Learned something new - vaccinations

[milkmaid]

So I'd always thought that where the vaccines say "give so much amount, repeat in 3-4 weeks" that I was always "boostering" the vaccine I'd given before. Other day I attended a Pfizer talk and they said you're re-vaccinating after 3-4 weeks to catch the animals whose immune systems didn't respond due to stress. Stress as in weaning, branding, dogs, hotshots, just being worked in general, etc. Pfizer reps said 50% or less may respond the first time which is why the second vaccine is important.

Went to my vet and asked which one it was - boosters or re-vaccination. He said both. You should always give a second vaccine, and killed vaccines should actually be given three times to get the best protection. After that of course, just annually.

Interesting...think on that one for a moment.

Now, the next logical thought progression for me? What's the ONE vaccine most states require, but is only given ONCE, no booster, no re-vacc, and no annual vaccination?

Yep, bangs - brucellosis vaccine.

Asked him to explain that one to me. He said that prior to 1998 there was a certain strain of brucellosis vaccine used that actually made the animals sick. So you knew something was working there. After '98 we use the RB51 strain that's easier on the animals. Killed vaccine, for the record.

Said for best protection, yes, the animals should be bangs vaccinated again. Once + tattoo + tag is required by state law (here in Idaho) and any more than that of course would be optional. I asked if anyone vaccinates more than once and he said no. But then it probably never crossed anyone else's mind, LOL.

Next I wanted to know on the age limit. It's 4 months to 11 months here. He said a calf's immune system isn't going to kick in before ~2 months, so by making the minimum four months of age it's insured that their immune systems will respond when vaccinated. You hope - think about stress again. The upper age limit is for a logical reason too, but it's pretty simple. First you want them vaccinated before they get bred, and some breeds mature early. Second... A few weeks ago he was brucellosis testing about 50 registered holsteins for a local dairy prior to a sale. And then to cross state borders they have to be tested too. Said that when they're tested it's checking for brucellosis titers and the level indicates exposure to brucellosis (natural or vaccine-induced).

So if a 2 y/o animal was tested and had a high titer, and you know the age limit is 11 months, then you'd be assuming natural exposure and getting worried, right? So you could get a false positive if you vaccinated an older animal and then had her tested, say, 2 months later. But then you could theoretically vaccinate a 2 y/o animal and test her at 3 y/o, and the titer should be low, same as an animal vaccinated at 1 y/o and tested at 2 y/o. Make sense? Someone said all cull cows are brucellosis tested at slaughter... But most cows no one knows their age when they go through the local auction, so no one would probably ever know it was an older animal that had been vaccinated -if the year of tattoo corresponded with titer level. Not that folks would take the chance of not vaccinating a cow before she's bred like that, but anyhow...

Obviously you wouldn't want to annually vaccinate the entire cow herd, but perhaps a booster for the replacement heifers 3-4 weeks after the inital vaccine wouldn't be a bad idea...?

Back to the stress of working animals. I know someone who dehorns, brands, tags, vaccinates for 5-way, 8-way, and brucellosis all on the same day. Talk about stress on the animals! I asked my vet... turns out it's very possible there ARE a lot of cows that are NOT protected against brucellosis.

I asked if he vaccinates his own herd more than once - nope. But, he did say if his neighbor's herd were to have a case of brucellosis he would be vaccinating his stock more than once.

Not sure what I think of all this - just need to think about it for awhile. Prolly no need to run my young stock through the chute again, but it's certainly food for thought. Any opinions or comments?

And of course the disclaimer...if someone finds any serious errors in what I've written (incorrect info, etc), blame it on me for not remembering it correctly. ;-) It's not my vet's fault if I can't remember what I'm told. LOL.

 

[bullred]

Milkmaid,

That's some good information and food for thought. I've been giving a lot of consideration on how best to formulate a comprehensive health plan for my 100% terminal cow/calf operation. As I won't be retaining any heifers, I'm not worried about bangs. Do others Bangs vaccinate weaned heifers prior to selling? I do plan on vaccinating the young calves for respiratory, pasteurella, and clostridial diseases. And I am not to crazy about the prospect of the booster/follow-up shot. That adds an extra time I have to work the herd, and these F1 Tigerstripes are not the easiest cows to work, especially with young calves at their side. It would sure be nice if there were a single-shot method of getting this done, that was still effective.

CJ

 

[dun]

Interesting article from this months Drovers concerning vaccination.

Vaccination
By John Maday (11/10/2005)

So you've vaccinated your cows and calves but still have disease problems— abortions, scouring calves, respiratory disease at weaning or in the feedyard. The vaccine labels claim they protect against these diseases, so what is going on?

For frustrated producers dealing with death loss and escalating veterinary expenses, it can be easy to point fingers at the vaccines. The truth behind these outbreaks actually is more complicated, but one thing is clear. Licensed vaccines, used properly, are effective in protecting cattle from disease. We can be confident in this, because companies must prove the efficacy of their vaccines through an exhaustive and expensive research process before they can bring them to market.

Proving they work
"There really are not any bad vaccines on the market," says veterinarian Jim Rhoades, who manages technical services for Novartis Animal Health. The licensing process is designed, by law, to assure that vaccines are safe, potent, effective and accurately labeled before they reach the market, he explains.

The Center for Veterinary Biologics, a branch of USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, regulates these products and oversees the licensing process. APHIS scientists carefully review the methods and results of laboratory tests, field trials and manufacturing.

"It's a very rigorous process that takes an average of about five years," says veterinarian Kent McClure, general counsel for the Animal Health Institute. Product development begins when a company recognizes a need for a vaccine to address a specific pathogen. Then the manufacturer must isolate the pathogen and conduct laboratory research on how to develop either a killed or modified-live vaccine based on that pathogen.

Once the company creates a vaccine it considers a candidate for commercial release, it develops a "master seed," which is a pure culture of the pathogen used to assure consistency in production of the vaccine. Dr. McClure likens this to a "starter" for making sourdough bread, in which the same population of yeast is propagated for repeated use. Extensive laboratory testing by the company and by USDA confirms the purity of these cultures.

Next, the company tests the product on limited numbers of animals in a controlled setting to assure there are no negative reactions. From there, the company moves to "challenge studies" in which scientists expose vaccinated animals and control groups to the target pathogen to determine whether the product offers protection against the disease.

If the vaccine still appears promising at this point, the company conducts large-scale field trials, typically in at least three different areas of the country. These trials evaluate the product's efficacy in real-world production environments. At each of these stages, the company must submit its data analysis to USDA for review.

Finally, the company must prove it can produce a consistently pure product by creating, from scratch, three separate batches of the vaccine for extensive analysis by USDA scientists. The agency also inspects the manufacturing facility and evaluates personnel to assure their production and quality-assurance capabilities. Even after the vaccine is licensed, the company must test every batch and submit analysis, and samples of the batch, to USDA for review. Dr. Rhoades adds that upgrading an existing vaccine to add a new label claim, such as coverage for an additional BVD strain, also requires several years of research.

You need all three
So with all of these safeguards in place, how is it that viral diseases sometimes break out in vaccinated herds? The answer, Dr. Rhoades says, is that vaccines cannot work alone. "I think of a herd-health program as a three-legged stool," he says. "Vaccines are one leg, nutrition is another, and the third leg is management. Take away either leg, and the system fails."

Whether on pasture or in a feedyard, good nutrition in-cluding mineral supplements is critical for an animal to maintain its immune system, Dr. Rhoades says. The management leg includes producer-controlled factors including genetic selection, good facilities, low-stress handling, comfortable environmental conditions and biosecurity to limit exposure to pathogens.

In a research environment, scientists design vaccine trials in ways that control other variables to produce valid results, Dr. Rhoades explains. In other words, treatment groups differ in whether or not they receive the vaccine, and perhaps in timing or dosage. Otherwise, researchers try to keep environmental conditions, diet and rate of exposure to pathogens the same. They randomly select and sort cattle into groups to account for genetic differences. They make these efforts so that when they find differences between treatment groups, they can attribute the difference to the treatment—the vaccine.

In a production environment, those controls sometimes break down. One producer might use a vaccine with excellent results, while his neighbor, using the same product, fights an outbreak of viral disease in his herd. A closer look at the diseased herd probably would reveal some combination of factors—poor nutrition, stress, high levels of exposure—that com-promised the animals' ability to resist the pathogens.

Finally, there is the issue of proper administration of vaccines. If the label specifies one dose, it means research has shown that one dose of the product is effective. If the label specifies two doses, research has shown that two doses provide efficacy; one dose does not.

Label instructions for timing of administration are also based on science, Dr. Rhoades says. Cows, for example, begin producing colo-strum about six weeks before calving. Vaccines intended to protect the calf against scours, administered two to four weeks prior to that time, help the cow produce the necessary antibodies for passive immunity. The same vaccine administered a week before calving will not be effective.

In the case of BVD, the virus can pass to the fetus at 40 to 120 days gestation, Dr. Rhoades says. For a vaccine to provide fetal protection, the producer must administer it before that time. "If the label says to use a vaccine prior to breeding, it's because that's when research shows that it works," he says.

Dr. Rhoades encourages producers to work with their veterinarians to implement a complete herd-health program. Select appropriate vaccines based on your location and production system, while also concentrating on the other two legs of the stool—nutrition and management.

 

[cypressfarms]

Nice article dun,

I like the three leg reference. I think a lot of people could benefit from readin about the three legs.

 

[milkmaid]

Now that is an interesting article, dun! More things to think about. Thanks for posting it.

 

[Susie David]

Informative, thanks for posting...Dmc

 

[Workinonit Farm]

Good article Dun, thanks for sharing.

Katherine

 

[TK Ranch]

Very informative dun, I think i will pass it on to some of the guys out in these parts.
Milkmaid you sure know how to make someone think. But truth be told i think that the $ value has a lot to do with vaccinating period. Quite a few people around here say that it is a waste of time and money.
Another thing to think about is how many people are vaccinating and not injecting the vaccine correctly ( SubQ or intermuscular)?????

TK

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

I've already copied it for my next newsletter - which I should be working on instead of visiting on this board.
Unless you have a totally closed herd, no neighbors, and don't sell calves to anyone you care if they stay healthy - I would strongly recommend vaccinating.

 

[Scotty]

Yep, bangs - brucellosis vaccine.

Asked him to explain that one to me. He said that prior to 1998 there was a certain strain of brucellosis vaccine used that actually made the animals sick. So you knew something was working there. After '98 we use the RB51 strain that's easier on the animals. Killed vaccine, for the record.



Went to my vets office this Am and here in my hand is a box from his supply of Bangs vacines. On the front is clearly writen:
Brucella Abortus Vaccine Strain RB-51 LIVE CULTURE. Made by Professional Biological Company of Denver Colorado. My vet also explained that this is a safer vacine thatn befor but still LIVE.


Scotty

 

[milkmaid]

Whoops.

Well, far as I know the other stuff I've written is a-okay correct. I tried to write it down while it was still fresh in my memory, but it's hard to remember that much new stuff. There were a few things I was told that I couldn't remember perfectly when I started writing, and so I left them out - really didn't want to put anything incorrect down.

But, re-reading what I've written, I'm sure everything else is just as I was told so there shouldn't be any problems there.

My apologies, Scotty.

 

[Scotty]

Whoops.

Well, far as I know the other stuff I've written is a-okay correct. I tried to write it down while it was still fresh in my memory, but it's hard to remember that much new stuff. There were a few things I was told that I couldn't remember perfectly when I started writing, and so I left them out - really didn't want to put anything incorrect down.

But, re-reading what I've written, I'm sure everything else is just as I was told so there shouldn't be any problems there.

My apologies, Scotty.

No apologies necesary. I hope that did not come off as a shot or put down. that was not my entent. As far as I am concerned Milkmaid you are an a OK person. ;-)


Scotty

 

[milkmaid]

OK.