Aspen
Veterinary
Service
August 2009 Newsletter
Welcome to the eighth edition
Newsletter brought to you by Aspen
Veterinary Service!
Unless stated otherwise, all
Newsletters will be authored by Dr.
Annie Bowes.
Ahhhhh…The
County Fair!
4H animals,
caramel apples,
cotton candy,
and the Ferris
wheel! Though
the fair also signifies the coming end of
summer, there is bitter sweet satisfaction in
weighing in your 4H animal for the last
time. Aspen Veterinary Service wishes all
the participants of the Kootenai County Fair
good luck and good health! Hope your
livestock sells for more than the market rate,
and you learned a lot along the way! Best
wishes to all!
Traditional?
Organic?
It use to be that
traditional meant
organic, but now days
the animal products
we eat and drink are
‘traditionally’ raised
on a considerable
amount of antibiotics and routinely injected
with hormones. Are injections necessary? Is
Organic better?
To help answer this question, one needs to
consider the species: chicks are highly
susceptible to air borne pathogens and are
practically impossible to raise without a
slightly medicated feed or a good series of
vaccines. A high morbidity rate may be
seen if these are withheld. Once the chicks
are young adults with all their feathers,
medicated feeds are usually no longer
necessary. This is especially true if they are
not crowded and allowed to free-range (i.e.
not kept in complete confinement where
vaccination is mandatory).
Cattle, sheep, and goats should receive their
vaccines during the early stages of life.
Animals destine for an organic farm are
allowed certain vaccines, and in fact may be
required to have brucellosis vaccines. If you
intend to have an organic farm, check with
your ordinances to be sure which vaccine
restrictions and requirements may apply to
your specific situation.
There are very few options for parasite
control in organic animals; therefore most
are susceptible to considerable amounts of
internal and external diseases. Organic
animals do not get the benefit of antibiotics
when they become ill. Diseases that are not
typically life threatening can become fatal to
an organic animal because of this
stipulation. At the commercial level, sick
animals are never allowed to enter our food
source, and many times are not even used in
pet foods but simply sent to the rendering
plant if disease is suspected or seen.
Antibiotics are given judiciously at the
commercial feedlot to prevent damage to the
meat and are typically given in the neck only
when absolutely necessary. The USDA has
implemented very strict withdrawal times
for every approved injection in cattle.
Violations of these regulations are easily
detected in meat residues at the slaughter
plant and can result in loss of licensure or
heavy fines to the feedlot.
There is considerable
controversy over
hormones in dairy
cattle. In fact, many
milk containers are
now proclaiming to
be “Hormone Free”
or “BST free.” BST stands for bovine
somatropin and it’s a hormone that promotes
milk production. These claims are
inherently false since cows produce this
hormone among many others on their own
and traces can be found in the milk of
completely organic and pure cows. What
Joke of the Month
If you can start the day without caffeine; if
you can always be cheerful, ignoring aches
and pains; if you can resist boring people
with your troubles; if you can eat the same
food everyday and be grateful for it; if you
can understand when your loved ones are
too busy to give you any time; if you can
take criticism and blame without
resentment; if you can conquer tension
Got Ideas? Aspen Veterinary Service is
always looking for new topics and great
ideas. If there is something you would like
to know more about, please don’t hesitate to
ask. Dr. Bowes can be reached at
annie@aspenvetservice.com or (208) 6596825. And feel free to share some jokes that
can be published in the next issue!
As always, your animal’s health is very
important to Aspen Veterinary Service and
routine care is a major component of
husbandry. It is the hope that this Newsletter
was helpful and informative; and in keeping
with the mission statement of this company:
Aspen Veterinary Service is dedicated to
preserving a country way of life, and
promoting general farm animal health and
production.
Together, we keep American farms and
ranches going strong.
For additional information about Aspen
Veterinary Service, please visit:
www.aspenvetservice.com
Happy Trails!
Copyright 2009 ©
Aspen Veterinary Service. PLLC Post Falls, Idaho
Aspen Veterinary Service
The best choice remains: raise your own
meat, milk, and eggs. Not only do you have
ultimate control of what goes into your
animal, you can monitor its wellbeing, too.
You can use the best philosophy in regards
to injections: use as much as necessary and
as little as possible. And be as organic as
you want!
without medical help; if you
can relax without liquor; if
you can sleep without the
aid of drugs…
Then you are probably the
family dog!
3521 North Greensferry Road
Post Falls, Idaho 83854
the claim is intending to promote is that the
cows did not receive any injections of BST.
There is recumbent and purified BST, both
of which are legal in the dairy herd. There
are no known side effects to its consumption
by people, or its use in cows, except the
possibility of high producing cows being
pushed to hard. For the welfare of the cow,
one could consider purchasing “rBST free”
milk, but don’t count on not consuming
some cow hormones – they’re in there
weather it’s advertised or not!