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Any Advice on Blackleg

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Manitoba_Rancher

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I was wondering if anyone could give me more info on blackleg in calves? We lsot one 450 lb calf about three weeks ago that was not vaccinated for it. When we did the post on him as soon as the vet pulled the hide back the skin was air bubbles. When we got the results back from the lab it turned up nothing. I lost another that was not vaccinated so I pulled the hide back to look and sure enough it was the same way. Any experiences or thoughts would be appreciated.
 
Back in the late 60's we had an outbreak. From what we lost could have vaccinated till ..........ever! Quick death and paper crackle hide is a cue. We saved some with close monitering and when found massive doses of anti-biotic.
 
Vaccine is cheap and effective. Burn or bury the carcasses deep....best is to burn where they dropped. Crackling legs is a positive for blackleg. Haven't lost anything to blackleg for over 25 years. You lose a 1000 lb. steer once and you start thinking real fast that vaccine at under a buck a dose is worth the money.
 
"Overeating disease" is the biggest clostridial problem here anymore. I've never seen the crackling skin thing but Dad frequently talked about it. He always used "2-way" blackleg vaccine.

I give my calves a 7 way shot at birth, at branding time, and again in the fall shots. Some guys give CD toxoid (overeating) or 7 way to the cows before calving to pass immunity through the colustrum. I beleive CD is also a component of scour vaccines given to bred cows.
 
We saw several outbreaks when I worked for the vet. Not in the winter, though. :?

His advice was to vaccinate everything right away, and give all the unvaccinated cattle a shot of penicillin as well. It seemed to work OK.
 
I think you'll find that eliminating stress will do as much or more for preventing any of the Clostridium diseases than vaccinating.

Not saying to NOT vaccinate, but a sudden change in environment stresses, which brings the onset of susceptability.

The mentions of burning the carcasses is a good idea too.

Blackleg always gets the best ones too, in the few cases I have seen.
 
Blackleg vaccines are NOT CREATED EQUAL.
We have found that some blackleg vaccines are better than others and
this is supported by our local vet. Vision 7 and Alpha 7 (edited) are the BEST
blackleg vaccines. FWIW.


I did a google search and came up with this from CATTLEMAX.

Blackleg is a highly fatal disease of young cattle caused by the spore forming, rod shaped, gas producing bacteria Clostridium chauvoei. The spores of the organism can live in the soil for many years. The bacteria enters the calf by ingestion and then gains entrance to the body through small punctures in the mucous membrane of the digestive tract. Cattle that are on a high plane of nutrition, rapidly gaining weight and between 6 months and 2 years of age are most susceptible to the disease. The disease is not transmitted directly from sick animals to healthy animals by mere contact.

The first sign observed is usually lameness, loss of appetite, rapid breathing and the animal is usually depressed and has a high fever. Characteristic swellings develop in the hip, shoulder, chest, back, neck or elsewhere. First the swelling is small, hot and painful. As the disease progresses, the swelling enlarges and becomes spongy and gaseous. If you press the swelling, gas can be felt under the skin. The animal usually dies in 12 to 48 hours. In most cases the animal is found dead without being previously observed sick. The speed with which blackleg kills usually makes individual treatment useless.

Blackleg is almost entirely preventable by vaccination. The most commonly used clostridial vaccination in cattle is the 7-way type which protects against Clostridium chauveoi (blackleg), Clostridium septicum and Clostridium sordelli (malignant edema), Clostridium novyi (black disease), and three types of Clostridium perfringens (enterotoxemia).
 
I partly agree with you FH. The vaccines you mentioned are quite effective and BEST at being tissue friendly.

If you want the BEST vaccine as far as effective blackleg immunity goes, Alpha 7 is the way to go. The thing about Alpha 7 though is the oil-based adjuvant (sp?) is NOT very tissue friendly, and a lot of calves end up with knots at the injection site that can still be seen and felt in the fall :???:

So what I'd say is use Alpha if you have an extreme clostridial problem or the calves will only get the single dose in their life, but Vision or others will do the job quite effectively with a timely booster later on.

FWIW, I used to use Alpha 7 at birth but switched to Vision 7 because it got the job done without leaving knots. The Alpha is also extremely tough on the plungers is the small disposable vaccine syringes. Makes them swell and only last about 10 calves! :wink: I give Vision 7HS or Vision 7 20/20 (pinkeye) at branding time.
 
I agree w/ using Vision 7 instead of Alpha 7. The knots left by Alpha 7 were bad, and I never knew why my syringes never lasted... now I know. What causes the plunger to swell?
 
Faster horses said:
And I did mean Alpha 7, not Ultrabac.

Ding! Ding! Ding! It's heck to get old...and your memory goes... :p :lol: :lol: :lol: :shock:
Click to expand...

so ULTRABAC is not a good one in your opinion?? I think thats what we have been using. (my uncle does the vaccinating)
 
farmerD44 said:
Faster horses said:
And I did mean Alpha 7, not Ultrabac.

Ding! Ding! Ding! It's heck to get old...and your memory goes... :p :lol: :lol: :lol: :shock:
Click to expand...

so ULTRABAC is not a good one in your opinion?? I think thats what we have been using. (my uncle does the vaccinating)
Click to expand...

I give Alpha 7 at birth and at branding, I have noticed a few lumps but my calves sell well and this is what my vet reccomends and my vet is one of the best in the area.
 
As an after thought I can't believe that black leg is a problem anymore. This MR is a Canuck that pride's himself in quality cattle yet is having a problem with a disease that has been a non issue for years if you use common sense vaccination. No pity here.
 
Just remember, you little twerp--there are no stupid questions.

And I think Ultra Bac 7 is fine. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
We have had to use Ultra Bac 7 to go with our preconditioning shots as
we don't us modified live vaccine on our cowherd and need to get
a combination that works for the buyers. Ultra Bac 7 works in that scenerio.
 
THERE WAS A PLACE WEST OF US THAT HAD COWS DROPPING FROM SOME UNKNOWN REASON. HE HAD THE VET COME OUT AND IT WAS DIAGNOSED AS A STRAIN OF BLACK LEG, BEFORE HE GOT THEM ALL IN AND VACCINATED I THINK HE LOST MORE THAN TWENTY HEAD. THEN LAST YEAR A WEEK BEFORE WE WERE GOING TO VACCINATE HE HAD A BULL AND TWO COWS DROP DEAD SAMETHING. NOW EVERYTHING GETS A SHOT SPRING AND FALL FOR BLACKLEG AND IT IS FOR A CERTAIN STRAIN. ALSO WE WERE GOING OVER TO HELP A NEIGHBOR AND HE HAD A SICK CALF IN BARN FROM NIGHT BEFORE AND IT HAD DROPPED DEAD, AND WHILE WORKING THE CALVES THROUGH TWO MORE DROPPED WERE ABLE TO SAVE THE LAST TWO WITH HIGH DOSES OF PEN. LUCKILY WE WERE VACCINATING THAT DAY AND NOT A DAY LATER. I THINK THEY GAVE ALL THE CALVES PEN. AS WELL JUST TO BE ON THE SAFE SIDE.
 
I have had a problem with blackleg for years, so bad in fact that I quit finishing my calves here on the place. These calves would get Alpha 7 at birth, Ultrabac 7 at weaning, another dose at implanting time in Jan. and then about March when the steers would get to about 1000#, they would start dying. Always would be the biggest ones with the biggest appetite. Pfizer was blaming the finishing ration, and my nutritionist was blaming the vaccine. He claims and I agree that type A clostidial was responsible for these sudden deaths and since there was no vaccine available for type A, they had no immunity even after 3 or 4 doses of 7way.

There are some new vaccines now that have isolated this type A bug and the feedyards are having a little more success, but I was so discouraged I haven't finished any steers for several years. $4.50 corn also helped me come to that decision.
 

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