StartVax mastitis vaccine

[Scholsey]

Anyone using it?

Seem to be having a spat of mid lactation 2-3calvers getting a really nasty ecoli thats flooring them despite quarter not seeming that bad. Vet has suggested starting this,works out at £27/cow/year which seems expensive but not if saves couple of cows a year!

 

[dairyrow]

Maybe try getting their temperature if they are off colour. Be surprised how quickly theyll perk up with quick intervention. Wonder how much the vet gets out of it?

 

[pappuller]

Anyone using it?

Seem to be having a spat of mid lactation 2-3calvers getting a really nasty ecoli thats flooring them despite quarter not seeming that bad. Vet has suggested starting this,works out at £27/cow/year which seems expensive but not if saves couple of cows a year!

im very hesitant to go down this route, we see more than I would like but am exploring every avenue, 1 reason we have stopped zero grazing is cows been dirtier and a spike in cases, pumping water asap is the biggest help

 

[Pigken]

Not sure if applicable, but is it definitely ecoil and not sudomonous type infection, they go down stupidly quick from it, just a thought

 

[som farmer]

Maybe try getting their temperature if they are off colour. Be surprised how quickly theyll perk up with quick intervention. Wonder how much the vet gets out of it?

vets try and keep visit costs down, but stick it on drugs, as farmers incomes, come under strain, their profit drops, so always dubious about vaccinating for everything advised ! But, you need to find out exactly what's causing it, not vaccinating for what, it might be !

 

[epfarms]

It works, US cows get it like every other vaccine because it’s cheap there and works well - yes it does probably mask management issues, it’s just a shame that they add the Staph Aureus part in to it which turns it from a £2 vaccine to £10.
Somfarmer is probably right, finding the root cause is necessary, but the vaccine will be a bloody good help until you do!

 

[Farmer Keith]

I seem to remember the issue I had with it was they needed a booster half way through the dry period or something? It’s not so simple as just doing the whole herd periodically, I could of lived with £27 per cow but not the hassle of vaccinating different batches of cows every 2 weeks.

 

[Spudley]

We were on it for about 18 months, our main issue in the end turned out to be strep uberis, which is not covered by startvac. IIRC we gave it to all the cows 3 or 4 times a year, after discussion with our vet, the label directions were completely impractical for us.

 

[Cows 'n grass]

We were on it for about 18 months, our main issue in the end turned out to be strep uberis, which is not covered by startvac. IIRC we gave it to all the cows 3 or 4 times a year, after discussion with our vet, the label directions were completely impractical for us.

There's a strep uberis vaccine now as well. It's called UBAC.

 

[epfarms]

I seem to remember the issue I had with it was they needed a booster half way through the dry period or something? It’s not so simple as just doing the whole herd periodically, I could of lived with £27 per cow but not the hassle of vaccinating different batches of cows every 2 weeks.

Yea that’s the ballache. They do do a dosage where it’s the whole herd every 3-4 months which helps a bit imo

 

[Scholsey]

Another cow with it, anybody else started it? £20-£25 a cow/year seems dear but ecoli is only mastitis issue we have, it’s just a killer

 

[pappuller]

Another cow with it, anybody else started it? £20-£25 a cow/year seems dear but ecoli is only mastitis issue we have, it’s just a killer [emoji30]

Free access or guided ?

 

[Scholsey]

Free access or guided ?

free access, gave 52 litres yesterday then

great......110 days in milk.

 

[jimmer]

If its definitely ecoli I can't see how a vaccine is going to be as effective as pinpointing the cause
Extra bedding and cubicle dimensions maybe?

 

[Scholsey]

If its definitely ecoli I can't see how a vaccine is going to be as effective as pinpointing the cause
Extra bedding and cubicle dimensions maybe?

just seem to have 1 real nasty buger every 6 weeks or so on 160 cows, usually the only clinical case we have!

 

[pappuller]

just seem to have 1 real nasty buger every 6 weeks or so on 160 cows, usually the only clinical case we have!

I feel your pain, we have tried plenty of changes over the last 6 months, I have come to the conclusion that cows going from the robot to the cubicles and lying straight down are at high risk from contamination as the teat end is still open and has a higher risk of infection because of this.
We have started mixing lime with sawdust and have started using an iodine pvp spray that leaves a thin film on the teat which i think helps.
We have seen less cases and less severe.

 

[dairydurham]

We used Startvac for two years doing every cow four times a year to keep it simple .Didnt make any difference for us except for the cost.Friends have used the sheep version & have found it to be a total waist of time. The biggest improvement for our cows was adding more limestone flour into the ration as it helps to improve muscle function and closes the teat quicker . Hope it helps as E Coli just wears you down & you dread going into look at the cows .

 

[pappuller]

We used Startvac for two years doing every cow four times a year to keep it simple .Didnt make any difference for us except for the cost.Friends have used the sheep version & have found it to be a total waist of time. The biggest improvement for our cows was adding more limestone flour into the ration as it helps to improve muscle function and closes the teat quicker . Hope it helps as E Coli just wears you down & you dread going into look at the cows .

Funnily enough we have increased our l flour rate from 75grms to 150grms. But not for this reason

 

[Edgey22]

Get the parlour dynamically flow tested, I was working on a dairy farm a few years ago with huge numbers of cows getting ecoli mastitis, turned out to be changing from round to square liners and the parlour not drawing milk away quick enough. They also moved to 3 times a day milking to reduce pressure on the bag, many of them would be leaking a hour or two from milking time.

Be careful that the teats aren’t getting to dry with lime and iodine, some post dips have a moisturising effect with reduces sores.

 

[Stuckingeneva]

We have also been having major problems for two years now, in mainly mid lactation cows. the vaccine has done nothing for us and i wont be boosting again