Vaccines

[Dohcvtec]

Hey there checking in from iowa. We are new to the cattle world and about a year and a half ago we got our first pair of black angus heifers then a little later on we decided to get ourself a charolais Heifer.  They where all ai last June and July and will start to calve mid March. Question is what's everyone doing as far as vaccines for the calves, like I said we are totally new to this but wanna get knowledge needed to have healthy calves . I will post pictures of our girls .







Also what's does everyone think of the overall condition of our girls. Have had some people say they might be too big or fat . For feed they are on free access of grass Alfalfa hay and about 5 pounds of ddgs each a day but starting to work the ddgs down till after they calve . And have a mineral block out for them but also going to be getting the purina wind and rain tub for them here shortly

 

[WinterSpringsFarm]

If they are to fat mine are obese.

For vaccination, at 7mo bred or so I give the cows a triangle 10 shot, at 2mo old the calves get triangle 10 and covexin 8, and then again when weaned.

 

[neocattleman]

we use scour guard 4kc every year on the cows give it 4-6 weeks before they have their calf, if its the first time they are getting it you have to give 2 doses

 

[fish94]

Preg gaurd 9 and you should give them two rounds of scout guard shots to protect the calf.... I wouldn't say they are to fat but they are plenty big! Stop the ddg, and you were giving them plain ddg? Gotta be careful with that or you could see some thing like polio from it.  Nice cattle

 

[Mackford Meadows]

once PMH and inforce 3 in the nose right after birth

 

[CAB]

  Spend time trying to learn which diseases that you want or need in protect your cattle herd from instead of getting all hung up about which name brand vaccine that this person or that person uses. IMO it's the only way that you can ever really understand what you are doing. Drug companies are always coming up with new products and if you don't understand what you are doing they'll sell you whatever they want you to use instead of you being in charge of what you are wanting to do. I hope this makes sense.

  http://www.steerplanet.com/bb/hall-of-fame/protocol-for-vaccinations/

  Above is a link that I hope will help you to begin to understand. DL is a vet.

 

[Dohcvtec]

Yeah all this just gets confusing especially for a newbie like myself . I have heard some people say you can't vaccine newborn calves and some say you need to right when they are born

 

[CAB]

  I would say if some of that info seems a little confusing to you then I would suggest going to your vet. and asking them what they would recommend for your vaccination program and if you want to ever understand the reasons you'll need to ask why they recommend such & such a product.

 

[Dohcvtec]

Yes going to visit with my vet tomorrow and see what he says. He's not the best at answering questions like this that's why I wanted to start doing my own research.  I appreciate everyone's comments

 

[Mackford Meadows]

otherwise google beef cattle vaccine plans or protocols, lots of information out there.  i use once pmh, inforce 3, bovishield gold with lepto, and alpha 7

 

[Dohcvtec]

So just got done visiting with my vet and this is what he recommended let me know what you guys think. For the heifers he said scour guard 4kc now then again in about 4 weeks. For the calves he said nothing at birth and inforce 3 and alpha 7 at 3-4 weeks old

 

[CAB]

  It makes sense. The only other question would be are your cows all up to date with their vaccinations? I assume that you'll probably pour and worm them when they go through the chute.

 

[Dohcvtec]

Yes they have been poured and wormed

 

[CAB]

  Most outfits would pour and worm  minimum of twice per year.
  I have a little more time now and I really think there are kind of two schools of thought as to when to vaccinate calves. one being asap after being born and the other as your vet recommended at 3 to 4 weeks of age. It really gets down to whether or not you can catch them somewhat easily at 3 to 4 weeks old and also whether or not you have any history of problems related to the clostridium bacteria's. Another alternative to running your cows through the chute twice to give them the Scour Guard 4KC shot would be to give the calves the calf Scour Guard shot asap after hitting the ground. Do you know what the Scour Guard 4KC includes by chance? I'm curious if it includes any vaccines that are for the cow or if it is mainly for scour protection for the calves.

 

[neocattleman]

CAB here is a link to info on scourguard 4kc

https://www.zoetisus.com/products/beef/scourguard-4kc.aspx

 

[CAB]

Thanks Neocattleman. Reading through the info, thee would be no part of that shot that is for the cows immune system. It is all targeted towards the calves. Dohctec, are your cows up to date on all of their vaccinations? If not you may want to check that out with your vet if you are running them through the chute. It may be a good time to booster their needed shots.

 

[RyanChandler]

The biggest 'herd health' step you could take would be to get the cows out of the dry lot and on pasture.  The environment they're in now substantially increase the likelihood of you actually needing these vaccines. Contrary to what some believe, 'most' cattlemen aren't vaccinating preweaned calves at all much less running the dam through the chute multiple times per year. Very common for a healthy productive cow to never go through a chute after being weaned herself. My advice would be to get the cows out of the slop to prevent the need for most preventative vaccines, give your replacement calves a 7-way when you wean them-- which will address blackleg something that a cleaner environment won't guard against-- and then only put your mature cows through the chute when there's a problem. You'll be highly surprised how much your herd health increases once you let cattle out of confinement, put them on pasture, and only intervene when there's a visable problem. 

 

[Dohcvtec]

Thanks for the responses everyone.  We got the angus pair when they where weaned and owner said they where up to date on there vaccines so we have only been pouring and worming but will talk to vet about that . Also the charolais one we got as a yearling and she was also up to date but will ask vet about her too. The heifers do have access to about 2 acres of open pasture all the time just with Temps heating up here in iowa everything is all sloppy but we always keep a couple corn stalk bales where we notice they like to lay Down at. I also went to my local vet supply store and they don't carry the purina mineral tub but they had their own calving tub which he said peopke have been very happy with it so got that. What's the price on a regular tub this one was $120 for a 200# tub

 

[CAB]

The biggest 'herd health' step you could take would be to get the cows out of the dry lot and on pasture.  The environment they're in now substantially increase the likelihood of you actually needing these vaccines. Contrary to what some believe, 'most' cattlemen aren't vaccinating preweaned calves at all much less running the dam through the chute multiple times per year. Very common for a healthy productive cow to never go through a chute after being weaned herself. My advice would be to get the cows out of the slop to prevent the need for most preventative vaccines, give your replacement calves a 7-way when you wean them-- which will address blackleg something that a cleaner environment won't guard against-- and then only put your mature cows through the chute when there's a problem. You'll be highly surprised how much your herd health increases once you let cattle out of confinement, put them on pasture, and only intervene when there's a visable problem.

  Needless to say that running cows in different parts of the country requires different management programs. With land selling for $4500.00 to over $20,000.00 per acre in Iowa the last several years people can't afford to run them on the "range". Most stocking rate range from one pair per acre to one pair per 3 acres depending on if people want to run rotational pastures. Our soils are different here and that's why it is somewhat important to know what kind of problems are common for your own area. Almost all of the calves in Iowa are given at least one round of shots and some are given 3 rounds if you count the 1st round at birth. The vets, drug companies, and the sale barns have gotten together and created programs and at some sales it is hard to sell calves without their green tag programs or their gold tag programs. Missouri Cooporatives have their own programs developed also.
  Dohcvtec your cows may have had their calf shots but you'll want to ck to see if they have had their reproductive shots. IE Vibrio & Lepto combination. I use Vira Shield 6 VL5 and booster Blackleg with Ultrabac 7 Somnus. there again other vaccines are just as good under a different name and pharmaceutical co.

 

[Dohcvtec]

If they have not had their reproductive shots when would I need to give those? Now or after they calve