TB Testing

Well yesterday was the day and boy was it a long one.  Whew we were tired.  We are not used to working outside that long in the winter time. We got out at 7:30 and I drove the feed truck and Neil and Ty rode bikes to bring them all in.  Worked pretty good even though I lost the bale part way in lol.   They got her about 8 and took a while to set up then bulls first, haha the chute was froze to the ground and its a good thing our bulls are gentle cause one got stuck.  So we just did him in the chute and backed him out.  He just stood there and waited.  The rest fit, not great for the older ones but they are kinda pushy so they made it.  Then the cows.  We tried to be careful cause they are pretty pregnant.  So we got sand/salt from the road crew and spread it in the alleyway where the cows would go.  It works quick we had liquid in not too long later.

(my view all day)

(the crew they sent)

Every animal got a vial of blood taken from under the tail, an ear tag read and written down and the number on the vial.  Then they got a injection of 0.1 ccs of TB under the skin that will either cause a reaction or not and that's what we are looking for on Thursday.  And the brand inspector is coming Thursday to read the brands on all the animals in case of a traceback needed later on.  Since we've bought cows the last couple years lots of cows have more than one brand on. I hope they are easy to read and we don't have to clip any cause that takes way longer.

(the horses were so nosy!  They came then left then came then left, it was cute)

4 people came out, the head vet, 2 other vets and an inspector.  The head vet was super good, the other 2 were not as quick, the one was just learning to take blood so that took longer.  So many records though its a bit crazy.  The worst part is we are so far out from the original herd and they are just getting ridiculous in testing now.  By the time they are done, they might as well test every cow in Canada.  Its crazy how they slacked off and now we as cattle people are paying for it.  They used to do randomtests on cows and they quit that a while ago and they shouldn't.  Its like the vaccines, don't see any disease for a while and people think vaccines are not necessary anymore......until they get a disease that hasn't been seen for 50 years.

(I tried to get a pic of him taking blood but it didnt show as good as planned.  

They have vaccuum vials and as soon as they hit blood 

they break the seal and the blood just goes in.  

Pretty quick, kinda like they do when drawing on horses 

but the tail vein instead of the jugular)

Anyways we are in the middle and I'm not mad about it but a bit frustrated.  Crazy week, everything at once, out accountant is coming today too but that will not be too bad as he was here in the fall sorta trying to organize us.