Rotavirus

[Stinker]

With calving not to far away I would like to know what are my options for preventing rota virus. It's never been a killer on our farm but rears it's head every year and is a pain in the backside. I know cleaning etc might help but I do that already. I have used rotavec vaccine before but unless you feed calves pooled colostrum for a couple of weeks it's a waste of time. So are there any other options? I see in the US you can vicinate calves at birth with calf guard vaccine. Is something similar available here?

 

[Cows 'n grass]

Traditionally we have had a lot of problems with rotavirus but this spring we reared nearly 200 heifer calves and I don't think we saw a case.

We put even more emphasis on making sure they were stuffed with colostrum as soon as we saw them and we fed pasteurized whole milk and waste mikk rather than powder and unpasteurized waste milk.

 

[jimmer]

in 2013, rota , corona, crypto and every other calf ailment nearly sent me to the funny farm

we have rota corona vaccinated ever since and the problems are now minimal especially with rotavirus

the calves only get two feeds of colostrum with the first as soon as possible and the second within 12 hours
you shouldnt need to feed pooled colostrum fro weeks to get immuno levels up
i not going to go into song and verse , but i have always been told that feeding colostrum after 24hours old gives little gain from that point of view

 

[crashbangwallop]

Exactly what @jimmer says. Follow him and you'll not go far wrong. Rotavec needs to be in her for 28 days pre-calving mind, any less than that and its not getting time to work

 

[Stinker]

in 2013, rota , corona, crypto and every other calf ailment nearly sent me to the funny farm

we have rota corona vaccinated ever since and the problems are now minimal especially with rotavirus

the calves only get two feeds of colostrum with the first as soon as possible and the second within 12 hours
you shouldnt need to feed pooled colostrum fro weeks to get immuno levels up
i not going to go into song and verse , but i have always been told that feeding colostrum after 24hours old gives little gain from that point of view

I just haven't found that to be the case. We still get scouring calves that come back as rota virus. Usually around 1 to 3 weeks of age but sometimes a bit older. Like I said as long as they are spotted early they never get that ill but it's just a pain. The vet says the vaccine will only give immunity as long as the calf is drinking the milk. Hence why it works so well in Suckled calves

 

[Stinker]

@bovine am I right about how the vaccine works or am I doing something wrong?

 

[DaveGrohl]

I was told by our vet that the antibodies sort of line the stomach during feeding which gives some but not total protection. It doesn't work quite like other vaccines in that the immunity the mother confers is a passing immunity. Hence why pooling of colostrum is a good method for feeding for days as some cows will emit low levels of antibodies. This does of course fly at odds with best Johnes practice. My vet told me this btw before I get shot down.......

 

[bovine]

@bovine am I right about how the vaccine works or am I doing something wrong?

It's lovely - everyone is right. ((group hug))

The vaccine works both by boosting the antibodies absorbed by the calf in the first feeds AND by providing an ongoing localised protection.

Personally I don't find it that useful in dairy, but great in beef.

With dairy get lots of decent quality colostrum in (and test some calves to make sure what you are doing works). 4 litres in the first 6 hours (10% bwt) by stomach tube and you can generally pat yourself on the back. Obviously environment needs to be clean.

The Welsh youngstock project (I forget the exact title) found half of calves samples had inadequate levels of colostrum. Many of these were good, big farms.

 

[Stinker]

It's lovely - everyone is right. ((group hug))

The vaccine works both by boosting the antibodies absorbed by the calf in the first feeds AND by providing an ongoing localised protection.

Personally I don't find it that useful in dairy, but great in beef.

With dairy get lots of decent quality colostrum in (and test some calves to make sure what you are doing works). 4 litres in the first 6 hours (10% bwt) by stomach tube and you can generally pat yourself on the back. Obviously environment needs to be clean.

The Welsh youngstock project (I forget the exact title) found half of calves samples had inadequate levels of colostrum. Many of these were good, big farms.

I think we a fairly good at getting colostrum into calves early. We try to stomach tube everything within 3 hours. It just doesn't make much difference to the amount of calves scouring. There are plenty of calf scour prebiotic that claim to reduce scour but I doubt they will work. It's just a shame we don't have a calf vaccine like in the US.

 

[Clay52]

I think we a fairly good at getting colostrum into calves early. We try to stomach tube everything within 3 hours. It just doesn't make much difference to the amount of calves scouring. There are plenty of calf scour prebiotic that claim to reduce scour but I doubt they will work. It's just a shame we don't have a calf vaccine like in the US.

You do have the same vaccine avalable in the states.

 

[bovine]

It's just a shame we don't have a calf vaccine like in the US.

There are a lot of products available in the US that simply don't work. They only need to prove it is safe, not that it works!

Have you had bloods done to confirm that calves are getting adequate passive transfer?

 

[Stinker]

I admit I haven't taken bloods. I already am feeding high levels of good quality colostrum within 3 hours. I don't know what more I can do. It rained for over 100 days in a row last winter which probably didn't help in the hutches. Maybe I need to reduce stress on the calves somehow. Its a shame there is no magic solution as I'm quite happy with the calf rearing otherwise.

 

[Clay52]

There are a lot of products available in the US that simply don't work. They only need to prove it is safe, not that it works!

Have you had bloods done to confirm that calves are getting adequate passive transfer?

The rotoavirus vaccine talked about here is available in the states just under a different name.

I would say there is a magic solution for calves.
Vaccinate dry cows
Lots of good colostrum to calves.
Clean dry bedding for calves.
Plenty of milk for them to grow with a strong immune system.
That's the 95% of it.

 

[bovine]

I admit I haven't taken bloods.

Next time you have the vet on farm get them to take some. If they are fine then you can put colostrum to bed as an issue.

 

[lazy farmer]

I admit I haven't taken bloods. I already am feeding high levels of good quality colostrum within 3 hours. I don't know what more I can do. It rained for over 100 days in a row last winter which probably didn't help in the hutches. Maybe I need to reduce stress on the calves somehow. Its a shame there is no magic solution as I'm quite happy with the calf rearing otherwise.

how old is the colostrum you are feeding?

 

[Stinker]

how old is the colostrum you are feeding?

It's fresh or frozen.

Im already doing everything I should be doing with regards to clean bedding etc. I lost 1 calf out of 300 heifers last year so I don't think I'm doing a bad job. It's just annoying to have to scour.

When I used the rotavec corona vaccine colostrum was a thick as glue but it made no difference.

 

[bovine]

Im already doing everything I should be doing

That's what everyone says when I take bloods and find they are getting inadequate levels......

Humour me - test some calves.

 

[Stinker]

The rotoavirus vaccine talked about here is available in the states just under a different name.

I would say there is a magic solution for calves.
Vaccinate dry cows
Lots of good colostrum to calves.
Clean dry bedding for calves.
Plenty of milk for them to grow with a strong immune system.
That's the 95% of it.

I know rotavec is available in the US. I was referring to a vaccine called calf guard that you can give to calves at birth which is available in the US but not here. It might be that it doesn't work but it can't be any worse than rotavec which definitely doesn't work in my experience without prolonged colostrum feeding.

 

[lazy farmer]

It's fresh or frozen.

Im already doing everything I should be doing with regards to clean bedding etc. I lost 1 calf out of 300 heifers last year so I don't think I'm doing a bad job. It's just annoying to have to scour.

When I used the rotavec corona vaccine colostrum was a thick as glue but it made no difference.

sorry to labour the point but how old is the colstrum? we thought we were doing an okay job but a lot of our colostrum was over 6 hrs old coming out of the cow which we now know is sub optimal.
lazy

 

[Stinker]

That's what everyone says when I take bloods and find they are getting inadequate levels......

Humour me - test some calves.

But let's say they are getting inadequate levels but I was tubing calves within 3 hours with vaccinated colostrum. What else can I do. Sorry if I come across as being ungrateful for advice. When I get some calves born I will take some bloods but it's a bit late to think about it then.