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Veterinarian Costs

5/7/2013

3 Comments

 
Picture
Walter, a purebred registered Cotswold ram, after shearing with evidence of a skin problem.
It is advisable to become familiar with a veterinarian whom will tend the animals on the farm. Once there is a client/vet relationship built, the veterinarian is more apt to assist when an emergency comes up. The problem is, here at least, veterinarian costs are extremely high.

The cost to spay a pup is around $350 and to neuter a male, just  a little less. At this point, the female dogs on the farm are spayed and so is the border collie, but Ofcharka and Harley, the livestock guardians, are not neutered. It is a matter of money availability. They all need rabies vaccinations, but at $90 dollars a shot, plus all must be carted to the veterinarian's office because he is not licensed to do the rabies shot on the farm, it is another money concern.

The photo is the Costwold ram, Walter, on the day he was sheared. Walter had some sort of ruptured abscesses. There were randomly located on his body in no particular order and were oozing fluid. They began to heal on their own, but shortly thereafter, he developed another under his chin, which ruptured and stunk like rotting meat. The vet was already here to see Walter initially, took stool samples and did a quick examination. It turned out he had some worms, not a bad case, but the vet felt he should be treated for them. Before the sheep are turned out to pasture, which is late this year, they are wormed on the Famacha
system. The lower eye is examined for colour quality from red to white. White is anemic at the point of no recovery and reddish is healthy. Light pink requires treatment, but red does not. I would like to switch to garlic and diatomaceous  earth as a preventative for worms, rather than continue with chemical wormers, but this time they will be treated with Safeguard.

Walter was treated, but when the chin abscess ruptured, a suspicion of CL (caseous lymphandenitis) was suspected so the vet came again and took a sample of the discharge. The cost for the two visits for Walter was $805.  He did not have CL, just a staphylococcus infection treatable with penicillin, which I had in the fridge and was able to administer on my own, thank goodness. 

And therein lies the dilemma. The value of the Cotswold ram is $450. With his medical treatment, he is now a $1200 dollar ram. If he was not a rare breed, halter trained and exceptional as a ram, it would not have been prudent to have the vet treat him at all. In hindsight, maybe it was not the best decision to spend the $805 to diagnose his problem,  but, as  farmers, we want to do what we can to help our animals. Economically speaking, it is not viable to spend these thousands of dollars on the animals though, since their worth will never equal the value of the veterinarian's bills. Now I full understand why old time farmer's took sick animals out behind the barn and shot them, drowned unwanted kittens and puppies and learned to castrate animals themselves. Yes, it is not so humane, but when there is no money to pay the exorbitant vet bills, and the farmer does not want to go broke, what choice is there?

3 Comments
Jane Hurl link
5/15/2013 06:12:01 am

Yes, Eileen ... welcome to the not-always-the-way-you'd-like-it world of farming. We only use vets for the very worst kind of cattle problems ... and never on a sheep. The expense is just too great. If we farmers treated our animals the way city people treat their dogs and cats, there would be no wool, no meat, no milk, no leather for shoes, etc, etc, etc. We'd all be in the poor house!

Carry on, my girl! Carry on with gusto! The world would be hard pressed to get by without farmers!

Reply
Fluffy from The Fat Ewe Farm
5/16/2013 02:57:56 am

Thanks for the kudos Jane. I have a kitten with your name and she is a feisty lovable little thing. You are right about vets. We have to learn to do many things ourselves and to know when economically speaking it is best to release an animal instead of treat it. When the value far exceeds its production or usefulness, it becomes a very expensive pet and that makes no viable money sense.
Keep on farmin'!

Reply
Lynn link
6/18/2013 01:07:19 pm

Hey Eileen, I've recently acquired a book called "the Veterinary Clinical Parasitology" Fifth Addition, by Margaret W. Sloss and Russell L. Kemp. ISBN number is 0-8138-1730-7. I haven't gone through it yet, but it is supposed to be very good and informative for diagnosing medical problems with animals. Apparently you do want the 5th Edition, and not one of the later ones, as the later ones do not have a number of the pictures that the 5th does - pictures that allow you to definitively diagnose problems. I got mine off Alibris.com for about $2 plus $12 shipping. I hope that you would be able to get it, and that it would help you out, both by being able to diagnose illness yourself, and saving money.

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