We just got a heifer in to treat for footrot. Micitil is the drug the vet tells us to use. Of course the antibiotic is deadly to a human if somehow it gets injected.

Better Habla Espanol!

Are Mexican drugs better?

It works and is reasonably priced. And it is deadly to humans if injected.

We still carry it, but I am particular about how it is used. A good facility with a squeeze chute. Absolutely no cowboying on a rope or squeeze critter behind a gate. Don't try to hurry, be careful with it. There's no antidote or cure if someone gets accidently injected. It causes heart failure.

38 year old cattleman up by Denison IA lost his life a couple of years ago. Syringe loaded in shirt pocket and squeezing big calf behind a gate, somehow shot himself. Knew it was trouble, drove himself to hospital. After a few days on life support they had to let him go.

Draxxin or Zuprevo pretty much work as well and are safer to handle.

We always used Tylan for foot rot.

Do they still make that stuff?

We use Tylan 50 for cat distemper.

Draxxin is what we use, I'm not willing to take the risk of someone getting killed.

Interesting read from an article on the NASD site:

https://nasdonline.org/177/d001784/cattleman-dies-due-to-accidental-injection-nebraska-face.html


>>>>SUMMARY

A 38-year-old cattleman died as a result of an accidental injection of an animal antibiotic known as Micotil which has no known antidote. On March 8, 2003, the victim was preparing to vaccinate a heifer inside a barn. He was carrying a 12cc plastic disposable syringe in his right hand when a cow that was in an adjacent pen charged him, striking the fence between the two. The victim was knocked to the ground. Either when struck or from the fall, he was injected with an unknown amount of the antibiotic. He immediately began to feel dizzy and nauseous. He was able to return to the “vet room” inside the barn and call his wife who was nearby in the house. An ambulance was called and the victim was rushed to a nearby hospital where he died less than an hour later.<<<<


Gotta be careful out there. Stuff happens in a heartbeat.

I've been vaccinated for black leg a couple of times.

It's easier than you think.

Was burned by a branding iron while holding a flanked calf once too. Cowboy day crew was short a man after that... No, I didn't shoot him. But I did run his careless butt off.

It must work, you didn't get black leg did ya?

I've had B12 and some penicillin stuck in me before. Mighta cured something I didn't even know I had.

All true. But a number of years ago, before the other options were around, I had a client that refused to have micotil on the place because it was so "deadly to people". I asked him what about the 1600 pound bulls there? Weren't they also deadly to humans? And the firearms they had on the place?

It is no different than a lot of tools we use. Has a bad effect if you mess up. But works how it is supposed to.

Use extreme caution.

ok i am dumb. what is black leg ?

http://www.thecattlesite.com/articles/843/blackleg-in-cattle/

Our old vey said he had never seen a calf sick with blackleg, dead.

thanks rbb i dont have cows just like to ask questions about stuff i never heard about

Our vet told of doing a call at a dairy while he was in school. They had Prostaglandin in an air type gun, giving cows exams and shots to bring them in heat. While wrestling with the cows, another student gave him a shot, twice!

Of course I had to ask,
"Did you come into heat"?

He said not.
But he got very sick.

Lutalise or prostaglandin can also be absorbed through the skin and if enough, can have an effect on the sphincter muscles.

Or so they warned me during AI class.

We sure see 'em down here, Richard.

When I was in high school, one summer I worked for a rancher that ran 800 of steers on summer graze near Pagosa Springs, CO.

The steers arrived and were turned loose.

About 2 weeks later they started dying. Several of them. Vet came out and necropsied them and said it was blackleg.

The steers were supposed to have been vaccinated against it from the cattle buyer they came from, but weren't.

Spent the rest of the summer gathering and vaccinating for blackleg. (I got vaccinated a couple of times...)

Those we couldn't gather were ran down, roped, and vaccinated in the pasture.

It was an adventure.

I skipped the blackleg vaccine a while years back. I had fat steers going down. The vets did some head scratching, and thought it may have been a type of blackleg. We went back to giving the shots, and have not had that since.

I've seen calves sick with blackleg-but they're not sick long. Treat with penicillin in massive doses, I've never saved one after they were sick with it.

Back to the foot rot....

Old school remedy. Put the animal up in a dry pen and keep them there for a week. Catch them every day and pour coal-oil on the infected area. This will cure it. Done it many times.

To prevent foot rot, you need more iodine. I kept salt blocks out, but they dont have enough iodine. I would get 50# sack of salt and mix extra iodine in it. Never had an animal with foot rot, again.