CALF_News_August_September_2021

44 CALF News • August | September 2021 • www.calfnews.net On the Edge of Common Sense With Baxter Black Aunt Effie and ‘The Virus’ Why Do You Read CALF News ? “I read CALF News to make sure I'm tuned in to the perspectives of all our customers and seeing the same news and information they do.”  AUNT EFFIE WAS THE “NEIGHBOR- HOOD HEALER” in her community of Noble, Okla. When I was visiting and scraped my arm or had a stomachache, she always had the right potion, poultice, roots, soak or fern to treat the ailment. Her husband, Uncle Leonard, was an authority on the ailments of cows and mules. That was 20 years before the widespread availability of penicillin in 1939. The lifespan of the average person was 47 years old. Today, it is 78 years old (pre-COVID). That is just one example of the uncountable human lives science has saved by diseases cured and prevented, not to mention those of domestic animals. My time practicing veterinary medicine was mostly in feedlots, on big ranches and dairies, on range ewes and saddle horses. I spent and used millions and millions of dollars to save animal lives and prevent disease. All my medi- cines were approved by the USDA (vac- cines) and the FDA (pharmaceuticals), and took years of testing to prove that it did what it said on their labels. I, as a DVM, am responsible for medicine I use on the patient. If I misuse a product, I am liable to be sued … but not the salesman, the layman doc, the actor in the commercial, the entire “alternative medicine” industry that is mandated to confess on their label “This product has not been evaluated by the United States Food and Drug Adminis- tration and is not approved to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent disease.” The FDA … the one team that can protect the public from what used to be called “quacks.” If the expert medical doctors that we have been seeing on TV regarding the COVID virus seem hesitant to answer the questions that the raving media asks, there is a reason – they are stalling, waiting. In most cases of nature, there is con- stant change. You are asking the doctors to predict specific outcomes. They can only compare similar past consequences. Oh, and they are responsible for what they say, unlike the newspaper colum- nist, the television commentators, all politicians and my sweet Aunt Effie. Regarding those of you of the rural community who have been my “family” all my life and are afraid to get your COVID vaccination, ask yourself “Am I afraid to vaccinate my calves for IBR, BVD, lepto, BRD, red water, blackleg? Am I afraid to vaccinate my horses for tetanus, sleeping sickness? My dogs for parvo, rabies … and my kids for measles, mumps, rubella and chicken pox?” As a friend, it would make my life a lot easier. P.S. Ivermectin is a horse wormer.  The face of the cattle industry www.calfnews.net National Account Manager Jessica Ebert | (785) 477-1941 For information on advertising in CALF News Magazine, contact: Jim Akers Manager, Bluegrass Livestock Market Lexington, Ky.