until the fly pressure is causing issues in your cattle. The treatment threshold is 100 horn flies per animal. So in other words, if you only have 2-10 flies on your cattle, you should not treat them yet because the fly levels are not enough of a nuisance to cause a reduction in production.

  Pinkeye; that dreaded eye disease. What can we do to help prevent it?

Fly Control- Use Patriot fly tags and StandGuard Pour-On
Pasture management: Mow as needed so that the grass isn’t an irritant.
Pinkeye Vaccine- Sunrise Vet Service Autogenous from Newport Labs.
Proper Nutrition- Use quality minerals.

If you have any cattle with Pinkeye, please give us a call as we want to sample that eye to improve our vaccine for you. There is no cost to you for us to take and submit the Pinkeye samples. To treat Pinkeye, our prefered drug treatment is Draxxin in beef and dairy youngstock (<20 months of age) or Excede in dairy cattle.

Remember...Have that wheel chair waiting!!!

Sunrise Vet Services April 2017 Newsletter

  Well, guess who survived his vacation and is now ready to get back in the saddle again? Lots to tell you this month, but I have some big news! A few months back, I told you about us getting close to a Draxxin purchasing goal. Great news… We more than exceeded our goal! In fact, we purchased more Draxxin than 99% of clinics in WI. Now that we are super sellers of Draxxin, I have even more news; One person from the clinic will be getting a fully paid vacation to Antarctica this coming summer. Of course I will be the lucky person going and I’ll be assisting Zoetis with some ongoing research on Emperor penguins. Now it may be a bit of a rough trip as it will be winter there, but that’s why we are sending the very best and toughest!
Exciting news; Lutalyse HC has lowered their price and it’s now extremely competitively priced compared to Synchsure. Both products cost about the same at the clinic, but they may be slightly different with our catalogs. They both work extremely well, both are 2cc dosages, but Lutalyse HC is labeled for SQ administration. Which should you use? It’s really your choice, but they are both very good products to help with your reproduction program.
This coming Tuesday, April 11th will be our Injection Wet Lab to be held at the Knights of Columbus building just up the street from us. We’ll be having a meeting at noon and one at 6 PM. This is another one you won’t want to miss. Please RSVP with Jill at the office right away! 768-2697. I would like to thank Zoetis for co-sponsoring the events with us. I look forward to seeing as many of you on that day as possible so that we can help show you what different vaccines and drugs look like when given in the body.
Drs. Marla, Natalie, and Darren will be attending a meeting this April, and we got some pre-conference information. New data may be showing that Inforce at freshening increases milk production. Now, until we have the actual data in front of us, this is all we know, but if this holds true, giving a Bovikalc and Inforce injection when a cow freshens may be the best thing ever! More information to come.
LONG RANGE TIME: If you want to use Long Range, please tell us how much you will anticipate using as we are going to order it very soon. We will have a little extra, but let us know now.
How many of you are using Multimin 90? What does this product do/ provide? Well, we are in a selenium deficient area, and our cattle need this element for many body functions including helping with cows cleaning and prevention of White Muscle Disease. All cows are getting selenium if they are receiving mineral supplementation. However, we strongly recommend you give all cattle due to calve (dairy and beef) 5-8 cc SQ of Multimin 90 2-4 weeks prior to the expected calving date. In addition to the above mentioned problems, it has a very positive effect on a cow’s immune system and function. Another option is to treat your calves at birth with 1cc per 100lbs. This is a great replacement for BOSE/MUSE.
  Why should you test a bull before putting him out to do his job? Well, he has only one job; To get your cattle pregnant! If he’s not up to the job, you need to fire him and get a different one ASAP. What's involved when we do a BSE (breeding soundness exam)? We will need to restrain the bull (cattle chute or some other very strong stanchin). The testicles will need to be palpated to see if they are of the correct size, location, and consistency. If the bull has an abnormal testicle, he will fail the BSE. We will then use the rectal probe to get the bull to ejaculate so that we can evaluate his semen. He should have a good amount of ejaculate, with sperm that are mobile and without any visible defects. No one is good enough to look at the outside of a bull and tell you if he can get cows pregnant. The only way to know for sure is to test the bull. Don’t bet the farm on whether or not the bull can get those females pregnant. Let’s test him and know for sure!
  Implant News: Synovex One implant is made for 700 lb dairy and beef steers.
Implant       Estrodial       Testostérone   duration
Synovex One   28           200           200 days
Compudose       26           0           200 days
Encore       44           0           400 days
Based on this data and performance sheets, if you have 700 lbs steers in a feedlot, this may be a very good choice. If you have any questions, please give us a call. We will be talking about this implant at our injection meeting.

P.S. Back to my Antarctica trip. If any of you are wondering what it will be like to do a Polar Plunge at the South Pole in a Speedo in the Antarctic wintertime, I have great news. I guess I will be the one and only brave person to ever attempt this. I am not quite sure how long I can have my exposed skin to -65 degree weather, but that is why I have the occasional donut! I hope to videotape it for You Tube, but the camera may not even work at that insane temperature. Happy late April Fools!

P.S.S. Dr. John will be having a minor knee surgical procedure done on April 17th. He will be out of the office for a couple days and will not be doing any large animal work at your farms that week. Dr. Natalie and Dr. Marla will be filling in for him during this time.

Sunrise Vet Service Newsletter March, 2017

Mud and snow, snow and mud, well what a great combo! Being a somewhat successful business person, I am always looking for the next big thing to make a buck. I missed out on the internet bubble, and I just got on board with the whole smart phone thing, but I think I have found my best way to make my millions. Mud storage at my place is now available! One little known fact is that red tractors can pile mud better than any other tractor out there! For a small nominal fee: the following is the equation I will use to calculate your fee (X times Pi to the 27th power with a coefficient of -24 with the area under the curve of infinity times half the density of a medium sized black hole times an hourly fee that doubles every 47 minutes with X being the weight of the mud in ounces at delivery.) I can store a large amount of your mud at my place. You will be responsible for delivery and pick up. I would suggest talking to your banker first before dropping off any mud. Any mud not picked up on time will be returned in an ungraceful manner.

   In discussion with area farmers, immigration has come up several times lately. I do not have any real answers for you, and I have started to look into the special work visas, but right now I would suggest looking at different newspapers and magazines for how to maintain your workforce.

   By the time you receive this newsletter, we will have had our Pinkeye meeting. Hopefully all of you were able to brave the wintery weather to attend. For those of you who did not make it, here is a brief summary of the meeting...
Pinkeye can be caused by 3 different bacteria: M. bovis, M. bovoculi, and Mycoplasma. Most commercial vaccines will only have M. bovis in it. Also, the government mandated which strain they used in the vaccine and those strains are from approx. 30 years ago. Pinkeye is an evolving disease that has variability every year. Autogenous vaccines are made from locally sourced samples and are DNA sequenced to fully evaluate their effectiveness. Pinkeye costs you $200 for each animal that has it with reduced weight gains, extra feed costs, and reduced sale prices. So what should you do about pinkeye? Well, we have our own Autogneous Pinkeye vaccine currently being made from samples from area farms. It is a 2 dose vaccine SQ injection of 2cc and it provides a better protection against pinkeye than the commercial vaccines. It is, however, not 100%, as no vaccine is. Pinkeye control comes with management, fly control and vaccine use.

   Improving Your Margins: 3 simple steps. 1. Increase returns 2. Cut waste 3. Re-evaluate your business. OK, I will admit that I got this from Dairy Herd Management magazine, but let’s look at each one closer. Increase returns: More cattle through the parlor, put a few more cows on a pasture and feed up extra hay from last year, get rid of unused or rarely used equipment and invest it back into your operation. Cut waste: First, if your heifers are older than 24 months old, you are paying $50-100/month to feed her with no extra money return on that investment. Secondly, feed loss from poor storage or feeding systems. I am guilty of that, with not pitching out the feeder wagons every night and trying to make them clean up the crappy stuff. Business plan: Sometimes thinking outside the box is a good idea. Breeding heifers to beef to improve calf prices and heifer calving ease, hiring some custom work to let you concentrate on more important things, etc. These are just some ideas to think about.

   What does it cost you if your cow has ketosis? New research is saying it’s approaching $300 per case. Milk production loss is $240-420 per cow and a substantial increase in DA, lower breeding rates and increased culling rates associated with ketosis. What it boils down to is prevention of ketosis, early detection, and corrective measures will pay for themselves quickly.

   Beef calves hopefully are not being born with the wintery weather right now, but what should you be doing for those who will be calving soon? Vaccinating the cows with a killed respiratory/lepto vaccine (Triangle 10) and a scours control vaccine ( Endovac Beef, Scourguard 4KC, ScourBos9, Guardian) at 6 and 7 months bred will greatly improve the dams colostrum quality. If you are unable to vaccinate the cows, then vaccinated the calves is the second best option. Calves should be given Calf Guard as soon as born and prior to nursing. They should also receive a product like First Defense Bolus or Gel, or Epic Calf Paste. For dairy calves, you should be following a similar protocol. If you have any questions, please give us a call.

   Foot Baths: We had a local dairy who had expressed concerns about continued use of copper sulfate in his foot bath. They had ordered a zinc foot bath product called Trouw Nutrition Zinc Sulfate and started using it. Their hoof trimmer gave it a very good evaluation, saying the number of heel warts were greatly reduced and the few remaining were dying quickly.   In looking at alternatives to Copper Sulfate, Zinc has been increasing in appeal as copper sulfate may be increasing copper in our soils. If you are interested in the Zinc Sulfate foot bath product, please give the office a call and talk with Lisa about a drop ship order from our distributor, MWI.

   For everyones information, we now have our online store in place. Why would we have Zumbro and an online catalog? Well for the younger farmers, online is the way to go. In addition, we have priced the online catalog extremely competitively with Zumbro, beating them most of the time on products. So with our online catalog, you can spend even less of of your hard earned money. Please call the office and ask for Jill to get set up on the online catalog.

   On April 11th, we will be having an Injection Wetlab meeting at noon and 6PM at the KC Hall (just 2 buildings north of the clinic) for you to attend. What will you be able to see and learn at this meeting? Well, hopefully after you see what LA200 looks like when you inject it IM or SC you may never use it again. What about Banamine in the muscle, what does that do or how does the tissue react? Our plan is to inject the animals with 10-12 different drugs and vaccines 10 days prior to the meeting. A meal and knowledge from Dr. John will be given at the meeting. We will be in contact with everyone to give the details for RSVP. Before the meeting we will have the high school ag students from Reedsburg and Weston come help with the necropsy on the cattle for them to gain valuable agricultural experience.

Sunrise Vet Service Newsletter Feb., 2017

Well! Another year of the United Fund Radio Auction survived! Boy!!! Did the girls go overboard bidding on stuff!!! But no cream puffs or goodies for me. No, no, no. I was lucky if I got anything to eat at all after being out in the field at farms all day long. I just can’t figure out how I managed to gain 34 pounds that week. But anyway, next time I pull into your farm and I park a long distance from the barn, you’ll understand why. (Just trying to work a little bit harder now that I have to).

With the extremely wacky weather we have been having, (38 degrees and fog for 5 days straight, then below zero a week later and rain forecasted for a week from now), we have seen a lot (I mean a lot) of pneumonia. WE have no control over the weather, but we CAN control the conditions of where our cattle live and what they are eating. Clean and dry bedding is what cattle need. For those of you that have wet and muddy cattle, do you realize that it takes up to 60% more energy to maintain body temperature and weight when the cattle are wet and muddy.  I have to work with my own cattle every day, and I have been using a lot of bedding to keep them dry, but boy are they growing well. As far as the pneumonia, we are recommending using Draxxin as our go to drug of choice to treat it. Expensive; yes, but boy it works! Free trip to Antarctica for John if we sell 22 more bottles by April!
   VFD Update: What have we learned so far? Well, from our contact with the feed mills and places that sell the oral antibiotic crumbles, we’ve learned that no one has been sent to jail yet by the VFD police. With that being said, what products have we been writing VFD’s for and how do we see this going forward? VFD products 1st... We have written VFDs for: Aureomycin 10 Gram, AS 700 2.8 Gram, Tylan pellets in steer feed, and NT powder for use in milk replacer. Each of these products have a time and place to be used, but something I need to stress to everyone is the fact that VFD products MUST be used per the label instructions! NO OFF LABEL USE ALLOWED!  Below is a list of drugs and their dosage and duration of time to be fed.

Drug_________________________Rate____________________Duration
Aureomycin 10 Gram                   0.1 lbs/100 lbs                             5 days
AS700               2.8 oz/head/day           28 days
Tylan pellets               see product                     continuous
NT powder               see product               14 days
Pulmotil               0.1lb/100lbs               14 days

     Aureomycin cannot be fed with Rumenesin, only Bovitec. AS700 cannot be feed with any Rumenesin or Bovitec. Tylan is labeled for use with Rumensin. An additional product we have not used, but likely will be writing VFDs for in the future is Pulmotil. It is basically Micotil in a bag. A good antibiotic in a powder version. It must be fed for 14 days straight and can be used with Rumensin. In addition, to use Pulmotil there must be BRD in 10% of the cattle and it must be started within 45 days of starting a new production class. Sounds confusing, but don’t worry, I have it all figured out. When calling in for VFD information, we will gladly fill you in on all available crumble options.

  Dr. Natalie is back!  OK, she’s been back for a while, but she will be out doing some large animal again now. Dr. Marla will be working cattle on Monday, Tuesday, & Wednesdays, while Dr. Natalie will be out on farms Thursday and Fridays. If she has a hard time remembering who you are, please be patient with her. Getting old and having kids is a stressful thing.
  Our next educational event that we are planning for you has had a facelift. We are still planning it for Wednesday, Mar. 1st at the Reedsburg VFW hall, but the main speaker, Dr. Douglas Wagner, will be addressing the topic of PinkEye. There was an awful lot of Pinkeye in the area last year and it can have a devastating effect on your cattle’s production and potential sale-ability. We will also be talking about parasites/treatment-prevention and fly/ fly control and a way to handle those problems. The meeting will again be offered at two separate times for you to choose from; 11:30AM or 6PM. Our meetings have been pretty great, even if I do say so myself, so we certainly hope you can make it! We will be sending you a separate flyer with more info, but we will need you to RSVP for food information. If you have had any Pinkeye last year, please attend this meeting to learn more about prevention/treatment.

Sunrise Vet Services Newsletter Jan. 2017

Well, I guess even a foreign country can only handle soooo much of Dr. John! I never have been escorted to an airport before, and boy can they drive fast to get me gone. Well, their loss is your gain is guess! I’m back in the saddle with a fantastic tan and ready to work again!

The cold has come at last and now is the time for me to talk about cold weather care of calves. You do realize it takes a lot more calories to maintain and grow as the temperatures drop, right? A lot more, some smart vet could probably tell you you exactly how many more calories per pound of body weight it would take ( Dr. Natalie), but I will just tell you it is a lot more. When the temp gets below 20 degrees, I strongly recommend an extra feeding during the middle of the day. Below 0, means more per feeding, going up to 3-4 quarts per feeding.

How many of you have a sweet tooth? Well the United Fund Radio Auction on AM 1400 will be going from Jan. 23-27, 2017 with Jan. 25th being Farm Night. Guess who will be making his world famous Cocoa Chiffon Cake that may be the very best cake in the whole world? We will also be offering some gift certificates also, so listen and bid often. Feel free to stop by the office that week as we may have some delicious treats in back...That is until I get back inside from my truck and then they disappear quickly!

With the new year here, I have some bad news. As of Feb. 1st, we will be having a price increase on most drugs. Why? Well, this is the usual time of the year when the manufacturers increase our price and of course we have to pass it on to you. The average increase is approx. 3-5% I realize this is never good news, but I want you to hear it straight from the horse’s mouth. Our prices will stay the same until Feb. 1st.

Well Jan. 1st arrived and now VFD is the law. For those of you who contacted us, I have gotten all the VFD’s filled out and sent to the appropriate feed mills. As I was filling them out, a couple of feed mills contacted me to clarify the instructions. If you have any questions on the VFD you received, we would be happy to go through them with you. In reading articles about the VFD and enforcement, I think they will be very understanding as far as people learning how to ask and use the VFD. If you need crumbles or any other product with a VFD, feel free to contact us and we can get right on the ball so you can get some product.

Guess what? We really like it if you call the clinic, to set up appointments and tell us about your sick animals we should visit, rather than calling the doctors directly. Why do we like you to call the clinic? Well, as good as I am, even I have a hard time driving down the road, listening to your voicemail and trying to put it into our schedule. Kathy, Jeni, and Lisa are masters of making our lives really easy. Well, maybe they just make mine easy and make the others work super hard, but please call the office as it will make it easier for you and me both.

How much did our valued clients get back in rebates from Eprinex via our hard work filling out rebates? (OK it was Lisa who did all the hard work). A little over $2,000 in rebates was mailed back to our clients and we are happy to help you in any way we can, including getting more of your money back to you.

In March, we will be having a injection site wetlab. Please stay tuned as to where and what time, but this should be very eye opening for anyone who gives shots to cattle.

Hope you all had a good 2016 and here’s to an even better 2017! John

Sunrise Vet Services Dec. 2016 Newsletter

Well, winter has arrived. Howling winds, brutally cold temperatures, snow up so damn high even I can't see over it, let alone Kathy. She has started shoveling tunnels like I did as a kid, but to get to the office. Got to admire her determination to get to the office! Wait, I just woke up from my daily nap and realized this is a dream. Wow! Well! It IS December, but it is still well above freezing. And rain and 38 degrees make for some great conditions for pneumonia so be alert.

   Vaccines… What to use and what is available? Well, we have been using the Bovishield vaccine line for years and have been very happy with it. However, milk prices have not been great in the last year so we have been looking at other vaccines. Vista was second choice, but they have had some long backorder issues. The good news is those backorders are apparently coming to an end as the vaccine is coming back into our clinic on a somewhat limited basis. So our current recommendations are this: If you can get Vista 5L5, we say you should use it. If you cannot, use Bovishield Gold 5L5 but do not get the HB. We have decided that the extra expense of the HB is likely not worth it, as we have not seen any abortions from hardjo bovis (HB) in a long time.

Mirror, mirror on the wall, Who has the smartest clients of all? Well of course it has to be Sunrise Vet Services! With multiple meetings per year for their great clients, how could they not be the smartest?! We just got done with the popular VFD (Veterinary Feed Directive) meeting, and are currently planning several more meetings for 2017. We will keep you posted with upcoming dates. One will be on calf health, scours, and cleanliness, and another will be an injection wet lab with a discussion and presentation on proper injections and BQA along with Pink Eye info.

   The special priced Eprinex is gone! If you want some, too bad; you should have come in earlier! If you liked getting the great price we had; Make sure that next year you buy early again to get the huge savings!

   For the last week of December, I will not be at the clinic. If you are scheduled with Dr. John for Herd Health, we will be contacting you to either change it to a different time, or Dr. Darren or Dr. Marla will be filling in for me. Everyone at the office voted to send me away for a week as I am driving them crazy. Luckily I am not being sent to the insane asylum, but somewhere with a padded room!

Several important things to let you know about:
I have been asked to participate in an advisory group for the Reedsburg School Board in regards to school realignment. Basically I would like your opinion on what your thoughts are on closing the outlying schools of Lavalle and Loganville, closing South School in Reedsburg and building a new building in Reedsburg. The group will be giving their recommendation to the school board approximately in early April. Please don’t be afraid to give me an earful as I will be your voice to this board and I want to hear what you think.

   The last few weeks Dr. Darren, Marla and I have not been having messages show up on our phones until some time after you have left them. Damn smart phones aren’t so smart now are they! With that being said, If you do not hear back from us within 1 hour of calling us and leaving a message, CALL US BACK AGAIN. Or even text us. We do not get upset or curse your name if we have 2 messages from you. We will give you a call back as soon as we get the message.

   Dr. Natalie has returned to work doing small animal medicine. She has said she is happy to be back ( except for dealing with John of course) and is looking forward to returning to your farms sometime soon, but we don’t have a definite date for her getting back to large animal work yet.

Usually at the end of the year we reflect back on what has all happened and promise to do things differently or get more stuff done in the new year. Well, I beat the deadline by getting my new Will in place before the end of the year. Have you updated your Will since you had it done? Do you have a Will? If not, why not? Every adult needs to have one as you all have a 100% chance of dying sometime! Not only that, it gives you a final say in how your estate and affairs will be taken care of. In addition, real estate not going through probate will save your heirs/estate possibly tens of thousands of dollars and will save a lot of stress. A will or trust is a necessity of life. For those of you without one, please try and think of those who will you are forcing to clean up the mess you are leaving for them. It is not an easy process to look ahead to when you are gone, but no one outruns Death. Although I have been told I have rather quick feet!

With that being said… We at Sunrise Veterinary Services wish you health, a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

See you soon, Dr. John

Sunrise Vet Services Nov. 2016 Newsletter

   Ahhh! Fall has arrived and the rain has subsided a little. For those of you who have tough water stories, I’ve got you topped. You may have water bubbling out of the ground, but I’ve got water bubbling out of rock instead! Good thing I got red equipment to get through the wet spots. If you do get stuck, John’s Red Pulling Out Service is on call. Granted, if we have to pull out green stuff, there will be extra cleaning fees imposed as we don’t want any green smell around the red tractors!
   VFD = Veterinary Feed Directive, not vet financial directive. We are holding two meetings on Nov. 9th along with Elanco, Bovisync and Multimin. Meeting one is at 11:30AM and is geared towards dairy producers. Meeting two is at 6PM and more for beef producers. The meeting will be held at the VFW hall on the east side of Reedsburg (next to the old Burger King) and a pizza meal will be provided. We are strongly encouraging you to bring in any and all feed tags so we can go over them with you to tell you if you need a VFD for them. Please RSVP by Nov. 4th by calling the clinic 768-2697.
   Corona Virus is a major finding when we send in samples for calf scours and we also find it on necropsy exams of young calves. Merck has just released a intranasal Corona vaccine called Bovilis Coronavirus. With studies they have done, it showed a 50% decrease in calf scours, and it can be used in calves at birth. If you have had, or are having calves with scouring issues, this is a product we should strongly consider putting into your vaccine protocol. It does have a blue dye component so you will be able to see if your hired help is giving the product correctly.
   Eprinex special pricing: 5 Liter bottle = $225.00 after rebate; These special prices will on be good until we sell out of the product, so if you need any dewormer, come in and get it. We fill out and do all your rebates for you.  In addition you will get extra rebates if you buy Synchsure which is a product comparable to Lutalyse.
   Tis the season for pneumonia to start showing up. If your cattle are not properly vaccinated, you have a much higher risk of having a pneumonia outbreak. For vaccine protocols, please give us a call.
         Remember, RSVP right away (768-2697) for the VFD meeting this coming Wed., Nov. 9th! Choose the session of your choice...11:30 or 6pm.

Sunrise Vet’s October 2016 Newsletter

   I was going to take credit for making the rain stop by going outside and singing, however; the deranged weatherman is still calling for rain. Well, they have been wrong even more than me, so I will say that the rain will be less than they say and soon it will be the white stuff instead! I will be taking requests for the songs to sing to make the rain stop. I can perform anything from opera (no soprano stuff though) to classic Johnny Cash (even the “I’ve Been Everywhere” song). Maybe if someone requests the right song to stop the rain, they might get free Vet care for the month. However, that would require you to stick around while I do the singing!

We are pleased to announce our next cattle meeting where we will be discussing the new Veterinary Feed Directive (VFD). Sunrise Vet Services, Elanco, and BoviSync will be sponsoring the meeting and will be presenting information on VFD, Imrestor, and Bovisync- an online dairy management program (BoviSync at 11:30 mtg only). For the VFD portion of the meeting, we are strongly recommending that you bring in all your tags off of all your feeds that are used at your farm... Milk replacer, calf feed, bags of crumbles, steer feed, etc. If it has a tag, we want to see it. We will go through those with you to tell you if you need to have a VFD for any of those you use. A meal will be provided and Elanco will be having a guest speaker to discuss the VFD. The meeting will be held Nov. 9th at both 11:30 AM and at 6 PM at the VFW hall on the east side of Reedsburg. It is really important to bring in your tags so we can look at them. We also will be asking for information such as who is your feedmill and nutritionist. We will have to be in contact with them for your VFD’s. Please RSVP by Nov. 1st by calling the clinic. (768-2697)

We are now recommending SynchSure to be used in your reproductive programs. Why? Because it works and it’s less expensive. I’ve started using it and have had no problems with it. The results are the same as Lutalyse HC and you get to keep more of your money! In addition, we will take care of all the rebates for you. Let’s see what other companies will do that for you! For those of you who use Estrumate, it is the exact same product. In addition, SynchSure has a rebate that runs through the end of the year, making it an even better price than Lutalyse. If you have any questions, feel free to give us a call.

For those of you with cattle processing needs, please give us a call. We are scheduling jobs in between rain showers and downpours. The tub and chutes are ready to roll and my truck needs to burn off a little of the carbon deposits, so give us a call to see if you can make me (OK maybe Darren also) work. Don’t forget implants on cattle for both short or long term retained ownership; Different implants for different situations.

   Have you been checking around for BEST PRICING on Eprinex? We’ve got it for $245 for a 5L bottle. Note: Do not buy the 20L jug. It is cheaper to buy 4-5L bottles instead.   Guess who will fill out your rebates for you? Yep, we do all the paperwork for you. Regular rebate is $20.00 bringing your price down to $225, or if you qualify you can get a double rebate of $40.00 dropping your price to $205.00 I’ve been checking the price of Eprinex at different spots and on the Internet. Valley Vet Supply$317, We Do Cows, $250, Animart $267. Yep! We beat them all! I think we are the best spot to get it. That being said, we have a limited supply, so once we are sold out, you will not get this special pricing anymore.

   What do you do with all those old rusty really dull needles? Hopefully you do not continue to use them and try to sharpen them on metal pipes (doesn’t work, I’ve tried). We offer a sharps disposal service. We sell you a sharps container and you bring it back when full. I would suggest taking all the caps off of the needles to maximize the amount of used needles you can get into the container. You are then charged on a per pound basis for what you bring in. Besides, it’s the legal way to dispose of needles and sharps. Please call the office to ask any questions.

Sunrise Vet Services is exploring an option of offering an online catalog through our distributor, MWI. We will be asking you about it when we are out on your farms. This service would be comparable to Zumbro and we are looking at prices that would be extremely competitive if not better. We also will be talking about it at upcoming meetings. Stay tuned as more information will follow.

For those of you who remember Dr. Natalie ( Yep, she is still employed here.)...She did have her baby! (Someone had thought she maybe had been faking the whole pregnancy thing.) They had a little baby boy and named him Warren. I had tried to convince them to name him Thor, but they went for Warren instead. We are expecting her to be back to work later this year. Everyone is doing great with the little critter making record amounts of dirty laundry every day.

VFD Meeting Nov. 9th: Pick time that works best for you! However; BoviSync info will only be presented at the 11:30 meeting!
- 11:30AM Dairy Mtg - VFD, Imrestor, & BoviSync
- 6:00PM Beef Mtg - VFD, Scour Bos, & Multimin
RSVP by Nov. 4th - Call Sunrise at 768-2697.
Eprinex special pricing- Call to get yours today.
SynchSure- Use it today and save money.

Sunrise Vet's September 2016 Newsletter

Oh my gosh, fall is almost here and John may even start to enjoy going outside again! For those of you who held up the portable air conditioning units for John when he was at your farm, (Yes! He is working!), he says, “Thank you!”. For those of you who kinda laughed at John with sweat pouring off of him, just wait for January!

Top newsletter points:

SYNCHSURE: Similar to Lutalyse, better price.
Use proper dosage for Excenel and Excede.
Eprinex: We’ve got the best price and we do the rebates for you! Buy it from us!
Eprinex and Synchsure - Double Rebates!
Fall processing: Make appointments now!
We need your emails to save some trees! Please call the office at 768-COWS and give us your email address so that we can email your future newsletters, or email: jill.sunrisevet@gmail.com

New product launch from Merial: SYNCHSURE is the newest prostaglandin on the market for reproduction breeding programs. If you attended our meeting with Dr. Paul Frinke on his 30% pregnancy rate/30,000 lb herd average, you heard him talk about their very proactive reproductive program. They’ve been using SYNCHURE in their program during their reproductive trials. This product is very similar to Lutalyse HC in that it comes in 50 dose bottles and is a 2cc dose IM. The cost is $125 for a 50 dose bottle, whereas Lutalyse HC is $145 for a 50 dose bottle. So it’s similar to to Lutalyse, just with a better price. We’ll have it in the office this week for you to start using to synchronize your cattle. Synchsure is also in the rebate program listed later in the newsletter. Read on!

Proper dosage of Excenel and Excede. How heavy are your cows? Can you accurately determine their weight? What is the dosage for Excenel on a 1350 lb. cow with pneumonia? With a cow that weighs 1675 lbs with metritis, how much Excede will you need to treat her? What if you don’t have any Excede, but want to use Excenel instead? How much and how often?

Excenel dosage and treatment indications:
Respiratory disease; 2cc per 100lbs of body weight IM or SQ for 3 days. Additional days (4 and 5) can be given for those who do not show satisfactory response to the first 3 treatments. No more than 15cc per injection site.
Foot rot; 1-2 cc per 100lbs body weight IM or SQ for 3 days.
Metritis; 2cc per 100lbs IM or SQ for 5 days with no more than 15cc per injection site.

Excede dosage and treatment indications:
Respiratory disease and foot rot: 1.5cc per 100lbs of body weight given at the base of ear.
Metritis: 1.5cc per 100lbs of body weight. Give at the base of ear. Repeat in 72 hours in opposite ear.

Find drug dosage answers on the back page.

Excenel dosage for a 1350 lb cow is 28cc per day for 3 days minimum for pneumonia or metritis.
Excede for 1675 lb cow treatment dose is 25.5cc in base of ear and we recommend a second treatment 3-5 days after first treatment.

Eprinex
With fall just around the corner, let’s talk about deworming cattle. We recommend and use Eprinex pour on dewormer for cattle for several reasons. 1. No milk or meat holds. 2. The Eprinex guarantee is...If you use their product and you get lice on your cattle later, they stand behind it 100%. 3. Ease of use, pour it on and away you go. 4. Weatherproof! It laughs at rain! 5. This year is the best year to buy Eprinex from Sunrise Vet Service yet, because we’ll give you a great price and you may qualify to get double rebates on your purchases. If you have or will be buying LongRange, Ivomec, Cystorelin, SYNCHSURE or J-Vac, you may qualify for the DOUBLE REBATE!

Your purchase price for a 5L bottle of Eprinex is $245.00.
Your rebate (We do all the paperwork for you) is $20.00 (Double rebate is $40.00.)
Your final cost for a 5L bottle of Eprinex is $225.00 ($205.00 if you get the Double Rebate!)

Your purchase price for SYNCHSURE is $125.
Your rebate (We do all the paperwork for you) is $4.50. (Double rebate is $9.00.)
Your final cost for a 50 dose bottle of SYNCHSURE is $121.50 ($116 if you get the Double Rebate)

As with most things in life, more is better. (Think about John). If you make larger purchases, additional rebates may be available. Talk to Lisa or Jill at the office for these special deals.

Fall Processing: Make your appointment now! Why now? Well, Dr. John doesn’t want to get too overworked any one day or week or even the whole fall, so by scheduling now, we can make his life a little bit easier! In addition, scheduling now will help us optimize the use of the chutes and tub and help us to fit your appointment into your busy life also.
To maximize the value of your cattle, we are recommending two rounds of respiratory vaccine with a clostridial vaccine and deworming with Eprinex. If you want your bull calves banded, we strongly recommend 2 doses of Bar Vac CD/t tetanus vaccine with the second dose being given at the time of banding. For those of you who would like to use the chute with the scale, we will gladly provide you with an Excel spreadsheet with an average weight for the cattle we process. This data will be great to provide to a sale barn at time of sale to show weight gain at your farm after weaning.
For those of you who would like Lisa to assist with your processing, call the office to check her availability. You know...Just so you don’t overwork poor John.

Again, don’t forget that we need your emails to save some trees! Please call the office at 768-COWS (768-2697) to give us your email address so that we can email future newsletters, OR email Jill at jill.sunrisevet@gmail.com Save Trees and make John happy! It’s a win win!

​SUNRISE VETerinary SERVICES 2017​CATTLE Producer ​NEWSLETTERS​

SUNRISE VETerinary SERVICES 2017
CATTLE Producer NEWSLETTERS