At what age do y'all give your calves the first round of shots? Is less than a month too young?
Vaccinating calves
- Thread starter Warren Allison
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kenny thomas
Well-known member
Look on your vaccine label. Most vaccines say 3 months or older.
tsellars
Well-known member
What is the thinking behind the 3 months age and vaccines? Never have understood that.
coachg
Well-known member
Does a calf not have its mother's immunity for a while just like a human baby has its mothers ? Importance of getting colostrum .
farmerjan
Well-known member
Yes the thinking is, and some studies have been done, that the colostrum has immunities that are passed on to the calf and they start to "wear off" after the 6-12 week time frame. In fact, have been told by 2 vets that it is best to NOT give clostridium vaccs (blackleg) to calves before 8-10 weeks as it will interfere with the natural immunities from the cow's colostrum and milk that the calf has ingested. Not all agree... but that is what the general belief's are.
bird dog
Well-known member
Less than a month is not to young for respiratory vac's. Giving Inforce 3 early has helped reduce my sickness rate tremendously.
kenny thomas
Well-known member
I totally agree with this. Give at birth if possible.
OP
OP
@kenny thomas , I would, but we don't have any , yet. to read the labels. What happened was, our farri0er ( who is the vet's husband) and a buddy went rabbit hunting at the Kudzu place today. Scott had told them we didn't have anything over there, ..that the cattle were across the road on the row crop land. They were taking a break to let the dogs rest, and Scott asked them if they wanted to ride over with him and Zeke...that he had to check on the Plummers. 17 out of the 22 have calves now. Scott told him we normally move them back on the Kudzu about now, but due to that 450 acres being absolutely eat up with wheat, rye, barley and oats, that I had decided to leave them last week. But, sometime before the bulls come, we are going to have to drive them with calves, over to the Kudzu place to work them. Or set up a corral over there to do it, then tear it back down in a couple of months.
Joe, the farrier, and Lisa, his wife the vet, have about 220 steers that they weaned in December. ( She is a damned good cowgirl herself. She and Joe met in college where they were both on the rodeo team). So he made us an offer, that I LOVE. He said next weekend, he and his buddy that he was hunting with today, would come over and help me and Clay move that herd to the Kudzu place. He said he'd bring all the meds, etc, and that they would go ahead, and work those cows, and calves, the nurse cows and their calves...and bring all the shots for the horses for the year...and, give whatever shots you are supposed to give to our new puppies. We have 3 bird dog bitches and 2 beagle bitches with new litters. He said he thought it might be a little early, too, on the calves....but would ask Lisa about it. He said they could help move them next weekend, and come back later when the calves were old enough to work. He said they would do all of that, because he wanted to ask us of he could then bring those 220 calves over and let them graze the row crop pastures til time to plow. I told Scott to tell him HELL YEAH, but to tell him to bring all the meds next weekend, including what the calves needed. That way we'd have them there in case they couldn't come back when it was time. So, this coming Saturday we are going to round them up, along with the 12 Corr cows I bought last week, and move them across the road to the Kudzu place. We gonna go ahead and run the Plummers ( and, may as well do the 12 Corrs too) through our chute and vet and worm them and cut the bull claves, and vet the nurse cows and ZUS, and the two 1/2 Jerseys the lady is keeping for us. And go take care of the pups. We will keep the stuff for all the calves and just do it ourselves when the time comes, if Joe can't come back. Great deal for us....we won't have to fool with the cows again until July when we wean the Plummers, then next November when we move them back over to the row crop land when the seasons open. Great deal for Joe and Lisa, because they gonna get 220 calves fed for nothing for a couple of months.
Joe, the farrier, and Lisa, his wife the vet, have about 220 steers that they weaned in December. ( She is a damned good cowgirl herself. She and Joe met in college where they were both on the rodeo team). So he made us an offer, that I LOVE. He said next weekend, he and his buddy that he was hunting with today, would come over and help me and Clay move that herd to the Kudzu place. He said he'd bring all the meds, etc, and that they would go ahead, and work those cows, and calves, the nurse cows and their calves...and bring all the shots for the horses for the year...and, give whatever shots you are supposed to give to our new puppies. We have 3 bird dog bitches and 2 beagle bitches with new litters. He said he thought it might be a little early, too, on the calves....but would ask Lisa about it. He said they could help move them next weekend, and come back later when the calves were old enough to work. He said they would do all of that, because he wanted to ask us of he could then bring those 220 calves over and let them graze the row crop pastures til time to plow. I told Scott to tell him HELL YEAH, but to tell him to bring all the meds next weekend, including what the calves needed. That way we'd have them there in case they couldn't come back when it was time. So, this coming Saturday we are going to round them up, along with the 12 Corr cows I bought last week, and move them across the road to the Kudzu place. We gonna go ahead and run the Plummers ( and, may as well do the 12 Corrs too) through our chute and vet and worm them and cut the bull claves, and vet the nurse cows and ZUS, and the two 1/2 Jerseys the lady is keeping for us. And go take care of the pups. We will keep the stuff for all the calves and just do it ourselves when the time comes, if Joe can't come back. Great deal for us....we won't have to fool with the cows again until July when we wean the Plummers, then next November when we move them back over to the row crop land when the seasons open. Great deal for Joe and Lisa, because they gonna get 220 calves fed for nothing for a couple of months.
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OP
OP
bird dog said:
Less than a month is not to young for respiratory vac's. Giving Inforce 3 early has helped reduce my sickness rate tremendously.
Less than a month is not to young for respiratory vac's. Giving Inforce 3 early has helped reduce my sickness rate tremendously.
Ok, we will do the calves with that next Saturday then.
Passive immunity until around 3 months. Inforce 3 day 1 in my herd (my calves get 3 rounds of respiratory). Tetanus prior to banding or cutting in a perfect world at whatever age.
farmerjan
Well-known member
Yes, if you are working the calves anyway, vaccinating them won't hurt. I was just saying that there was "no rush" to get them done, thinking that you might be worrying about that. We have given black leg to calves younger than 6 weeks if everyone else is being worked and moved somewhere... but we don't panic if they are a little older. Agree with the protocol that @TCRanch does, she is the epitome of "doing it right" I think !
Help like that is great and gets all the work done and they get a good deal on the grazing for a few months... Benefits to all...
Help like that is great and gets all the work done and they get a good deal on the grazing for a few months... Benefits to all...
We make sure a calf is at least 2 weeks old before brand and vaccinating. Good, right, wrong, bad or indifferent, it works for us. Our oldest calves are only 7 weeks old when we start spring works. After turnout we may not see each and every one before October when we wean.
TexasJerseyMilker
Well-known member
The deal is a lot different for dairy calves.
extension.okstate.edu
Recommended Vaccination Schedules for a Comprehensive Dairy Herd Health Program - Oklahoma State University
How to distinguish killed and modified-live vaccines and the role they play in a schedule of when each should be given to cattle for maximum herd performance.
extension.okstate.edu
TexasJerseyMilker
Well-known member
I like the idea of vaccinating pregnant cows so the antibodies for those diseases are in the colostrum right off the bat.
