Vaccines are An Important Part of Beef Cattle Management

By Heather Smith Thomas

Vaccination is one of the tools livestock producers utilize to keep animals healthy.  Maximizing immune response with a good vaccination program raises the threshold for disease challenges, reducing the need for antibiotics and increasing the percentage of calves that stay healthy the rest of their lives.  

Which vaccines to use and when to use them can sometimes be a challenge to figure out, so it is important to work with your herd health veterinarian to develop a total herd health program for your operation.  

Even though good management and biosecurity measures can greatly minimize disease risk, some diseases can still be a threat–spread by wildlife, insects or pathogens that may be ever-present in the environment.  Leptospirosis, for instance can be carried by deer or other wild animals, rodents or canines urinating in haystacks, or any carrier animal urinating in water sources. Many clostridial diseases (blackleg, redwater, blacks disease, malignant edema, or enterotoxemia due to Clostridium perfringens) are not spread by animal to animal contact but by spores in the environment or in the animal’s own digestive tract.  They cause disease when conditions are just right for the spores to “come to life” and proliferate.  Which diseases to be concerned about will depend on your location and the risk for exposure or transmission.

Rhyannon Moore-Foster, DVM, PhD, Assistant Professor, Livestock Field Service, Colorado State University, has worked with beef producers for many years.  “Most producers utilize vaccination against respiratory diseases.  Typically these come in a combination product, covering several viral diseases but maybe also some bacterial respiratory diseases.  There are many products available.  Any of the major brands tend to be reputable and effective, as long as they have the trials to back them up,” she says.

There are two categories—modified-live vaccines and killed vaccines.  Modified-live typically have two components.  They have a dry powder in one bottle and a sterile diluent or some other fluid to mix with it, just before you use it.  “Make sure you mix both of them together.  Follow label directions because often both components contain an important part of the vaccine.”

Don’t save any left-over fractions once those are mixed.  The modified live virus only lasts a few hours and even the bacterial components won’t last more than 24 hours, and the vaccine is no longer viable.  If you only have a few animals to vaccinate, buy the smallest-dose bottle so you don’t have to waste so much when you throw away what’s left.  Mix a new bottle for a new group of animals if you vaccinate them later.

“If you go to the expense and trouble to vaccinate, you want the vaccine to be effective!  Always read labels, to know if that product needs to be boostered in a few weeks.  Typically a modified-live vaccine that’s being given to an animal for the first time—such as a replacement heifer– will need at least two doses about 3 to 4 weeks apart.  It will take more than one dose to gain maximum immunity,” she says.

“Some animals may mount a good immune response with one dose but others won’t, without a booster.  If the animals are naïve to those vaccines it is very important to give two doses the first time, and after that they will only need an annual booster for the modified-live vaccines,” says Moore-Foster.

“It’s also important to not give pregnant animals a modified-live vaccine unless they’ve had a vaccination prior to becoming pregnant and have some immunity already.  Otherwise it’s best to use a killed vaccine, to eliminate the risk of causing that animal to abort and lose the pregnancy.  The killed vaccine will typically be much safer,” she says.

“The downside of killed vaccines is that they don’t stimulate as great an immune response as the modified-live vaccine, and need boostered more frequently.”

Some producers give every cow a “scours prevention” vaccine a few weeks ahead of calving, to stimulate production of antibodies that will be included in the colostrum.  A killed vaccine can be given one to two months prior to calving.  In a beef herd in which all the cows and heifers are calving about the same time, they can all be vaccinated as one group, but sometimes a second dose will be needed for any that will calve toward the end of the calving season.  Then there will be good antibody concentration in colostrum.

The vaccines and the timing may vary with each operation, each individual herd.  “We generally think about respiratory diseases and the pathogens that can cause scours in calves, for pre-calving vaccines.”  

After they are born, all calves on a beef operation need clostridial vaccines to protect against blackleg, malignant edema, and Clostridium perfringens (that can cause acute enterotexemia and sudden death in calves).  In some parts of the country the 7 or 8-way clostridial vaccine should also include Clostridium haemolyticum to protect against “redwater” and this vaccination is even more important for adult animals than for calves.  It should be boostered every year—and in some regions twice a year.

Check labels on all vaccines for directions for proper administration (dosage, injection routes/sites such as intramuscular or subcutaneous). Most vaccines also have a withdrawal period; the length of time that must elapse before that animal can be slaughtered for meat.  Some of the chemicals and preservatives need to be cleared from the body before the meat is used for human consumption.  “Historically some vaccines contain a little bit of gentamycin.  Depending on the vaccine, the withdrawal period is usually something between 30 and 60 days, so check the label before you vaccinate an animal that might be culled or slaughtered sooner than that.”

In beef herds, calf vaccines are very important.  Even if you vaccinate pregnant cows just ahead of calving, you also need to vaccinate the calves for clostridial diseases and respiratory diseases.  Some herds vaccinate calves at birth for certain diseases, but all calves should be vaccinated during the first few months of life.

“There are many different products for respiratory diseases; some are intra-nasal and some are injected.  The injectable products do a better job at stimulating long-term immunity, but in a herd that is facing an immediate problem, the intra-nasal vaccines can give quicker response,” says Moore-Foster.

Many beef calves are vaccinated at branding time, or vaccinated at one to two months of age if that operation doesn’t use branding as proof of ownership.  “If you live in an area where tetanus is a problem, it’s even better if you can administer the clostridial vaccines before you plan to castrate calves.  The clostridial spores that cause blackleg and malignant edema (and tetanus) are always present in the environment, in the soil, etc.  Since it takes time for the animal to mount an immune response—about 2 to 4 weeks—you might want to give those calves a clostridial vaccine ahead of when you castrate them,” she says.  An open wound provides entry for clostridial spores.

“If you can’t do that, at least give those vaccines at the time of branding or processing those calves,” she says.  This will be better than nothing and the calves definitely need protection against the other clostridial diseases during their first year of life.  The problem with many beef operations is that the cattle are generally only worked when they can be hands-on; they can’t always be rounded up at the most appropriate time.  Calves are usually branded and vaccinated just ahead of spring turnout on summer pastures, and some of those calves may be only two weeks old while others are two months old.  Some may mount good immunity and others may not.

Maternal antibodies from colostrum may hinder the young calf’s response to vaccine.  “If we can get them vaccinated, however, and have some herd immunity for some of the contagious diseases, the older animals won’t get sick and spread pathogens to the younger ones with less immunity,” says Moore-Foster.

There is no specific strategy that works for every farm, when it comes to cattle vaccinations, so it’s always wise to work closely with your veterinarian to make sure you come up with a protocol that makes sense for the immune system of the animal, and is also easy for the people who are doing it.  “If it’s not easy, people won’t do it, or won’t do it properly,” says Moore-Foster.

CARE AND HANDLING OF VACCINES – There are many factors that play a role in whether cattle can mount an adequate immune response to vaccination.  Stress, bad weather, individual immune status, etc. can hinder optimum vaccination response.  One thing we can do as producers, however, is make sure the vaccine we administer has not been compromised in its potency by improper storage or handling.  If you want your vaccines to work effectively, make sure you store and handle them correctly.

All vaccines need to be kept refrigerated and within a certain temperature range, to make sure they remain viable for their expected shelf life.  Make sure they stay cool when you bring vaccines home from the veterinary clinic or livestock supply store.  When ordering vaccine online, it’s best to do it early in the week so that they won’t sit somewhere over the weekend.  Even though they are shipped in insulated containers with cold packs or dry ice, if they are too long in transit they may get too warm.

“When you purchase or order them, check to make sure they are cold, and check the expiration date to make sure they will still be good when you use them.  If they are expired or too close to the expiration date, if you contact the manufacturer they might trade you out and send you a fresher batch.  It pays to check, before you just throw it away,” says Moore-Foster.

When you get ready to use the vaccine, keep it cool in warm weather and make sure it doesn’t freeze if you are vaccinating cattle in cold weather.  “Depending on the time of year, make sure you have it in a cooler with ice packs or a warm place to keep it from freezing.  Don’t mix up too much at once before you actually use it.”

Don’t contaminate a bottle of vaccine when refilling syringes.  Use a different needle for taking vaccine from the bottle—not the one you’ve been injecting the cattle with.  “It’s also important to change needles often on the syringes you are using.  Many people don’t take time to do this, but it should be a priority.  Even if you don’t change needles after every injection, you should change them after you’ve injected several animals.  Needles tend to become dull after a few uses, and a dull needle not only causes more pain but also meat damage.  A dull needle also makes it harder to push through the hide and administer the vaccine,” says Moore-Foster.

“It’s good to change after every 5 animals, or at least when you refill a 10-dose syringe gun.  Many vaccines come in 50-dose bottles, and if you are refilling from the same bottle, always use a clean needle.”  Pushing through the rubber stopper on the bottle also tends to dull a needle, so you don’t want to use that needle for injecting.

Some vaccines keep quite a while when properly refrigerated, but if you’ve used part of a bottle, check it closely before using it again.  “I like to put a date on the bottle when I first puncture it, and then if it’s been sitting there for 6 months before I use it again, I might need to get a new bottle—especially if the color changes or it shows any other signs of having been contaminated,” she says.

INJECTION PROTOCOLS – Always use BQA (Beef Quality Assurance) protocols when vaccinating cattle.  Always vaccinate in the neck, in the triangular region above the shoulder and below the top of the neck, staying away from structures like the bony column near the bottom and the ligaments at the top.  Never inject into the rump or back of the thigh.  Most people injected into the rump in earlier years because it was a handy spot to reach, with thick muscle to absorb a large injection.  But that’s an area where an injection that creates scar tissue can damage expensive cuts of meat, and is also hard to open and drain if an abscess ever occurs (as can happen with a dirty needle).

Keep track of where you give injections, even when doing it in proper locations on the neck.  “If I’m giving multiple vaccines, I try to do an even number on each side, but also consistently give a certain vaccine on a certain side, says Moore-Foster.  Then if there’s swelling or some kind of problem, it’s easier to know which vaccine caused it.  

“If we are seeing a lot of abscesses or irritation, I have an idea which vaccine might be causing an issue, and have a better argument when calling the vaccine company to report a problem,” she says.

It’s also helpful to have some kind of system to mark or label the syringes when giving multiple vaccines, so a person never makes the mistake of putting a different vaccine in that syringe.  “This is especially important when giving modified-live vaccine; you want one syringe dedicated to that one, or to a killed vaccine, so things are not getting mixed up,” she says.

STORAGE – Vaccine must be kept within a certain range of temperature, as listed on the label.  Scott E. Poock, DVM, DABVP, Associate Extension Professor, University of Missouri, says there have been many articles in the past 10 years discussing storage of vaccines, looking at research regarding how well refrigerators do or do not keep vaccines at proper temperature.  Some refrigerators get too cold (and may freeze the vaccine) or too warm.  “Don’t just assume that the refrigerator you use for storing vaccine is working properly,” he says.

“I have my own cattle, and keep our vaccine in our kitchen refrigerator.  It’s important to monitor and make sure a refrigerator is keeping vaccine cool enough and at the right temperature.”  It helps to have a thermometer in the refrigerator.

It’s also important to make sure the vaccine is kept cool before it gets to you.  If you order vaccine—through your veterinarian, farm store or some other supplier—always order it on a Monday rather than at the end of the week, so it won’t have to sit somewhere over the weekend. “I was recently at a farm where they’d ordered vaccine, and received part of the product right away, and some of it came the next Monday, and the ice packs were completely thawed and the product was warm.  The company was good about making it right; they took it back and sent some new vaccine to replace it.  Always order early in the week, but if there is a delay and it takes longer than it should, to arrive, return it.  There’s no sense in spending money for vaccine and having it bad when it arrives.  It won’t do the animals any good and should not be used.”

HANDLING THE VACCINE – “I am fussy about how vaccine is handled when people are working cattle.  A pet peeve of mine is when people are using a modified live virus (MLV) vaccine and not keeping it cool, or have it exposed to sunlight.  Or they use MLV vaccine and if there’s some left, instead of discarding it they decide to keep it and use it in a day or two.  This turns a really good modified live vaccine into a very poor killed vaccine,” says Poock.

“The difference between a killed vaccine and modified live is that the killed products contain adjuvants to help stimulate the immune response, and they also have higher levels of antigen.  But now you have a vaccine that’s killed, with no adjuvants, and it doesn’t have near the numbers as a killed product, and has become a really poor vaccine,” he explains.

“When we are working our own cattle, I like to have MLV vaccines in 10-dose vials, and only mix up what will be used quickly—in less than an hour.  If I am using a syringe gun that holds 20 doses, I mix up two 10-dose vials of MLV vaccine, but won’t mix up any more until that’s gone, so it remains fresh.  Then I can evaluate how many more cattle we have left to vaccinate, and only mix up what will work for them,” he says.

Once it’s mixed, he keeps the pistol-grip syringe in a cooler when not in use.  He uses a cooler with slots for syringes, so the vaccine in the gun stays cool also.  “If I am vaccinating where there’s no shade, I wrap a towel around that syringe so that when I am injecting, I decrease the exposure to sunlight.”

It pays to have a good cooler or insulated Styrofoam box for the vaccine and syringes at the chute.  In warm weather, a person can put ice packs in the cooler to keep vaccine from getting warm, and in severely cold weather, you can put a jar of hot water in that box, to keep the vaccine from freezing.

“When I was in practice in Wisconsin, there were times I had to keep things warm; otherwise the vaccine would freeze solid in the needles.  My vet box in the back of my truck had a heater, and the heater blowing would keep things warm enough—not enough to make it too warm, but enough to keep the product from freezing in the needle.  It was more of a problem in Wisconsin, but once in a while it also gets cold in Missouri!”  The main thing is to think ahead, and be prepared.

“If you don’t have a box designed for pistol-grip syringes, even a Styrofoam box with some ice packs or gel packs will help.  The main thing is to keep vaccine cool and out of direct sunlight.  If I am outside at the chute, mixing the MLV vaccine, I try to do it in the shade, or turn my body to block the sunlight while mixing, and filling syringes.”

OTHER VACCINATING TIPS – Along with keeping vaccine cool, it’s important to keep things as clean as possible.  “I like to set up a table near the chute, and lay a clean towel on the table.  I also have a systematic order; the vaccines are at the front of the table nearest the front of the chute.  If I am palpating or doing ultrasound, those materials are at the back of the table near the back of the chute.  If we are working on both sides, I have a table on both sides,” says Poock.

“People need to make sure they are handling vaccine correctly, and using proper techniques.  Don’t vaccinate on a rainy day when cattle are stressed and muddy.”  They won’t respond as well when stressed, and if you inject through a wet or dirty hide, this can create problems like injection-site abscesses.

Stress can be minimized if cattle go through the facility calmly.  “Many producers put cattle through the chute several times each year.  If we are working the cows but not doing anything with the calves, a good practice is to simply put the calves through the chute when we are done working their mothers.  This is a good training program, and they are not as reluctant to go through the chute again later.”  If their first experience is traumatic, they don’t want to go in again, and may be balky the rest of their lives.  If we can keep cattle calm and relaxed–less stressed–they will respond better to the vaccine.

When vaccinating, use the same syringe for each type of vaccine.  Don’t put the clostridial vaccine into the syringe that had modified live virus vaccine, or vice versa.  “I might be using 3 different products, so it’s important to keep them straight,” says Poock.

Some producers use colored tape, or mark each syringe differently, so no one would mistakenly put in the wrong vaccine when refilling.  A marking pen on masking tape can be a handy way to identify each syringe, or color-coded markers.

“I have one syringe with a yellow ball on the handle, and use it for MLV vaccine (since I’m often using BoviShield Gold), and one syringe with a black ball, so it’s the one I use for blackleg.  The third syringe is a different type, so it’s the one I use if I am giving another vaccine in addition to those two,” he says. 

When you are done vaccinating, rinse the syringes as soon as possible–multiple rinses with hot water.  You don’t need to use any disinfectant.  “Since a disinfectant would inactivate MLV vaccine, to make sure that will never happen, it’s best to just wash all your syringes with hot water alone.   Rinsing at least 3 times is usually adequate.  If you are consistent in doing that, those syringes will be clean enough.”