It’s been about a month since area veterinarians officially stopped treating livestock, leaving farmers left to their own devices as it pertains to the health care of their animals.
In an effort to help those farmers, a collaborative, grant-funded effort dubbed the Wifery Livestock Skills Consortium seeks to help teach the basic skills one might need to maintain healthy livestock without an official veterinarian. The name of the group, consisting of a handful of women farmers, begins with a play on the word “husbandry,” which refers to the care of animals.
“The shortage of large livestock vets is a statewide concern,” said farmer and organizer Kathy Zeman. “MN Farmers Union worked on legislation that did pass this past legislative session that expands the role of certified vet techs, in the hopes this will help. In the meantime, we are leaning in to learn more and improve our own skills.”
The consortium is applying for grants to support the continuation of these education efforts, which Zeman said would teach a variety of skills, ranging “from ear tagging to IV-ing to c-sections.” Rice County Farmers Union President Tessa Parks secured one grant from Compeer Financial already.
The first workshop, named Pooper Scooper 101, was held Saturday morning at Burning Daylight Draft Farm in Dennison, and taught a handful of farmers how to do a fecal-float test at home to identify parasites that might be present in the manure of their livestock.
Though she hasn’t done the work officially for several years, veterinary technician Kari Ripley-Boysen led the workshop Saturday. She said her experience and the implementation of her skills on her own farm help maintain her own knowledge.
She stood on one side of a barn at Burning Daylight and explained the processes of a float test, while the farmers in attendance followed along with their own manure samples.
Essentially, a small amount of manure is added to a sodium-nitrate solution and allowed to sit for about five minutes, while a microscope slide sits on top. After that five minutes is up, parasite eggs in the manure should’ve floated up and attached to the slide.
Using illustrations and photos of various parasite eggs, the farmers searched for similar structures using their microscope. Somewhat quickly, Rachel Boucher’s sample was determined to have an egg of a strongylid, a parasite also called threadworm.
From there, Parks explained it can be far easier and cheaper to treat for the worms, using a regular dewormer that can be purchased over the counter. While a fecal-float test can be a great diagnostic tool, farmers can find themselves in more urgent situations where a vet’s help could be life or death for the animal.
“Say you have lambs being born, and you need a professional with a scalpel,” Parks said. “And you have no one to call, or no one available for 4-12 hours or something, then you are left to your own devices.”
In that situation, having practiced at least the basics of an emergency c-section can be beneficial. And that’s one of the next workshops being planned by the consortium.
“But it still can be like an hour-plus away to the nearest general store for like needles or a scalpel,” Parks added. “And then, if you’re not sure exactly how to use them in that scenario — whether it be severe, like an emergency c-section or stitching up a cut, irrigating a wound, something like that — you will lose that animal, and you will lose that income and all that work you put into them. Not only can that be hard financially on farmers, it’s hard emotionally because you were charged with caring for this animal, and you know, you feel like you’ve let them down, or you let yourself down.”
Much of the consortiums future activities are in the planning stages, and Parks was unable to provide any dates or official times for future workshops.
To stay in the loop on future workshops by or for more information on the consortium, email wiferylivestockskills@gmail.com.
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