vacc for baby calves

[evaught]

I am fixing to start raising baby holstien hefiers and i was wondering when should i vaccinate and what to use. I would also like to know is there anything that should be given to the calves when i get them in. They will be coming from farms not sale barns.

 

[larryshoat]

Are you sure about this ? I'm curious for more details.

Larry

 

[evaught]

yeah pretty sure what all do you want to know

 

[larryshoat]

When people ask me about starting to raise calves on a larger scale I usually make three suggestions 1.Do bulls for two years before doing heifers.. Find a good vet that specializes in raising calves and follow his program exactly for two years.3.Start small and build up numbers. My next concern is about the financial part. Will they go back to the dairy? Do you have a contract? What about death loss and non breeders?

Larry

 

[hgfarmer]

When people ask me about starting to raise calves on a larger scale I usually make three suggestions 1.Do bulls for two years before doing heifers.. Find a good vet that specializes in raising calves and follow his program exactly for two years.3.Start small and build up numbers. My next concern is about the financial part. Will they go back to the dairy? Do you have a contract? What about death loss and non breeders?

Larry

could you please address the original question because I would like to know too.

 

[evaught]

well i have raised baby calves before but never any thing worth this kind of money i know all the basics but i have never really had a vacc program for baby calves and i only plan to start out with 5 to 10 just to see how it goes. i have the probe to check for nonbreeders and the death loss i will do all i can to keep them alive i have a good barn to house them in and the weather here is not that bad. no i do not have a contract but there is a dairy sale barn close and i know people around here that buy and sell holstien hefiers but they dont raise babys

 

[larryshoat]

Here is a typical vaccination schedule for bay calves.

Day 1. Naslagen or TSV 2
10 ml penicillin
Check navels treat any bigger than your thumb
Ist 20 days -1 round each- Bovishield 5 gold-Vision 7 Somnus-Salmonella vaccine-Mycoplasma vaccine.

2nd 20 days repeat-Bovishield 5 gold-Vision 7 Somnus -Salmonella vaccine-Mycoplasma vaccine.

Space these out give 1 vaccine on 1 day.
About day 25 use Ivomec pour on

I hope this helps. Consult a good calf vet and get on his or her program.

Larry

 

[Medic24]

Why penicillin? :cboy:

 

[larryshoat]

Why penicillin? :cboy:

Hopefully we can take care of a lot of the navel problems before they become a problem.

Larry

 

[evaught]

thanks Larry i really appreciate the info i am going to try to raise a few and see how it works

 

[msscamp]

I am fixing to start raising baby holstien hefiers and i was wondering when should i vaccinate and what to use. I would also like to know is there anything that should be given to the calves when i get them in. They will be coming from farms not sale barns.

Calves immune systems are not fully developed until they reach apprx 4 months of age(hence the importance of colostrum, and passive antibodies), so I would not even think about vaccinating them until they reached apprx 4 months of age. Reason being - it is my understanding, and experience that calves under the age of apprx 4 months cannot utilize the vaccinations. Antibiotics are different, but since these calves are coming from farms (as opposed to the salebarn), I don't see the need to automatically hit them all with antibiotics. Antibiotics can cause more harm than good, when used indeterminately.

 

[highvoltagecattleco]

If you are getting these cattle from good farms who vaccinate regularly. You should be fine not giving BVD, IBR and 7 (8) Way vaccinations. If you get them under 24 hours I would give them a calf guard. Dairys typically have e-coli issues. Seen or unseen. I always give pro-bios for the first week. Watch for scours. That is the biggest killer on those bottle calves. First sign, I give them Oral Spectam and electrolytes. I quit using kaolin-pectin a long time ago. Never had any success. When you have an e-coli issue, the worst thing to do is to dyke up the calf. I have read that you should vaccinate at 8 weeks. Typically on a beef calf you would do it at weening. Those calves are getting anti-bodies from their dam. I vaccinate at 4 weeks then a booster in 21 days. I use killed vaccines.

 

[evaught]

ok here is probably a stupid question but i will ask anyway. what do you all think about penning calves together as opposed to penning them seperate while still on milk? i have seen it done both ways but i was wondering what some one with a little more expierence than me thought. i found a feeder that was built to feed several calves at same time but i am concerned about the calves sucking on each other but i can put more in my barn this way.

 

[dun]

My preference is to have the seperate, but we've done it both ways. The mob type feeders work well with calf groups if the milk is available all the time and they nurse when they're hungry and not at set times. That seems to eliminate the sucking on each other.

 

[highvoltagecattleco]

I pair mine up, keep two per pen. Its probably all in my head, but they seem to do better. I use bottle holders and seperate the calves with dog collars during feeding. This keeps the sucking down. If I get one, where this doesn't work I put them in their own pen. As they get closer to weaning they begin to get agressive and compete for feed.

 

[larryshoat]

Like dun we've done it both ways . Currently we put 2 calves per pen . There is some sucking , but usually not much of a problem especialy on accelerated feeding programs . The advantages are less penning ,fewer buckets , and calves get used to sharing feed and water . They seem to get along a little better post weaning.

LARRY

 

[MoGal]

My vet recommends "Polyserum" which is by Novista (or some such name). He recommends it for bottle calves or putting calves in a feedlot.

Get some Baytril on hand... $120.00 for 100 cc btl and if you've got more money to burn its $200 for Micotil cause you will need it at some point in time.

 

[Susie David]

I'm sure that the dairy folks have let the calves nurse the colostrum out of the dams before they are seperated....if so why vaccinate.
Msscamp hits the nail on the head...as always.
We let the animal's immune syatem develop and do it's job and vaccinate before weaning.
Just my two bits worth....asked for or not...DMc

 

[evaught]

thanks so much for all the info i am sure it will be helpful. i was thinking of starting the calves individually till they was used to the bucket and then putting as many as 10 to 12 together. i didnt know if there was any need for vacc this early but like a few of you have said there really shouldnt be. i am planning on selling them shortly after weaning anyway so i may not even worry about vacc them but i will definatly be giving colostrom and the calf guard for ecoli.

 

[angie2]

If you teach your calves to drink from a bucket, much of the nutritional value of the milk is lost since it goes into the rumen, which is under developed in young calves (it does not begin to develop until calf eats solid food) ~ they function as a single stomach animal. Feed with a bottle, as the sucking reflex creates a direct pipeline to the true stomach.

Even after the calves start digesting hay and grass in the rumen, calves continue to digest milk in the true stomach. Digestion of milk in the true stomach is very important to health and growth of the calf. Is only accompolished by sucking/ sucking reflex.

I also think that calves that are bottle fed are less likely to scour. Some will say the are less likely to get lung infections as they are not inhaling milk through their nose.

Bottle feed. Aways clean bottles and nipples after feeding. We wrote names/ numbers on bottles. Each calf had its own bottle and only its bottle. Nipple stayed with the bottle.