Tetanus

[ClinchValley86]

Normally, i band with the first tetanus shot, but am trying to do better. Can't afford to lose any now. Lol

I worked calves about 3 months ago. Tags and shots. Had all intentions of getting them up 3 weeks later and doing the booster and banding same day.

My question...the 8 or 9 way had tetanus stuff in it. I'm not exactly sure how that stuff works. I know you give first dose, followed by a booster and then you should be good to band, right?

Do I need to start over? As in give a shot, then boost in a few weeks, then band. Or is it acceptable practice to give the booster and band the same day? I wasn't sure how the 90 day lapse would affect the tetanus protection.

Bulls are around 450 pounds.

With the current market, is it paying to make them into steers?

I'm still unsure if I'm going to sell these boys at Jonesville or put them on Jeanne's feed program.

 

[redcowsrule33]

Start over. Tetanus vaccine is cheap. If the booster is given greater than 6 weeks after the first dose you lose a lot of antibody response.

 

[farmerjan]

Ours get one dose at banding, if not banded when small. If banding when bigger, we try to always band in the last quarter to new moon, less blood flow...

 

[Brute 23]

We give one Cov 8 shot when we band them. I have not done 2 and knock on wood haven't had any issues yet. The way I was told it's good for about two weeks. Usually the sack has dropped by then. It's not like a knife cut where they are opened up immediately so getting it in their system a head of time is helpful.

Any thing tetanus is hard to find right now. Both the individual doses and products like Cov 8.

Don’t Forget Tetanus Prevention when Banding Bulls! | Ohio BEEF Cattle Letter

u.osu.edu

 

[sstterry]

I'm still unsure if I'm going to sell these boys at Jonesville or put them on Jeanne's feed program.

The knoxville market is doing great right now. You may want to look there too.

https://www.ams.usda.gov/mnreports/ams_2066.pdf

 

[kenny thomas]

The knoxville market is doing great right now. You may want to look there too.

https://www.ams.usda.gov/mnreports/ams_2066.pdf

Yes they are doing good but a big difference in selling cost. They charge a % plus a base fee.

 

[ClinchValley86]

The knoxville market is doing great right now. You may want to look there too.

https://www.ams.usda.gov/mnreports/ams_2066.pdf

Jonesville and Knoxville are my preferred places to sell.

Hard to beat Jonesville if you've got what their buyers want. Get home in time for supper with check in-hand.

 

[ClinchValley86]

We give one Cov 8 shot when we band them. I have not done 2 and knock on wood haven't had any issues yet. The way I was told it's good for about two weeks. Usually the sack has dropped by then. It's not like a knife cut where they are opened up immediately so getting it in their system a head of time is helpful.

Any thing tetanus is hard to find right now. Both the individual doses and products like Cov 8.

Don’t Forget Tetanus Prevention when Banding Bulls! | Ohio BEEF Cattle Letter

u.osu.edu

I'm headed to the Co-Op now. Hopefully they've got something I can use.

I hadn't thought about the availability aspect. It was definitely hard to find it a few months back.

 

[Lucky_P]

I attended a food animal-oriented veterinary continuing education meeting a couple of weeks back.
It takes a minimum of 17 days for any detectible anti-tetanus antibodies to be produced following an initial dose of tetanus toxoid (as would be present in the 8- or 9-way bacterin/toxoid). Booster, given after that point, will boost (that's why we call it that) antibody levels exponentially.
So... if you're giving an initial dose at the same time as banding... you're essentially 'rolling the dice' and hoping your calves just don't develop tetanus, because they are not going to be immune by the time the organisms would normally be producing the toxin in those devitalized tissues. In that scenario, if you don't lose any, you just had some good luck.

Now... if you're giving a dose of tetanus antitoxin AND the initial tetanus toxoid at the time of banding, the antitoxin will provide 'immediate' protection, while not interfering with response to the toxoid. I'd still give the booster 3-4 weeks later...
My own preference is to give an inital dose of toxoid, with booster at 3-4 weeks, then band. Ideally, you'd wait 3 weeks after the booster for maximum protection, but I have just banded at the time I administered the booster dose.

As an aside... the first case of tetanus I ever saw was in one of my own steers that I knife-cut at about 350 lbs; found him 'sawhorsed' out in the pasture, 2 weeks later.
We lost a 4-month old heifer to tetanus once; never determined her exposure, but we started using an 8- or 9 way Clostridial bacterin/toxoid containing tetanus, on everything from that point on.

While the tetanus organism and it's spores are widely distributed in nature, it also appears to be part of the normal gut flora of some horses, so if you have one-toed hayburners around, there may be a greater likelihood that you'll encounter tetanus in your cattle.

 

[kenny thomas]

Someone, maybe you Lucky__P told me once that if there had ever been horses in a field there is an increased risk of Tetnus.

 

[jltrent]

Double post.

 

[jltrent]

Jonesville and Knoxville are my preferred places to sell.

Hard to beat Jonesville if you've got what their buyers want. Get home in time for supper with check in-hand.

Check the online sales as Dryden VA which is not far from you. They buy a lot of cattle around here. You know what you are getting before you take them. It cost $4 a head to sell there. Just the extra cost I saved last year on market cost saved me almost $2000. Roger Dalton through the years has sold a lot there. Check with him.

Price List | C.H. Cattle Co

 

[SBMF 2015]

If banding when bigger, we try to always band in the last quarter to new moon, less blood flow...

Interesting!
I usually try to wean by the sign of the moon.
I've heard about Casterating and butchering by the sign of the moon but no one has ever explained why.

 

[farmerjan]

Used to have 10-12 brood sows and had a guy who would come castrate the boar piglets as they brought more at the feeder sale... He was a staunch advocate of only cutting in the last quarter going into the new moon... going from the thighs into the feet.... says they bled less, were less upset by it, and healed quicker after. When my ex husband had the purebred O.E Game chickens... bantams mostly for showing... he always dubbed the combs and the wattles in the waning moon for the same reason...
Remember that the sayings about the people in the insane asylums always went "crazier" during the full moon? The moon has the gravitational pull that affects the tides of the ocean and affects the blood flow etc in mammals....
Some say it is old wives tales.... but I had a vet castrate 3 bull calves many years ago and had them nearly bleed to death and had to take them to the vet's office the next day because 2 of the 3 were weak and kept going down, and they would not stop bleeding... it was the day before the full moon... and I was not that well versed in it so didn't know... put them on IV's and they did something to finally get them to stop bleeding... get their hydration back up. Then had a neighbor tell me about the "signs" and then I read up on it... and now I am very careful to NOT do any kind of routine "work" on an animal until the moon is going into the last quarter at least... What's it going to hurt to just follow some of the "old ways" ?

 

[kenny thomas]

Check the online sales as Dryden VA which is not far from you. They buy a lot of cattle around here. You know what you are getting before you take them. It cost $4 a head to sell there. Just the extra cost I saved last year on market cost saved me almost $2000. Roger Dalton through the years has sold a lot there. Check with him.

Price List | C.H. Cattle Co

Some of their prices are ok, some not so good. I gave more last week for 4wt steers than they did. Heifers are too cheap. Lots of $3 heifers around.
And this week i have .60 more on 800-900lb bull and heifer calves than they do.
So look at all options.

 

[jltrent]

Some of their prices are ok, some not so good. I gave more last week for 4wt steers than they did. Heifers are too cheap. Lots of $3 heifers around.
And this week i have .60 more on 800-900lb bull and heifer calves than they do.
So look at all options.

Those people at Dryden are in the business to make money also so you have to check your options.

 

[kenny thomas]

Those people at Dryden are in the business to make money also so you have to check your options.

I agree, check all options. Every sale around here has their good points and bad points.
Normally anyone can buy their calves for 2 cents over what they gave. Their #2 calves are worth the money.

 

[sstterry]

Now... if you're giving a dose of tetanus antitoxin AND the initial tetanus toxoid at the time of banding, the antitoxin will provide 'immediate' protection, while not interfering with response to the toxoid. I'd still give the booster 3-4 weeks later...

Thank you for that Lucky_P I had always wondered if that type of protocol would work.

 

[clovlanfarms]

I attended a food animal-oriented veterinary continuing education meeting a couple of weeks back.
It takes a minimum of 17 days for any detectible anti-tetanus antibodies to be produced following an initial dose of tetanus toxoid (as would be present in the 8- or 9-way bacterin/toxoid). Booster, given after that point, will boost (that's why we call it that) antibody levels exponentially.
So... if you're giving an initial dose at the same time as banding... you're essentially 'rolling the dice' and hoping your calves just don't develop tetanus, because they are not going to be immune by the time the organisms would normally be producing the toxin in those devitalized tissues. In that scenario, if you don't lose any, you just had some good luck.

Now... if you're giving a dose of tetanus antitoxin AND the initial tetanus toxoid at the time of banding, the antitoxin will provide 'immediate' protection, while not interfering with response to the toxoid. I'd still give the booster 3-4 weeks later...
My own preference is to give an inital dose of toxoid, with booster at 3-4 weeks, then band. Ideally, you'd wait 3 weeks after the booster for maximum protection, but I have just banded at the time I administered the booster dose.

As an aside... the first case of tetanus I ever saw was in one of my own steers that I knife-cut at about 350 lbs; found him 'sawhorsed' out in the pasture, 2 weeks later.
We lost a 4-month old heifer to tetanus once; never determined her exposure, but we started using an 8- or 9 way Clostridial bacterin/toxoid containing tetanus, on everything from that point on.

While the tetanus organism and it's spores are widely distributed in nature, it also appears to be part of the normal gut flora of some horses, so if you have one-toed hayburners around, there may be a greater likelihood that you'll encounter tetanus in your cattle.

I band my calves the day they are born give them tetanus shot . My vet said i my as well give it to myself so i stopped and never have had any problem for the last 30 years to me its a waste of time and money.

 

[Lucky_P]

I've seen a few cases of tetanus in baby calves, but far more in stocker/feeder steers. If I were banding babies... I'd give tetanus antitoxin - unless I was regularly vaccinating the cow herd with a product containing tetanus toxoid. Giving a Clostridial bacterin/toxoid prior to 60 days of age is probably not going to produce any significant immune response.