Avoid Reimplantation with These Beef Implants
Are you looking to reduce animal handling time and simplify your beef cattle implants process? Cattle implants are popular tools producers have used to improve efficiencies for decades, so we like to keep our customers informed of changes that can impact and/or aid your efforts – whether that’s an improvement in technology that reduces time in the chute, or regulation that requires your extra attention behind the scenes. Here, we’ll cover both of those bases with an updated law from the FDA and two implant offerings from Merck Animal Health – one for heifers and one for steers – designed for the final stage of production that will not need to be reimplanted.
Reimplantation Law Changes
On July 1, new reimplantation laws took effect as the FDA says only implants that are expressly labeled for reimplantation will be able to be placed in cattle more than once per production phase. This means cattle can still receive multiple implants in the same production phase, however, the implants must have blatant instructions on the label about reimplantation – specifically for that production phase.The Benefits of Revalor-XH and Revalor-XS Implants
Revalor-XH and Revalor-XS implants help cattle remain productive throughout the entire finishing period without the need for reimplantation. The implants deploy a novel delayed-release technology that delivers two doses in a single implant. It means Revalor-XH and Revalor-XS implants give feedlot heifers and steers the exact dosage they need when they need it. Plus, there’s no additional labor for producers and you won’t have to deal with added stress or loss of feed intake for cattle.Find more information to compare these implants and other products in our Cattle Implant Chart.
How These Revalor Implants Work
Merck says cattle implanted at every production stage can gain up to an extra 195 pounds in their lifetime compared to non-implanted cattle. In the final stage (confined and fed for slaughter), Revalor-XH and Revalor-XS implants work to improve feed efficiency and promote growth/weight gain for beef cattle. Each implant contains trenbolone acetate (which is currently the only synthetic androgen approved for use for growth promotion in cattle in the US) and estradiol to stimulate appetite and develop muscle. The implants last for up to 200 days.Each cartridge comes with 10 doses (implants) and are designed to be used with the Revalor implant gun. According to product labels, these implants get placed under the skin on the back of the animal’s ear. There’s no withdrawal period required when the product is used according to label instructions.
