Ensuring the Effectiveness of Vaccines in Preventing Disease in Your Dairy Herd

At Milverton-Wellesley, we understand that managing the health of your dairy herd is crucial to your farm's success. Alongside sound management practices, vaccines play a key role in preventing costly diseases like pneumonia. However, vaccines must be used, handled, and stored correctly to ensure their effectiveness. We want to help you get the greatest value from every vaccination, ensuring that each cow receives the maximum benefit.

Vaccines are an investment, and the veterinarians at Milverton-Wellesley are here to guide you in making the most of this critical tool for herd health.

PROPER USE OF VACCINES

Maximizing Effectiveness

Vaccination Timing: The immune system requires time to respond to vaccines. To ensure protection, vaccination must occur before the anticipated risk of disease. Immunity duration can vary, lasting anywhere from several months to a full year, depending on the vaccine.

Booster Doses: Killed vaccines such as Triangle, ScourGuard, or Tasvax need a booster dose after the initial vaccination. A single dose without a booster won’t provide long-lasting immunity.

Health Considerations: Animals that are sick, under heat stress, or in a negative energy balance may not mount an effective immune response. It's essential to ensure animals are healthy before vaccinating.

Heat Stress and Vaccination Timing: To avoid heat stress interfering with immune response, schedule vaccinations in the cooler morning hours, rather than the hotter afternoon.

Vaccinating Fresh Cows: Ensure that cows are at least 4 weeks post-freshening  before administering their regular MLV fresh cow vaccine (e.g., Bovishield, Vista, Pyramid).

Timing for Scours Vaccination: Scours vaccines should be administered early enough to allow pregnant cows and heifers to produce antibodies for inclusion in their colostrum. This provides ongoing protection to calves through transition milk.

Know Your Vaccines: Different vaccines protect against different pathogens. For example, Bovishield Gold Fp5 targets viral causes of pneumonia. If your herd faces Mannheimia pneumonia, a common form of bacterial pneumonia, you would need Bovishield Gold OneShot for broader coverage.

HANDLING VACCINES

Ensure Maximum Efficacy

Modified Live Vaccines: These must be administered within 1-2 hours of mixing to ensure their potency.

Killed Vaccines: these non-reconstituted vaccines can be used past the initial opening BUT ONLY if every poke of the bottle has been with a sterile needle and the vaccine has been stored properly the entire time. Saving a bottle for booster doses in 2-4 weeks is okay under these circumstances, but stretching any longer we advise you check with your vet.

Avoid Sunlight Exposure: Sunlight can degrade vaccine effectiveness. Ensure vaccines are kept in a shaded area during administration.

Maintaining Cool Temperatures: When vaccinating multiple animals, ensure that vaccines remain cool throughout the process.

Accurate Dosing: Verify that your repeater gun is set to the correct dose. Ensure the entire volume of the vaccine is administered properly.

Avoid Mixing Vaccines: Never mix two different vaccines in one syringe as this can inactivate one or both.

Use Clean Equipment: Always use clean (preferably new) syringes or repeater guns. Soap or disinfectants can inactivate vaccines, so be cautious.

Storage: Protecting the Vaccine’s Integrity

Optimal Storage Temperature: Vaccines must be stored between 2°C and 7°C. Temperatures outside this range—whether too hot or too cold—can reduce vaccine effectiveness.

Storage Location: Store vaccines in the middle section of the refrigerator, not the door or near the freezer portion, to maintain a stable temperature.

Post-Delivery Care: When vaccines are delivered to your farm, place them in the fridge immediately upon arrival.

Avoid Contamination: Do not leave used needles in vaccine vials. This applies to reproductive hormones like Fertiline and Lutalyse as well. Always ensure no contamination of opened vaccines.

Dispose of Expired Vaccines: Expired vaccines should be discarded promptly to prevent use of ineffective products.

SAFETY and OTHER CONSIDERATIONS

Avoid Multiple Gram-Negative Vaccines Simultaneously: Combining certain vaccines (like mastitis vaccines and Mannheimia vaccines) can increase the risk of adverse reactions in cattle. However, there are some safe combinations of a maximum of 2 products given at the same time (ex: ScourGuard and JVac) – but these should be approved at the discretion of your herd veterinarian when making your vaccination protocols.

Temporary Milk Drop with Killed Vaccines: there can be a normal, transient 1-2 L milk drop in cows vaccinated with killed vaccine. This can be significant when doing whole herd vaccination, so be aware.

Anaphylactic Reactions: While rare, vaccines can sometimes cause an allergic reaction. In such cases, immediate treatment with dexamethasone or epinephrine may be required. This usually occurs shortly after vaccination.

TAILORED VACCINE PROGRAMS FOR YOUR HERD

If you have any questions about your current vaccine program, our herd veterinarians are available to help. In our experience, most farms will experience some degree of pneumonia, mastitis, or scours (in calves) at some point, and we stock a variety of vaccines to suit your herd’s specific needs. If a vaccine isn’t in stock, we can typically order it for you.