Advice on vaccinating heifers to ensure robust herd health

There is no single template for vaccinating youngstock, since every farm will have different priorities.

Each farm, with assistance from their vet, should have a bespoke plan for vaccination that covers the diseases they need protection against.

Mike John, of the Fenton Veterinary Practice, Haverfordwest says vets are best placed to advise advise on what vaccines are needed.

He says: “They will have records they can access on what diseases have been on the farm and those that youngstock are vulnerable to, whether that be blackleg, salmonella or any other, and what can be done to prevent them.”

See also: #Calfmatters Part 4: A comprehensive vaccination programme

Mr John gives advice on what to consider when working out a vaccination plan with your vet.

What to consider

The number of jabs required for each vaccine and the intervals required between each one should be considered.

Some live vaccines, such as infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR) and bovine viral diarrhoea (BVD), are one-shot vaccines so a primary dose is not needed.

For others, administering a primary course is essential because it will provide far greater immunity than a single jab. Once both have been administered a booster is required annually.

Because of the variation, it is not uncommon for farmers to get mixed up about which vaccines need one or two doses, says Mr John, who adds that guidance on the label should always be adhered to.

The timescale of intervals between dual-dose vaccines varies – for most that provide protection against leptospirosis the gap is four weeks, but for salmonella, it is commonly three weeks.

When is best to vaccinate?

Don’t be tempted to schedule vaccinations during other routine handling events if the timings of the intervals between doses don’t match up, Mr John recommends.

“If the farm has a TB test it might be tempting to vaccinate during that test but, depending on the TB status of the herd, there might be 10 weeks between tests when the interval required between a vaccine dose is three weeks,” he explains.

The stage in a heifer’s life at which a vaccine needs to be administered also differs.

Vaccinating heifers for BVD, for example, must be done in time to provide cover before breeding – but bulling age varies from farm to farm, so advising all herds to vaccinate at four months old does not work.

Vaccines that shield against salmonella are best administered one to two months before calving to cover the heifer when she joins the herd and to provide the calf with some immunity.

Watch out for ‘blind spots’

In all-year-round calving herds, there can be ‘blind spots’ of groups that are not correctly vaccinated.

“When a herd is calving for 12 months of the year it doesn’t work to jab everything in April.

“In this situation, a farm might need to vaccinate groups at different times of the year – a discussion with the vet is so important as to how it should be done,’’ says Mr John.

This is less of an issue in seasonal herds, when all heifers can generally be vaccinated in one hit because there is no significant age variation.

Some vaccines, particularly those for pneumonia, are multi-valent – they might cover IBR and a couple of other pneumonia strains, too.

These are given at between three and six months of age and, if done properly post-weaning, the heifers will not necessarily need a primary course of IBR later.

Incoming stock

Buying heifers is a pinch point for disease control – their vaccination status is very important as infectious disease controls can quickly break down when there is incoming stock.

Animals should be quarantined for three weeks, but Mr John questions if this is always done because freshly calved heifers need to be milked.

He emphasises the important role of the quarantine period and knowing the vaccination history of incoming animals.

“Although it would be useful for vaccination records to be available at sales, we are not quite there yet so it relies on trust,’’ he says.

“It is all about managing that risk as well as you can, getting those animals jabbed as soon as possible to limit the possibility of infection, not just from those cattle infecting your existing herd but from your cattle passing the disease to the incoming animals.”

A successful vaccination programme relies on everyone understanding the process.

“We see situations where one person will come and buy the vaccine and have the chat with the vet about how and when to use it, but when it comes to administering it someone else has that job.

“Everyone needs to be engaged in what is going on.”

Case study: Locklan Holsteins, Derbyshire

Jess Langton © MAG/Colin Miller

Farm facts

• 66ha (163 acres) farmed
• Twice-a-day milking
• Averaging 8,500 litres at 4.57% butterfat and 3.69% protein
• Milk sold to First Milk
• Cows average four lactations

The role of vaccines in protecting youngstock was thrown into sharp focus when a soilborne bacteria led to three deaths at Locklan Holsteins in Derbyshire.

Vaccinating heifer replacements has long been a priority for Jess Langton, who runs the 50-cow herd with her mother, Tracey, and brother, Will, and has completed a Master of Medicines course.

Heifers have always been vaccinated against leptospirosis and infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR) but an outbreak of blackleg led the family to bolster this with a third vaccine.

The younger animals were more susceptible to infection because they were shedding their first teeth and the organism had entered their bloodstream through their gums.

Vaccination

Heifers, the majority of which are autumn-born, are given an IBR vaccine when they are about 12 months old. This is repeated every five months.

The first jab for leptospirosis protection is given in the April of their first grazing season, and the second eight weeks later, before they are served.  

“We run all the bulling and maiden heifers with the main herd, so they get the vaccine at the same time as the cows,’’ explains Jess, an ambassador for “Disease? Not On My Farm!”

The campaign promotes the importance of proactive, preventative healthcare.

The family have their own unique reference point for keeping on track on the timings of vaccinations.

“My aunt’s birthday is on 17 October and we started the cows with their IBR vaccine on that day, so we know that six months later the heifers and the cows will need their lepto vaccine,” says Miss Langton.

All the vaccines are done in-house, with advice from the farm vet, Dave Charles of Scarsdale Vets.

The same approach to cleanliness is taken as for drying cows off.

“Vaccinating everything in one go probably helps because everything is cleaned beforehand and once we get going nothing gets put down, so there is little risk of dirt getting on the needles,’’ says Jess.

Protecting heifers from key diseases underpins herd health and performance – there is a 100% success rate from inseminating all heifers with sexed semen.

Heifers are served at 15 months to calve at 24 months, but some of the later-born heifers will enter the herd at 22 months.