Cattle & Calves

• Approach without causing undue stress to the animal


  Enter pen calmly and slowly, locking the door behind you.

  Slowly approach the animal, talking to it to make it aware of your presence, placing a hand on a safe zone such as its shoulder.
• Use an appropriate halter to restrain the animal identified by the examiner


  Choose an appropriate sized halter and rope thickness for the indicated animal.

  It is easiest to put the rope over the ears first, then the nose and chin piece.

  The adjustable rope must go under the chin.

  Tie the free end of the rope in a quick release knot to a suitable structure.
• Secure a haltered animal with a quick release knot


  Choose an appropriate fixture to tie the knot to.

  Pass rope behind fixture.

  Make a loop with the free end.

  Bring fingers up through the loop and grab the free end.

  Bring the free end through to form a new loop.

  Tie by pulling the two ends away from each other.
• Position a calf in a manner that is suitable to allow it to be safely disbudded


  Enter the calf pen and lock the door behind you, remaining quiet and calm.

  Don’t restrain a calf in the calf hutch, gently encourage a calf to leave the hutch.

  Bring calf towards the fence using open arms and a wide stance.

  Place one arm under its chin and the other round its behind, and use your body and knees to hold it against the gate. This allows free hands to apply a halter.
• Indicate to the examiner where you would inject local anaesthetic to carry out the disbudding procedure, both left and right hand sides


  Corneal groove between eye and base of ear

  There is a palpable depression below the bony ridge that runs between the eye and ear.
• Indicate the location of a calf’s horn buds to be removed


  Buds can be felt on top of the head underneath the fur and skin.

  Once location determined, point to both with a finger to clearly indicate location.
• Indicate to the examiner intravenous, intramuscular and subcutaneous injection sites on a calf or cow


  Intramuscular

  • Neck muscles
  • Triceps
  • Quadriceps
  • Gluteals
  • Semimembranosus/semitendinosus

  Subcutaneous

  • Neck
  • Ribs

  Intravenous

  • Jugular groove
• Run your hand underneath a calf and examine under its tail to determine its sex

  Female:

  Under the tail, a vulva will be present, and there will be no penis or testes

  Male:

  Upon running hand underneath the calf, a penis and testes will be identifiable
• Release a calf in a safe manner


  Undo halter slowly and loosen to remove, so you don’t catch the cows ear tag or eyes.

  Gently step back from the calf, allowing it to move freely to a safe spot in the pen.
• Prepare a cows udder for hand or machine milking

  Spray all 4 teats with pre-dip solution. Wait 30 seconds - MAKE IT OBVIOUS!

  Wipe each teat from the bottom up, with a new piece of paper towel to remove dirt and minimize the spread of bacteria.

  Strip each quarter to check for abnormalities such as clots.

  The udder is now prepared for hand milking, or for a cluster to be attached.