Ear Tags, Minerals, and the New Pinkeye at SCCA June Meeting

The monthly meeting of the South Central Cattlemen’s Association (SCCA) was held on

Thursday, June 24th at the Howell County Extension office in West Plains, MO. The meeting

was catered by Bootleggers BBQ and was sponsored by Boehringer-Ingelheim, Multimin USA,

and Newport Laboratories. SCCA President Janet Crow opened the meeting with upcoming

event information and encouraged all cattle owners to register to vote with the Missouri

Department of Agriculture for the upcoming Missouri Beef Industry Council board elections

(https://agriculture.mo.gov/councils/beef/votingregistration.php). Jennifer Poor gave the

financial report and gave a report on the second session of the Missouri Cattlemen’s Leadership

College. Elizabeth Pickings read the minutes from the last meeting.

Rose Massengill (rose.m.massengill@usda.gov) from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) presented to the group information on Electronic Identification tags that can

be obtained through a veterinarian from the USDA. Cattle owners are encouraged to use the tags to help track ownership of culled cattle that may develop illness. Rose went on to explain

that in order to get the tags, cattle owners need to call their veterinarian and have the

veterinarian request the tags from the USDA.

Dr. Jason Shumaker, DVM (jason.shumaker@boehringer-ingelheim.com) from Newport

Laboratories spoke to the group about the New Pinkeye. He explained the causes, testing, and

treatment of the illness. He encouraged cattle owners to be vigilant on fly control and to test

quickly should they suspect their herd has the new pink eye. Newport Laboratories will supply

test kits to cattle owners upon request.

Joe Brown (jbrown@multiminusa.com) from Multimin spoke on the importance of trace minerals for the herd. Joe explained that Multimin is needed in cows and heifers during pre-breeding and pre-calving; in bulls it is needed most before the bull is released in with the females; in calves Multimin is needed most if there was a difficult delivery, at branding/vaccination/castration time, and when they are weaned. Joe also compared the absorption rates of injectable and free choice minerals.

Randy Schilling (randy.schilling@boehringer-ingelheim.com) from Boehringer-Ingelheim

discussed how LongRange parasite control will financially benefit a cattle owner's herd. He

compared the longevity of LongRange to other wormers. When used, LongRange has shown

increased average daily gains in cattle, increased reproduction efficacy, and increased in margin

per calf. Randy also discussed the use of Boehringer-Ingelheim products for the new pink eye.

The meeting was closed with a live auction. All proceeds will go into the general fund for SCCA.