Spring Calves Start Strong With Scour Bos
Clark Wilbur
Palmyra, Tennessee
A train wreck. That’s how veteran cow-calf producer Carl Wilbur in Palmyra, Tennessee, describes the major scours outbreaks that can occur in nonvaccinated herds. “Until producers experience a scours train wreck of their own, it can be hard to convince them to vaccinate for it. But it only takes one bred cow you bought out of the stockyard to introduce something like scours into your herd,” he says.
As a spring-calving operation, Wilbur’s calves are exposed to wet, muddy conditions that make an ideal environment for the spread of scours. When Wilbur asked his veterinarian, Dr. Tabb Spoonamore, for a vaccine that would protect his herd from scours, Spoonamore recommended Scour Bos®.
“For me, Scour Bos has been a good investment,” says Wilbur. “It’s helped out considerably in keeping my spring calves healthy. I don’t have to doctor hardly any calves for scours anymore.”
Wilbur adds that even if calves suffering from scours can be saved, producers won’t get the gain on them that they would have if the calf had been healthy from the start.
He also appreciates the vaccination flexibility of Scour Bos that allows him to vaccinate up to 16 weeks prior to calving. “We can vaccinate with Scour Bos at preg-check and know that it will cut out most of the scours problems in the calves the following spring,” he says.
“Since I’ve started using Scour Bos, scours has become the least of my worries,” says Wilbur. “I don’t have train wrecks anymore.”
