Calf vaccinations and medications

[lonecowhand]

I apologize if there's another thread on here which has discussed this, but a search of " Vaccination" did not yield results.

 Now with a lot calves on the way, I'm sure a lot of you have a vaccination or prophylactic medication regimen you use to avoid future problems and illness. What do you do on your farm for calf wellness, and when do you administer it?

Thanks, Bill

[genebo]

You need to start by finding a large animal veterinarian. There are some required vaccinations that are required by the State of California. They must be administered by a veterinarian and reported to the Department of Food and Agriculture.

For complete answers contact your State Veterinarian, Dr. Richard E. Breitmeyer [phone]

If I sell a calf to someone in California, my vet will call your State Vet for the latest updates on vaccination requirements in your state. My calf will have to be vaccinated to comply before it can be shipped to California.

Regulations vary from state to state. A lot of it depends upon the health of the cattle herd in that state. Some states are declared to be "brucellosis free" or "tuberculosis free". They do not require all cattle to be vaccinated against these diseases. My state, Virginia, is one state that does not require all cattle to be vaccinated. We have been free of most of these diseases for many years.

I have an excellent vet looking in on my Dexters. He is aware that I do not vaccinate my cattle. His only suggestion is that any that are planned to be milked be vaccinated for brucellosis and TB.

My reason for not automatically vaccinating is that some of my buyers will not buy cattle that have been vaccinated. Especially if they intend to milk them or slaughter them for beef.

[lonecowhand]

Thanks Gene, I contacted the State Vet, and you are right on.

They want Certificate of Veterinary Inspection(within 15 days)
Brucillosis vaccination (if out of a "surveilance area", a negative blood test required 30 days)
Bulls need a negative Tricosomiasis test (60 days)
Tuberculosis test (if over six mo. old)
Vesicular stomiasis test (30 days)

That means someone has to have a pretty fixed schedule, to accomplish all this.

Is everyone out there as lucky as Gene, not to have these disease possibilities in their areas?
Do any others of you have a routine for calf meds?

Bill

[Deleted]

We are in a TB and Brucillosis free state. I dont do any vaccinations. If we had issues then we would. If I was going to do anything it would be pink eye because we do have issues with that. However the pink eye vaccination does not seem to be that effective. 
As far as calf care we do watch and make sure the calf is getting up and getting a meal on its own. If the cow is not licking the umbilical cord (Some are better at that then others) then it gets iodine. Some times their tail will get stuck down in dried poop so we do watch for that to happen. 
Within the first day I ear tag, weigh and pull hairs.

[Donlin Stud]

We don’t vaccinate at all.

Our biggest threats are pestivirus and liverfluke.

Pestivirus is widespread throughout the Australian cattle population. About 70% of herds are actively infected with the virus. We are lucky enough to be one of the 30% after tail hairs were sent for testing with the NSW Department of Primary Industries lab.

We have a closed herd and ask for PV test results of visiting girls, accepting only those testing free of PV.

We are in a liverfluke area, so do drench with pour-on once a year being now – April/May for this.

Finding drenches for liverfluke that has a no withholding period and no residual residue is hard enough.

All but one enquiry for the Dexters has been for natural – no vaccinations type animals for self-sustainable lifestyles.

I think we ‘attract’ more of those types of enquiries too because we advertise DNA testing for A2, Kappa and BetaL as well as having the grandchild pictured with moos all over our website and ads.

Its similar to what the picture of chooks running around in lush green environments does for their egg sales – it creates a desirable picture 