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Draxxin

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Kato

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Anybody here tried Draxxin yet?

Besides our cow herd, we've gone back to buying and backgrounding the kind of calves that we started out in the business with. For years we specialized in buying little guys ... really little. Anywhere from 275 to 390 pounds. These little calves are very unforgiving when it comes to respiratory diseases. If you spot one that's a little 'off', you get at it now because tomorrow will be too late.

I gotta tell ya, this drug has made it fun again. :) It's pricey, but no more than any of the other so called 'big gun' drugs, and it's been working like nothing we've ever used before! So far we've treated about 40, and only had one re-run. What a difference that makes to the work load. To say nothing of how the calves aren't getting set back with relapses and the stress of daily injections.

I'd be interested in hearing if anyone else has tried it, and what they think of it.
 
Ive used it and it really works. I use it to doctor sick ones but some of my neighbors mass treat with it to all high risk calves coming in. Seems a little pricey for that for me but some are getting good results with it. I am in wheat pasture country so there are alot of opportunities to deal with sick , shipped-in calves. Draxxin seems to stay with the calves for 4 or 5 days . However 2 or 3 big bottles could have sent me and my family to Hawaii :lol:
 
Used Draxxin about a week ago to treat some heifer calves that had been weaned about a month or so. They had been healthy all summer and fall, I think we only doctored one all summer. We started pulling 4 or 5 a day with a sticky ear, coughing, snotty nosed, running temps from 104-106. They were still eating pretty well, but just had that drainage from the ear and a temperature, so we mass treated all the heifers with it. Next morning noses were clear, they all came and ate real well. So far we are very pleased with what we have seen it do. Kind of something that was expensive to do, but if it does its job then I guess for us it was worth it.
 
I had never heard of it--Couldn't find it in Western Ranch Supply...Googled it and apparently its been used successfully in Europe for years...

Would have to mortgage the wife or the first born tho-- Cheapest I found was on sale for $320- 100 cc bottle......Yikes-- But it did say you only need 1.1 cc per 100 lbs---one treatment....
 
Apparently it goes to the lungs and is still there up to 15 days later. Patience is required sometimes, as it may take a day or two to see it work. I understand that in the U.S. it has a label claim for mycoplasma pneumonia too. That's a big deal, because drugs for that have been non-existant up until now.

The best price I've heard of around here is $441 Canadian for 100 cc. Our local vet sells it for $473.00. Scarey, but with these little calves we can get about 30 to a bottle. Treating an 800 pounder would be quite a committment.
 
We're using Draxxin at the feedlot for some of the sick calves. Don't know how it's working compared to the other drugs, but I do know that I have a paranoia about dropping the darn bottle. A thousand bucks for a 250 cc bottle, or thereabouts, and I'm not sure the plastic casing around it would protect it from the cement floor in the hospital!
 
DJL said:
We're using Draxxin at the feedlot for some of the sick calves. Don't know how it's working compared to the other drugs, but I do know that I have a paranoia about dropping the darn bottle. A thousand bucks for a 250 cc bottle, or thereabouts, and I'm not sure the plastic casing around it would protect it from the cement floor in the hospital!
Click to expand...


Hope your nickname isn't "Butter fingers"
 
I almost had heart failure when a horse ran off with my saddle bag open and a bottle of Micotil in it. Not to mention the $20 cull ewe at the end of the rope lol.
 
They have been using it at the feedlot where i work for quite a while now and seem to really like it. Now they usually prefer it over excede or naxcel which they have also used in the past.
 
We've used Draxxin and have had good luck with it. Something to thing about though...if you're using Micotil and it's not working, then there's a good chance Draxxin won't either. They are in the same class/family of antibiotics, except the likelyhood of you dieing if you give yourself a shot of Draxxin is significantly less than if you give yourself Micotil :D . Micotil is tilmycosin and Draxxin is tulathromycin.

Kato, thanks for mentioning that been approved to treat Mycoplasma bovis here in the US. That is a new label claim. I sure hope it works as Mycoplasma is nasty, and you're right, thus far, nothing as even come close to treating it. For those interested, here is a link to the US label of Draxxin:

http://www.draxxin.com/display.asp?country=US&lang=EN&drug=DR&species=BF&sec=600

Another interesting thought...if you have having troubles with treating sickness, get the mortality posted by a vet. Most diagnostic labs now have technology to tell you what antibiotic to use, and it's reletively inexpensive. In the long run, you'll save money because you're not wasting money on treatments that won't work, and you're also decreasing antibiotic resistance.

Cheers---

TTB :wink:
 
I've seen the ads for Draxxin but haven't needed to even find out what is was for.

We used to use Micotil for young calves that always seemed to be fighting some type of a pneumonia. Haven't even had a bottle of that stuff around for at least 5 years.

The immune system of the cattle was the key. Selenium in particular.

The little calves you are buying Kato, likely from odds and ends herds with little in the way of minerals. It takes patience like you said, but I think that's a good niche to take on if you can do it.

Those little calves seem to do better if you have full sheds for them as well, instead of just a windbreak. Too late to build any if you don't have them already.
 
We've been useing Draxin for awhile now--
Two things we've learned

-- need to have nerves of steel and not retreat for at least six days - it takes that long for some to come around.
--- don't use it on "critical" calves - It takes too long to build up blood concentrations and they can die or have lung damage before it starts working.

So far we haven't dropped a bottle--- but I pay more and get the small bottles just in case :)

I haven't noticed it helping any with Mycoplasma -- but maybe we would have had more problems if we weren't useing it.
 
Nerves of steel is right. We had one in particular that we were worried about, but when we checked his temp it was normal. He was guant, and wobbly, but it seems that was just a matter of needing time to recover and get some groceries in him. It's been two weeks now since then, and he's back on track.

Yup Jason, we have sheds, windbreaks, and use lots of bedding. These little guys do best when they are in with others of their own size. Lots of people think the little calves don't do well, but that's probably because they are in with herdmates that are a lot bigger and pushier.

Once you get them started they are just as tough as the big boys, but eat a lot less to gain a pound. :lol: The way the grain prices have been going the last few weeks, that's a good thing. :shock:
 
CattleArmy said:
Micotil is used here. So for once I don't have an opinion. :wink:
Click to expand...

Micotil is worse than playing with rattlesnakes or doing Russian Roulette with a loaded handgun. If you get struck by a rattlesnake or shot by a bullet, there is a chance you might survive. If you get an accidental dose of Micotil, baby you're gonna die. :( Even though I don't often agree with you, if you were gone I'd miss ya. :wink: :)
 
The first time I used micotil the vet who gave me the single dose was like "Do not stick yourself with this needle" it will kill you... Great... Haven't used it since.. I'm to much of a chicken I guess.. I bought a small bottle later because it was recommended and I never used it.. Just can't bring myself, have stuck myself WAY too many times (Which would be more than once) to risk it with Micotil... Rememer doing a search ont he internet for info about the toxicity amounts and no one could really figure how much was bang sure for certain dead... ,, I know lots of folks use it but I'm a chicken..
 

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