Well, we are into the late fall and everyone is getting ready for winter. Some people are thinking about next spring’s calf crop and wanting to know what to do to ensure the health of the calves. We have two major problems with disease, one hits the cow before the calf is born and the other hits the calf early in its life.
The first one is Lepto hardjo. This disease will hit the cow and cause late term abortion. Now, it is hard to see that cow abort a late term fetus after we have went through the breeding season and fed her this long. The costs add up and we have to wait another year to get a calf out of her. A research experiment looked at the infection rate of normal cows across the nation in every state a few years ago. The result was that 42 percent of the cows were infected with Lepto hardjo. This high a percentage does scare me. It also means that our older Lepto vaccines are not giving us the protection that we need in this day and age.
It has been proven that the older vaccines do not carry the specific hardjo that is causing the problem. We also now know that the cow is the end stage host. This means that she will be the main carrier and transmitter. The newer vaccines do have hardjo in them. One has a United States strain and the other has a foreign strain. But, they are higher priced due to the research and development that went in to isolating this new strain. So, the old question comes up, “Do you pay now or do you pay later?”
The other problem I always see is gut form Blackleg. This will hit the calf as young as the first week of age. But, normally I will see it around that two week range. It will cause scours or you will just walk out and find a calf dead. This can be prevented by either vaccinating the cow this time of year or vaccinating the calf as soon as it hits the ground. I prefer vaccinating the calves within the first 12 hours of life. There are two different products that will work at this young age. The rest of the Blackleg vaccines will not work until your calf is at least two weeks of age. This is due to the immaturity of their immune system.
So, if I was to give anything to my cows right now it would be a Lepto hardjo and Blackleg boosters. And if you are using a killed IBR and BVD then that should be boostered now also. The immunity from the killed products does not last as long as the modified live. I have seen some vaccine lines only last about 3 months. While other killed products will last up to 11 months.
Dr. Tim O’Neill owns Country Veterinary Clinic in Farmington, Ark.
