Disbudding calves

kollegeknight

Hi folks,
Situation has occurred that a few calves have to be disbudded now as my father has taken ill. They are still young enough.

My question is does the weather affect this?

Is the fly an issue?

Many thanks

moy83

kollegeknight wrote: »

Hi folks,
Situation has occurred that a few calves have to be disbudded now as my father has taken ill. They are still young enough.

My question is does the weather affect this?

Is the fly an issue?

Many thanks

The flies can be an issue now , but you can still do it . I did a few big and small a few weeks ago without any trouble thank god .
I got a bottle of spray on Stockholm tar and dosed the top of their head with it and it seemed to do the trick . I was to lazy to do it but it would be a safer job if you could run them through the crush and top up the tar for a few evenings after dehorning to make sure the flies are kept at bay .
Either way keep a close eye on them for a couole of weeks after in case they get infected or get maggots but if they're small buds I wouldn't worry too much

onyerbikepat

Or we talking young calves here or older weanlings?

kollegeknight

A bit of both, but horns not too strong.

I got through to my vet and he said the same about the Stockholm tar so I got some this morning.

The vet will do the strong ones if we have to get rid of a few cattle.

Many thanks for the advice.