Bang’s vaccine

[NIdahoShorthorns]

The bad part is that the vaccine doesn't necessarily prevent the disease. It just prevents the abortions. The cows can become infected and contagious without showing any symptoms. We had a positive flagged several years ago that stirred up our State Animal Health Dept. Fortunately, it was a false positive but we got an education about Brucellosis! Back then, a confirmed positive resulted in the quarantine and eradication of the entire herd! Now they quarantine, vaccinate and test until the herd is deemed clean with no positives after two years.

Seems like eradication would be cheaper than two years of quarantine. Unless you have a purebred operation.

 

[deff]

You can still raise and sell calves and cull cows etc, but everything that moves off the ranch has to go to a feedlot or straight to slaughter. Having to keep the herd in close for repeated vaccinations and testing can be the biggest hardship. Quite a few producers near Yellowstone Park have had to go through the process over the last few years. Elk seem to be the main source. Most ranches in Montana have continuously vaccinated their replacement heifers ever since 1940's but bangs is still around courtesy of the Dept of Interior.

 

[SBMF 2015]

I was looking into it more, adult cow bangs vax is required to be done by the state vet or a federal employee. Everything I read said they take no responsibility for adverse events. I can't find out why, but it seems that vaccinating after 12 months poses risks that don't exist in calves, so why not do it when it's easy? As stated above, seems like getting the shots would be easier than risking a whole herd quarantine, or worse, disposal.

I think the chances of false positives are much greater in cows than hfr calves.

 

[Named'em Tamed'em]

The vet said if he gave a cow a Bangs vaccination and it aborted, it would have to be reported as a Brucellosis abortion and would create a bunch of headaches.

 

[J+ Cattle]

I take my heifers to the vet for the Bangs vaccine, it's inexpensive, less than $10/head. Cheap insurance as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Brute 23]

The vet said if he gave a cow a Bangs vaccination and it aborted, it would have to be reported as a Brucellosis abortion and would create a bunch of headaches.

If you Google bangs vaccine the first thing that comes up is... for use in cattle 4-12 mo the old and not pregnant.

Not sure why they were doing a bred cow?

I dont know that much about the vaccine though. They have to be less than a year old here per the vet but maybe that's just a state rule and not per the vaccine.

 

[Named'em Tamed'em]

If you Google bangs vaccine the first thing that comes up is... for use in cattle 4-12 mo the old and not pregnant.

Not sure why they were doing a bred cow?

I dont know that much about the vaccine though. They have to be less than a year old here per the vet but maybe that's just a state rule and not per the vaccine.

There was a silver tag for older cows. I was just asking questions as the vet was doing his job with my heifers.

 

[Farmgirl]

Does anyone do this anymore? I rarely see the tags on cows or heifers. don't think it's an issue anymore in Texas, but is it still a common practice?

Just took heifers to the vet for bangs vaccinations. After discussion with the vet I may not continue to do it. Vet says no state requires it anymore. No real reason to continue. Put in metal tags but said powers that be said use up metal tags. After the current supply is gone will put in rfid tags.

 

[deff]

The initial heifer shot doesn't completely protect the cow from contracting Brucellosis but it does protect them from aborting. If your herd got infected, you would still have a calf crop to sell. You just could't sell breeding stock etc. Everything leaving the ranch would be sold for slaughter. With repeated whole herd vaccinations and blood tests, a ranch can get cleaned up and released from quarantine. APHIS found a false-positive from our place a few years ago and we recieved a crash course on Montana Brucelosis rules and regulations. Our heifers received the RFID tags last winter when we vaccinated. For what it's worth, they seem to be retained longer than the old metal clips were. It would actually be easier to find Bangs infections in unvaccinated herds, If half or two thirds of your cows abort, it's an obvious problem!

 

[Travlr]

Just took heifers to the vet for bangs vaccinations. After discussion with the vet I may not continue to do it. Vet says no state requires it anymore. No real reason to continue. Put in metal tags but said powers that be said use up metal tags. After the current supply is gone will put in rfid tags.

I guess the vaccinations worked...

 

[OBAX]

I had the same discussion with my vet a couple years ago, and I also stopped giving Bangs. If it was something I could administer myself I would probably still give it just as a precaution, but it becomes a hastle taking them in or having vet out, unless it becomes important.

 

[Hpacres440p]

I guess this becomes my “vet relationship” visit, as otherwise I don’t have much vet contact for the cattle (although the dogs make up that difference).

 

[Farmgirl]

I guess this becomes my "vet relationship" visit, as otherwise I don't have much vet contact for the cattle (although the dogs make up that difference).

That's what I considered my vet visit.

 

[deff]

We coordinate with a neighbor so we have enough crew and the vet has just the one trip out here to Bangs vac heifers. That and the health inspection at the stockyards when we ship calves are about the only time our cattle see a vet. For a while, the vets were indignant if you didn't have them come out and "manage" all of your herd health. The pet and horse end of their practice has become so much more lucrative, most don't seem to mind us doing our own cattle work quite so much now. My daughter in law was a vet tech for two of our local clinics and my step daughter presently works for a third. We buy all our vaccine from the clinic where "our girl" works and annually discuss our health protocols wiith the vetrinarian. That seems to keep us in pretty good standing with the clinic. We do most of our stock work on weekends when we can gather a crew of family members that have "real jobs" in town. We'd be short handed if we had a vet come out during the week to do the preg check and shots etc.