Volume 9, No. 6
MAXIMIZE YOUR CALF HEALTH DOLLARS
By: Russ Schnepper, D.V.M.
Procedures that are cost effective keep you in business and increase your profits. I can not lay out a program that is best for every manager. But I can explain some of the reasons we do what we do and the manager can decide what is best for his or her operation.
I have recommended using a modified live virus (MLV)vaccine upon arrival and again eight days later, for more than a decade. The primary reason was to get the effect of interferon that is produced by the calf's immune system in response to the vaccine. Interferon is Mother Nature's own medicine and is effective against both viri and bacteria. Injectable MLV vaccines create interferon the next day, while the intranasal vaccines do so in a period of six to eight hours. My experience is, the effective life of those interferons is three to four days. Now we have Immunoboost which also causes the body to produce Interferon at many times higher levels than the MLV and there are measurable levels of interferon detected within two hours of administration find the Immunoboost induced interferon to be very effective for seven days.
Immunity from the MLV vaccines are not as important tome, in the calf that is less than 30 days old, as it used to be. I bled 1000 calves going into a Wisconsin veal barn several years ago and found three per cent of the calves to be persistently infected with Bovine Virus Diarrhea virus. So it was extremely important to attempt to get some immunity to BVD in the other calves in the same barn. That is why we used multiple doses. Now the dairymen are doing a better job of vaccinating their cows and I find the incidence of persistently infected BVD calves going to calf raisers, that I work with, to be extremely low. The IBR and PI3 fractions of the vaccines are not important to me. Bovine Respiratory Syncytial Virus (BRSV) is a factor, but two injections are required to get decent protection. BRSV spreads thru a population of calves in a matter of a very few days. Exposure occurs in the sale barn, the truck, or the barn and the disease is ahead of your vaccine. If good levels of interferon are present, there is treatment effect against the BRSV. A calf that receives good quality colostrum very shortly after its birth, has protection against the viri that are included in the MLV vaccines.
Many calf raisers have eliminated the MLV vaccines the first month of the calf's life by using Immunoboost. Long haul calves are getting Immunoboost the day of arrival and again at day eight. If they are short haul newborn calves, with good colostrum the Immunoboost is not given until day six or seven. Do not eliminate the Endovac-bovi. Immunoboost, given at the same time as the Endovac, enhances the immune response.
Immunoboost given day one and/or day eight has eliminated the need for antibiotics and/or sulfas in the milk the first week. Deccox for the Crypto is required with the Immunoboost. If clostridial infections are a problem, Gammulin may be indicated.
A calf raiser with a successful program should run their own experiment - split a barn and see what works in that facility. Use only cost effective products that are necessary.
Contact information for ordering information and questions about our products:
Schnepper International, Inc.
3162 County B, Platteville, WI 53818
608-348-6141, Fax: 608-348-6146
www.calfdoctor.com email: rschnep@mhtc.net