Thank you all for the brain storming. I must admit that I knew very little abt IBR, other that advertising and vet's talking abt it. In 30 years of ranching this is the first time I have heard of a positive test in our area.
I have been trying to educate myself a bit and have found a lot of info on youtube under "CattleTalk"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPXv1SbC ... eJeK4E3MYg
Upon closer look at a vaccine bottle for the Pyramid FP5 is does say "This vaccine may be used in pregnant cows or calves nursing pregnant cows provided the cows were vaccinated pre-breeding, according to label instructions...." Fine time for me to read the fine print. lol What got me thinking it was the MLV vaccination that we had given to the replacement heifers was the following article
http://cattletoday.info/ibr.htm where it talks about how it may affect pregnant cattle that are in contract but have not been vaccinated.
To answer Milkmaid, the first aborted fetus we found was January 26 and we immediately submitted it for autopsy. We also sent two more and a placenta that appeared on Feb 1. The only other evidence we had found of abortions prior to that was blood in the snow which made us suspicious.
I have read more about IBR becoming "reactivated". I did not realize this could happen! This is why I did not feel it could have been from the heifers or bulls that were purchased. I thought that if they had brought it with them then the unvaccinated cows would have been infected then. Thank you for bringing this to my attention!
inyati13, you are so right in that we need to look out for ourselves! Live and Learn! We are in the process of contacting the previous owner of the 20 heifers to what vaccines they used. With my limited knowledge, and all the dangerous "internet" knowledge (lol) I am wondering if IBR is being brought in to our community with vaccines! You are also right that I retract the term "closed" herd. I meant that it was closed at the time of what I believe was the infection, that there were no new cattle brought in at that time.
Lucky_P, Our cattle do share common fences with our neighbors cattle and pre-breeding and post-breeding are in a community pasture with a minimum of five other herds. They have been at home since November tho with no contact with these other cattle and will remain there until May 15. You mention that there is little incidence of IBR in your area, does that mean that everyone vaccinates?
Our vet is coming to see us tomorrow with the full autopsy results and the research that she has been doing. We are unsure as to what our next steps will be and what we would recommend to our neighbors who also have naive herds.
If you have a chance to look at the cattletoday youtube videos I would love to hear your views.