How to develop outstanding treatment protocols

Treatment protocols are often seen as something used only by feed yards and large stocker operations. People that deal with large numbers of animals at a time.

However, it can be a valuable tool for cow/calf producers of any size, really for anyone interested in looking for a type of traceability. This can include producers that are involved in the Beef Quality Assurance program to improve their marketability.

A treatment protocol is an easy thing to do, it will just take a little bit of effort. When completed it can take the guesswork or confusion out of their animal health problems. It will give them a standardized set of steps to follow, but you may be asking “Well how do I develop a treatment protocol?”. Well here are 6 tips that you can follow to do that.

Tip #1: Talk with your veterinarian

Talking with your local veterinarian is a very good start to setting up your operation’s treatment protocol. They can inform you of any diseases that may be common in your area.

Along with this information they can inform you of the treatment options that are available for these diseases. They can also let you know if there are any precautions that you can take to prevent these diseases from happening in the first place.

When you are visiting with your vet it is a good idea to make sure that when you are talking about certain diseases you are both on the same page. You do not want to be talking about one disease but your vet thinks that you are talking about something else. You might be thinking you are talking about BRD but your vet might be thinking it is something else entirely.

Tip #2: Define your success/ failure criteria

When you are having to administer a treatment have it clearly defined what would qualify as a success. This will let you know if the treatment is making any progress or not.

Knowing what would qualify as a success will tell you if you need to change drugs or not. This step will require some patience on your part I’m afraid. Some people will immediately assume if they do not see improvement that instant then the drug is not working though this may not be the case. Some treatments will take a little longer than some to take effect.

An example of a success/failure criteria could be less than 10% of the calves you treat for scours die. The main thing is that YOU are the one to decide what it is you can and cannot live with.

Tip #3: Know the treatment interval

This one and the previous tip kind of go hand in hand. It is important to know what is the treatment-to-improvement window of the particular drugs that you will be using.

Certain drugs have a withdrawal time, which the length of time that it will be in the animal’s system. Knowing this will inform you if the treatment is working or not. It is common for producers to want to step in and give the dose again if they do not see any improvement within a day or two but it is important to let the drug run it’s course.

Know the interval time will be useful to you in order to prevent the possibility of overdosing. This is more likely in any type of prescriptions that you will get from your veterinarian.

Tip #4: Know the dose amount and where to administer

Knowing the correct amount to give will save you both money and any possibility of loss production. If you administer too little then the drug will not work to it’s full potential. Give too much and you are just wasting it.

Administering the drug correctly is also of vital importance. This will mean if the drug is to be given intramuscularly, subcutaneously, or intravenously. Giving the drug in the correct way will mean if it will be successful or not in treating your animals.

There are two ways that you can get this formation. One way is to read the labels on the drugs and the other way is your vet can tell you.

Tip #5: Have clear definition for when treatment protocols are needed

Some stages of diseases do not prompt a medical treatment or even a visit from your veterinarian. Some, like a type of cold, can just run their course without having to stick the cows with a needle.

During your visit with the vet have a clear understanding of the stages of symptoms and which are severe enough to require certain actions. Scours is a good example of this, some stages would only require action on your part but then others would require treatment  from a vet.

Knowing which symptoms require what actions can save you money in the long run. It will also make your vet like you a little better because they won’t have to always be rushing out to your place and finding out it was for nothing.

Tip #6: Write the treatment protocols down

Once you have clearly defined what diseases are common and how to treat them you will want to write that information down.  This will prevent any potential confusion especially if you have other people helping you out on the ranch. After you have written this down be sure to keep it in a place that is easily found. Just putting it in a file cabinet could lead it to being “lost”.

Now the thing to remember is that a treatment protocols will not be a “one and down” type of thing. As situations change it may be necessary to adjust it from time to time.

Be sure to keep the old ones around for reference. Looking back at old treatment protocols will give you an idea of what has worked and what didn’t work.

If you like reading this and would like to check out other articles that I have written to help producers be the best that they want to be then you can click here.