What are you vaccinating for?

[Headless chicken]

Things slipped on the vaccination front with us over the past couple years and has made me question a bit if we mess with cows too much.

What do others vaccinate for?

we had a flare up of pneumonia in calves this autumn and we’re started to wonder if some of it is underlying bvd or ibr. We’re bleeding heifers to search for PI’s and nothings ever come back.

we were intending on rotavecing cows this autumn as we did have tail end problems with scours with the odd one coming up as rota virus. Just wondering where we draw the line a guess.

 

[Headless chicken]

Should add where did the debate on teat sealant end?
It’s a small cost in comparison to problems but how many does it actually solve that couldn’t be solved by a good steady milk reduction and allowing a natural plug?

 

[lazy farmer]

Should add where did the debate on teat sealant end?
It’s a small cost in comparison to problems but how many does it actually solve that couldn’t be solved by a good steady milk reduction and allowing a natural plug?

Breeding means many cows regardless of protocols will not produce a plug. We have found the less antibiotics we use the less mastitis we get.

 

[lazy farmer]

We do IBR after a hideous uptick in disease levels after living with it for yrs.
we do bvd as a precaution
And lepto for staff reasons.

bovigen scour is an absolute must here. For the time it saves the quality of the calves it helps Produce a happy calf buyer and the stress it avoids at a stressful time of yr.

Bvd is the one I would ditch first.

 

[Spudley]

We do bvd, ibr, and lepto

Every grazing herd should do lepto
We have endemic ibr so trying to keep immunity up
No bvd in herd and want to keep it that way

 

[frederick]

We are going to put salmonella back in again. Calves high temp and pneumonia symptoms at6-10 days but is really to early to be real pneumonia. A few has not been unusual but this year's many then developed joint I'll.

 

[rusty]

BVD, IBR and lepto here. Dry cows all get Rotavec too.
Did all the calves with three shots of vaccine for pneumonia this season after big problems the previous one.

 

[Scholsey]

Bovigen for dry cows (scours for calves, especially crypto)

IBR

startvax (mastitis in cows)

 

[Headless chicken]

BVD, IBR and lepto here. Dry cows all get Rotavec too.
Did all the calves with three shots of vaccine for pneumonia this season after big problems the previous one.

did the pneumonia vac sort the problem?

 

[Cowabunga]

BVD Lepto and Salmonella here. The only one we’ve ever had was Salmonella and I lost about eight cows with it. The first time was many years ago while cows were grazing and only two cows got it, probably from seagull droppings. The second time was early in the year while cows were housed but in the starling season. That was a shocker and we had the health people here and all sorts, so started vaccinating every mid Summer. The bulling heifers get vaccinated earlier and had their second dose last week and are being turned out, the PD+ ones, this afternoon.

Touch wood, haven’t had calf pneumonia in years. A big fan and two large open doors keeps air circulating even in the most humid conditions. Scours have not been an issue for many years either, almost certainly down to their management and specifically regulating the volume and speed with which they take on milk.

 

[Jdunn55]

We do IBR after a hideous uptick in disease levels after living with it for yrs.
we do bvd as a precaution
And lepto for staff reasons.

bovigen scour is an absolute must here. For the time it saves the quality of the calves it helps Produce a happy calf buyer and the stress it avoids at a stressful time of yr.

Bvd is the one I would ditch first.

What's bovigen Scour? Similar to rotavec?

 

[fiat100]

We vaccinate for nothing, stopped about 10 years ago and have seen no change in animal health.

 

[Headless chicken]

Does it cover crypto then? Is bovigen any different to rotavec?

 

[lazy farmer]

What's bovigen Scour? Similar to rotavec?

Yes. There was a time it was cheaper. About the same now but we know it works here so we continue

 

[lazy farmer]

Does it cover crypto then? Is bovigen any different to rotavec?

It doesn’t cover crypto. But as least in our case we have found the calves either fend it off altogether or have it very slightly if they are not having to also deal with the things covered by the vaccine

 

[Headless chicken]

BVD Lepto and Salmonella here. The only one we’ve ever had was Salmonella and I lost about eight cows with it. The first time was many years ago while cows were grazing and only two cows got it, probably from seagull droppings. The second time was early in the year while cows were housed but in the starling season. That was a shocker and we had the health people here and all sorts, so started vaccinating every mid Summer. The bulling heifers get vaccinated earlier and had their second dose last week and are being turned out, the PD+ ones, this afternoon.

Touch wood, haven’t had calf pneumonia in years. A big fan and two large open doors keeps air circulating even in the most humid conditions. Scours have not been an issue for many years either, almost certainly down to their management and specifically regulating the volume and speed with which they take on milk.

I have wondered about putting a couple of fans in the calf shed just to move the air a bit. We seem to really struggle with the extremes of one day being pissing wet the next baking hot. Sheeted door is on order for this year which will certainly help

 

[Jdunn55]

Yes. There was a time it was cheaper. About the same now but we know it works here so we continue

Thankyou, so basically if it came to rotavec vs bovigen just go for the cheaper one as they're basically the same?

 

[lazy farmer]

Thankyou, so basically if it came to rotavec vs bovigen just go for the cheaper one as they're basically the same?

I can’t say that as I haven’t used the other.

 

[Jamer]

BVD and Huskvac. Going to Bovigen Scour next season. - Trying to get rid of some infuriating E. coli in fresh calves.

 

[Holsteinfriesian90]

BVD and rotavec. Bvd is a good insurance and wouldn’t drop rotavec.