Repeat/Booster Shots On Your 7 & 8 way Vaccinations?

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rackranch

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Just wondering how many out there do the repeat in 3-4 weeks on you calves?  When we work or commercial cattle the calves are not brought back up in 3-4 weeks to repeat the dose.  They are worked twice a year so we are covered on the annual after that but not the initial booster. How many of you do repeat the shot like the instructions read? 

Also, on show cattle, I can't tell you how many times we have bought calves and been told ''they've had their shots.''  Do you vaccinate these calves when you get them home and perform a repeat, just do them once, or not at all?  On our show calves I will go ahead and re-vaccinate and repeat.

Just wondering how everyone is doing it.

Thanks
 

firesweepranch

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Just a few weeks ago I was talking to a friend. He lost a Hereford heifer to blackleg, and noted that they had stopped giving the booster several years previously. He said the value of that loss was big enough to pay for years of boosters in all the other cattle and from now on they were going to make sure they all got their second shots.

We give the booster, and we also give shots to new cattle coming in, but do them when we do the rest of the herd. If the herd was just done,new will do just the new heifer.
 

leanbeef

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Here's the deal... If you're not boosting the first shot, then the annual "booster" you're giving is not a booster because there's nothing left to "boost" by the time you give the next shot. The manufacturer doesn't suggest a 2nd shot just to sell more vaccine, and I've never read a label that said, "if it's convenient." The reason they recommend that shot is because it's necessary for the vaccines to be effective.

When you give the initial dose, you get a quick, short-lived protection. It takes that second dose to give anything you might consider immunity. I don't think what you're doing is completely unheard of...I imagine a lot of people do the same thing, but what you have is a false sense of security based on the fact that you're giving them SOMEthing. You've probably been more lucky than protected, and I'm not sure what you're doing is worth doing at all or worth spending the money you're spending. If you're gonna go to the trouble, why not take the one extra step and do it right?

As far as cattle that come in, it depends. If it's a reputable breeder and they tell me what they gave and when, then I trust it was done. As long as that vaccination corresponds with what I'm doing at home, then those cattle get rolled in on our schedule. If the program is different enough that I think they need to be put on our program, then we start them just like they've never had a shot.

By the way...I'm not a pharmaceutical sales rep! I just believe what the labels say about vaccinations, and I'm more comfortable doing a little extra than dealing with the consequences and wondering "What if...?"
 

rackranch

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Thanks, kinda felt like it was a waste of time and money not to repeat.  We just haven't because of what it would take to bring all the cows/calves  back up three weeks later.  Gonna change our protocol..
 

chambero

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It is definitely better to give the boosters as noted on the vaccines.  But, depending on the type of vaccine, its a big stretch to say you don't get any immunity from one shot.

The major feedlot programs have very specific health programs that pay premiums to sellers depending on how much trouble you want to go to in regards to vaccinations. I've attached links to a couple below.  They all pay premiums for just one set of shots, but the premiums go up the more you are willing to do.  The fact they pay a premium for one set of shots is proof enough that they consider one to help a lot.  

http://www.powergenetics.com/Health-Nutrition%20Program/health.htm

http://www.superiorlivestock.com/files/vac_programs.pdf

For years, we used the Cattlemaster Gold products which probably was one of the weaker respiratory vaccines to use without a booster.  We would calve in Sept/Oct, castrate and vaccinate in early December, and give a second vaccination about 3 weeks before we shipped at the end of June when they would weigh around 650 lbs.  The feedlot provided me with detailed health data on those calves along with carcass data and something on the order of 2-3 calves out of around 100 would get sick and require antibiotic over the course of the 9 month period or so they would be at the feedlot.  

We started selling to an all-natural feedlot two years ago and they really wanted me to use a "stronger" vaccine - the kind that requires your cows to be vaccinated also.  We bit the bullet this year and worked all of our cows with it between calving and breeding and have subsequently vaccinated the calves.  We use Bovishield Gold FP5 VL5.  That vaccine does not require the booster a few weeks later on the label.  I highly recommend this vaccine.  Knock on wood, I haven't had any problem on knots on show calves with it.  It's actually cheaper than the Cattlemaster vaccine, you just have to go through the trouble of vacinating your cows once when they are open.

http://pfizerah.ru/site/files/cows/BoviShield.pdf
 

leanbeef

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We all need to look at what we're doing occasionally and consider how we can do a better job. We use Alpha 7 for a clostridium as calves, and it doesn't require a booster. You do get some injection site abscesses if you're not real careful (and even if you are careful) because of the adjuvant. But I'll take an occasional abscess if they're protected. I think you have less issues if you really think about where & how you give the shots.

We use a MLV respiratory complex which isn't recommended for calves nursing pregnant cows, so they don't get that until after weaning, and then it's not as inconvenient to repeat the initial dose 3-4 weeks later. If your cows are protected, the calves should have protection through their dams to get them to weaning time. Cows get an annual MLV booster before breeding season.
 

chambero

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leanbeef said:
We use a MLV respiratory complex which isn't recommended for calves nursing pregnant cows, so they don't get that until after weaning, and then it's not as inconvenient to repeat the initial dose 3-4 weeks later. If your cows are protected, the calves should have protection through their dams to get them to weaning time. Cows get an annual MLV booster before breeding season.

Vaccinating calves that still are nursing pregnant cows was our number one issue on switching.  I had multiple people tell me it wouldn't hurt anything, including the current feedlot we sell to.  Not really believing them, I contact three "cow vets" in our region last year to ask this question.  One of which said he had observed two or three very large ranches try it with no ill affect on the mommas.  So, in the fall of 2011, we did vaccinate our entire calf crop with the MLV Bovishield Gold.  When we PG checked our cows that following summer (June 2012), we were fine on conception.  Still figuring we might have just got lucky, we went ahead and vaccinated the mommas this past fall.  I sleep a little easier about it now. 

I think vaccine programs are very complicated, even when you have good vet resources to talk to about it.  To even further complicate it, How many of you know that there are quite a few cow vets that actually have their own vaccines made?  I haven't used any of them yet, but I know of several, very legitimate, cow-focused vet clinics that do because they don't trust the commercially available stuff.
 

hamburgman

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I prefer to hit the calves with the MLV respiratory complex when they are on the cow because of few vaccine reactions.  I don't booster the Clostridums in 3-4 weeks, give a shot as a calf and then two as feeder calves.  Replacement heifers get two boosters and that is it for life.  The clostridiums vaccines have really good immunity.
 

BTDT

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The Alpha 7 bottle says to repeat if given under 3 mos of age.
There is new evidence that MLV can and have caused abortions and embryo loss in herds.

As someone said earlier, if you do not trust the breeder when you buy the calf, then you should revaccinate, as it will not cause a problem. But then, I have to ask, if you don't trust the breeder, why would you buy the calf?

 
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