Blackleg vaccination

[Brad B]

One of our local cow vets suggests vaccinating at day old. Another suggests waiting until 2 months of age to vaccinate. The reason he suggests to wait is that the maternal antibodies in a calf younger than two months will not allow the vaccine to produce immunity in the calf. The way I see it, is it's okay to wait til they are two months old as long as you don't lose a calf before then, which I know has happened in the past before two months. I suppose vets are like cow farmers and all have their own opinion about most every thing.

So, at what age do you "blackleg" your calves, and have you ever lost a calf to blackleg when vaccinating the way you currently do?

Thanks,
Brad

 

[Dee]

we lost 3 calves that were less than 3 months old due to black leg. Now the past two years they get black leg at birth, then again at weaning time and haven't lost another. It is a fairly cheap vaccine, so why take chances with something that kills so quickly.

 

[txag]

our calving season is late Dec through early March & we usually work them for the first time in early April so the ages will vary somewhat. they'll also get a booster.

it's always worked or us & we've never lost a calf to blackleg.

 

[dun]

We blackleg at spring workup. The calves are usually anywhere from a couple of weeks to maybe a month and a half. Then at weaning (fall workup) we vaccinate again and then booster them 3 weeks later.
The cows get a blackleg vaccination in the spring also. As has been said, it's a cheap shot and it helps (we feel) with the calves.

dun

 

[Brad B]

txag, that's about the same age range that we normally vaccinate too. Mine and my dads herd both calve starting in mid-late Oct thru Christmas, and we normally shoot them in early Jan. However, my dad lost one this weekend to Blackleg at 5 weeks of age. Needless to say, both herds got vaccinated the same day. We had never lost a calf to blackleg, but I'm looking more at the day old procedure now. But because of the maternal antibodies, not sure how effective it's gonna be.

 

[Brad B]

dun, we must have posted about the same time. I agree, it's a cheap shot, and we always give it, but we apparently waited too late on one calf this year. I'm wondering if we might have missed giving the blackleg shot to the momma last spring. She might not have had much blackleg immunity to pass on. Just another costly lesson learned I suppose. I do at least tend to remember the more costly mistakes.

Brad

 

[dun]

txag, that's about the same age range that we normally vaccinate too. Mine and my dads herd both calve starting in mid-late Oct thru Christmas, and we normally shoot them in early Jan. However, my dad lost one this weekend to Blackleg at 5 weeks of age. Needless to say, both herds got vaccinated the same day. We had never lost a calf to blackleg, but I'm looking more at the day old procedure now. But because of the maternal antibodies, not sure how effective it's gonna be.

I think in the situation where you have lost calves to blackleg, shotting them at day one may not help, but it sure wouldn't hurt.

dun

 

[cattle_gal]

After we started getting C&D we gave the calves the 7way at birth, but we also found out that 4-6 week booster they talk on the bottle also means the vac protection wore out. Some started getting C&D at 4 weeks then the rest at 6 weeks. We have since changed to a C&D specific vac that lasts over 150 days.

But anyway just wanted to tell you about the 4 to 6 week protection span. And you may need to booster them before the time is up. Pain in the rear to booster with all those different aged calves. Oh a vet also told us that it take the 7way a week before it kicks in.