Our Vaccination & Deworming Program
We are often asked by customers who purchase cattle from us what our vaccination and treatment program is for our cattle. With this blog post we are going to set forth our program for those who want to know this information. We believe our treatments program is comprehensive and appropriate for our geographic location, but not for every geographic location. For instance, our main ranch is mostly flat, in a warm climate that gets substantial rainfall, with heavy soil. That environment is favorable for the growth of certain pests that are not problems in “high country” with sandy soil and cold winters, which will have different pests to contend with. In general, it is wise to check with one’s veterinarian to design a treatments program that is best suited for the specific local geographic conditions. Also, some products (certain modified live virus vaccines, for example) can cause abortions in pregnant cows and heifers, so it is important to study the labels of each product used to ensure that the manner in which a product is used will not cause unintended negative consequences. In addition, the time of year and point in time during a female’s calving cycle is important for some treatments.
VACCINATIONS:
We utilize a vaccination program that provides protection against the major popular diseases, including a Colostridial vaccine (often referred to as a 7-way, 8-way or 9-way vaccine), and bovine respiratory disease complex (“BRD”) vaccine, we also utilize some of the newer, less popular vaccinations for protection of young calves against Salmonella, E.coli, Pasteurella and Mannheimia. Below is the list of vaccination products we use:
Calvary 9 – We use this produce for male and female animals as our primary Colostridial vaccine. Importantly, it protects against Tetanus, which some of the 7-way and 8-way vaccines do not, which important for young castrated animals that can contract Tetanus from laying on the ground after castration.
Vira Shield 6+ VL5 – We use this product only for male animals as our primary BRD vaccine. We do not use this product for female animals, for which we use a more expensive product that contains guaranteed protection of unborn calves against BVD-PI (see below).
Either Bovi-Shield GOLD FP 5 VL5 or Express FP 10 – We use one or the other of these products for only female animals as our primary BRD vaccine. Each of these products protect against the major known BRDs, but also provide protection against BVD-PI for unborn/fetus calves. Importantly, these vaccines can cause abortions in pregnant cattle, and they must be administered at least 30 days prior to breeding, so they must be administered to cows during a short window of time after calving. We use either of these, and we try to rotate between them annually or semi-annually, as the manner in which they offer protection varies slightly, and the Express FP 10 product, at the time of this writing, protected against the relatively newly discovered “type 1b” strain of BVD.
ENDOVAC-Beef With ImmunePlus – We use this vaccination for all cattle for protection against E.coli, Salmonella, Pasteurella and Mannheimia. This product must not be administered to pregnant cows during the 1st and 2nd trimesters of pregnancy, as such might cause abortions.
Nuplura PH – We use this vaccination for all cattle, including young unweaned calves age 3-months and older, as protection against the respiratory disease caused by M. haemolytica. We utilize this vaccine in young unweaned calves while working cows that have young cows by their side.
DEWORMERS:
We alternate between several dewormer products in order to guard against pests developing a resistance to a particular dewormer, because their mode of operation varies, and because certain dewormers are more or less effective against certain pests at certain times of the year.
Ivomec Plus – We use this product (or a generic version) as a broad-spectrum dewormer that is also one of only two products on the market that are effective against liver flukes, a parasite that is common in wet areas. We try to use this product mostly in the liver fluke season, and especially in late summer when this product is most effective against liver flukes. This is an injectable product.
Valbazen – We use this product as a broad-spectrum dewormer that is one of only two products on the market that are effective against liver flukes. This is a drench product.
Cydectin Pour-On – We use this product as a broad-spectrum dewormer that can be used as a simpler to apply pour-on.
Long Range – We use this product, which is substantially more expensive compared to the other dewormer products we use, as a broad-spectrum dewormer, for weaned calves and younger animals that are more susceptible to intestinal worms because they have not yet developed their own immunity to them, because it works in a completely different manner than the other dewormers we use, and provides 150 days of protection from a single dose through an extended-release methodology. Because of the label recommendation to not use on “breeding bulls” we do not use Long Range for bull animals.
LINKS TO USEFUL GENERAL INFORMATION SOURCES:
A good general information source about vaccinations for cattle from Texas A&M University
A 2-page PDF file with information about Colostridial vaccines from the USDA AFIS.
