Shoo Fly--You Pesky Bug
by Kathy White
Title
Shoo Fly--You Pesky Bug
Artist
Kathy White
Medium
Photograph - Photography--greeting Cards Or Notes Are Cheaper By The Dozen!
Description
"Shoo Fly-- You Pesky Bug" is what I thought of when I saw this cute little baby calf trying desperately to get those irritating flies to leave him alone! Shoo Fly is an expression of annoyance, the sort of thing one would shout out when trying to wave away an annoying buzzing fly! (Not to be mistaken with Shoo Fly pie, which is popular in Amish country....named for a molasses type crumb cake or for a temporary bypass in the railroad or any number of various meanings).
Several fly species can be significant pests to both free ranging and confined cattle. Imagine what a baby calf thinks of them! But all fun aside, blood sucking flies, like horn flies, stable flies, horse flies and deer flies can cause considerable stress to calves and cattle. "Fly Worry" can lead to decreased weight gain and milk production because cattle spend so much time trying to avoid and remove flies rather than properly feeding. Rather than eating, the calves or cows will spend their time fly swatting with their tails, stomping, scratching at, lying down or grouping together to avoid the pesky bugs. They may even spend their time standing in the stock pond to avoid the critters.
Fly bites can cause hide damage and spread viral, bacterial and parasitic diseases. Face flies and house flies are mainly a nuisance to cattle, but face flies can cause severe eye irritation, such as pink eye and contribute to the spread of other diseases.
Calf or calves are the young of domestic cattle. "Calf" is the term used from birth to weaning, when it becomes known as a weaner or weaner calf, though in some areas the term "calf" may be used until the animal is a yearling. The birth of a calf is known as calving.
Calves are born after a gestation of nine months. They usually stand within a few minutes of calving, and suckle within an hour. However, for the first few days they are not easily able to keep up with the rest of the herd, so young calves are often left hidden by their mothers, who visit them several times a day to suckle them. By a week old the calf is able to follow the mother all the time.
Calves must have the very best of everything until it is at least eight months old if it is to reach its maximum potential. Typically when the calves are about two months old they are branded, ear marked, castrated and vaccinated.
Baby calf raising can be a hard task to achieve. If the calf doesn't have the mother to feed it the first 2 1/2 days survival is slim. There is a substance in the mothers milk called colostrum, the calf needs this substance to build an immunity system. This colostrum is very important in the first hrs of feeding for the calf to survive. Calves are born with little defense or immunity against disease. They acquire resistance to disease from their dam through timely and adequate intakes of high quality colostrum, their mother's first milk.
Calves must also have water. Calves will begin to drink water between their feeds of milk from one to two weeks of age. Lack of water will cause the death of a calf faster than the lack of any other nutrient. By six weeks of age, a calf may be drinking abut four litres of water per day. Only clean, fresh drinking water must be given.
Cutting down on disease potential for new calves is important, so a routine of pest or fly control is encouraged. The most common methods are pour on, sprays, rubs or dusters, ear tags, feed through additives and biological control. Some methods work better than others, so you will just have to find your most effective control to keep your calves and cattle more stress free.
Uploaded
June 6th, 2013
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