nobody":1hejz78u said:
I have a heifer that I bought at the sale barn, she is about 14 months old and now I hear that I need to get her a Brucellosis vaccination. Is it too late ?????
First you need to check your state regulations.
If you are a Class A or Class Free state, the animal should be just fine for your breeding purposes, but may not be able to travel into certain other states.
Unvaccinated cows & heifers from Class Free states can go to most other Class Free and Class A states with nothing needed but a health certificate.
Unvaccinated cows & heifers from a Class A state can move into a Class Free state until 18 months of age without Bangs testing.
If you just want this animals vaccinated for your own peace of mind, and you are in a Class A or Class Free state, you should be able to have her blood tested and after receiving a negative test result, have her vaccinated with the "adult" vaccine.
However, after receiving the "adult" vaccine, if she is again tested for Bangs, she will have a positive test result for quite some time afterwards.
I live in a Class Free state, so basically very few vaccinate for Bangs anymore unless the heifers may be sold out of state.
Out of all the cows & heifers that I've bought, only 1 had a Bangs tag.
Since I milk and use the milk raw, I test any new purchase for Bangs & TB before using her milk. My vet and everyone around me tell me that I'm wasting my money testing, these diseases don't exist anymore in this state.
But it seems to me that complacency is the best friend a disease could have. In my humble opinion, NO state should relax their regulations until these diseases have been eradicated, much the same as was done with smallpox.
Ann B