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BVD

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Northern Rancher

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Has anybody else ever tested their entire herd-we vaccinate but I'm going to test the whole herd this year too-we did 50 head of replacement heifers and some flush cows yesterday. I think from now on-no more breeding stock enters or leaves our place without a negative test. I got a pretty good bred heifer deal done several hundred over next few years so going to add this to the package. Talking to our local vet he says BVD is in every herd and is alot more pervasive problem than people think. Was a hot old job yesterday we processed the rest of our yearlings too-that little bull calf Ms. Sage's school kids adopted was a firecracker-can't wait till he's big enough to flank.
 
you can vaccinate your herd for bvd.your herd bulls are what carries an speads the bvd.so your right in testing all your cows bulls an heifers.if you have it in your herd itll take awhile to get it under control.
 
NR,
we tested all of the calves and all of the bulls. All negative, whewww. MSU has been doing a study around the state with grant money, they have found instances of 25% or more PI cattle in some herds, way more prevalent than anyone thought. Most of the herds that they have found with high rates either do not feed good mineral or do not vaccinate with modified live vaccines. Some of the purebred guys are testing their bulls prior to sales, good idea. I dont think I would bring anything into this herd that was not tested either, now that we know we're clean.
 
Yeah BSE affects you like a dam breaking but BVD just leaks out profit year by year. It's going to cost us a few grand to get everything tested but I think in the long run it's worth it.
 
NR, someone I know has had a problem with BVD-PI. He said you could almost tell by looking at the calves...they just weren't quite right. Those testing positive he kept them separate from the rest of the herd, in less than a year's time almost all the calves had died.
 
Yeah when you hear someone describe a 'poor doer' it makes you start to wonder-we had a heifer come in from southern Alberta with it once-I shot her and burned the carcass as soon as the vet diagnosed it. I'd just feel better selling breeding heifers that I know are tested negative.
 
We have been testing for three years, about 350 hd a year. Knock on wood we have never had one pop positive. It is a good idea to test everything, one bad apple in the bunch can ruin the whole thing.
 
sw: I not sure if I understood you right but I took it to mean that modified live vaccine is better than killed vaccine for preventing PI calves. I know someone that went to the big world conference on BVD and the so called experts told them that modified live vaccine will guarantee that the disease will live on.



We have been using killed vaccine for ten plus years and feel we have the disease eradicated. We have blood tested cows that have some eceptionally high immune levels. The vet that did the blood couldn't believe they had never had a shot of MLV vaccine. This is just my experience.
 
I have taken the stand of just vaccinating with Mod-Live, and not worrying about it. If you do that to your calves in the fall, that will tell you if you have a problem. Our vet had told us in the past to get three mod-live shots in the calves before their first breeding season, then don't worry about it. Now he says that wildlife is a huge carrier of BVD, and we should start vacc. everything in the spring at branding. That would be a big job, and not one I would look forward to.
 
That's very interesting, Tap. I'm going to check that out with my favorite vet. We have talked about modified-live vs. killed and since we have had no problems we have stuck with the killed virus. I am going to talk to Notavirus as well. I have found out you can call these companies and talk directly to them about their products. Kinda puts my mind at ease to do so, as I am not getting it third hand.

And doggone it, I hate to say it, but vets push whatever product they can make the most money on. Not to say that about killed vs. modified live vaccine and not to say that about ALL vets. But I do think it is the norm rather than the exception. JMO, however.
 
We have an interesting vet FH. He has even told us where some of the vaccines are cheaper to buy. I hate to misquote him, but he likes Pfizer, and he says the mod-live vacc. are getting safer as time goes on. They evidently don't have as "hot" of strains as they used to get in them.

I like the thought of giving them Preggaurd 10 once in the spring, then rolling it over into a fall shot, as the label says. He told me the benefits of that might not last long enough into the next year when you really need it. That is as far as the BVD strain goes.
 
I had one vet that would get ticked off at you if you bought your vaccines from someone else.. Or wormer or whatever... What put him in a tizzy. I swtiched vets and now my the vet I use, the first thing she told me was, I don't care where you buy your vaccines/meds from. If you can get them cheaper than I can sell them to you than more power to you... Truth be told, I can sometimes and I can't others. Often I just use her to get my meds and such because it is easier...
 
A vet who we have since become very good friends with gave me this card at one time and I saved it. It reads:

Your generous allowance of time
is greatly appreciated.
I am sure your decision not to use
our very fine products
is based on careful consideration
you dumb sonofa*****.
 
I had a return call from our vet yesterday, and he told me he had just visited with a Pfizer vet. They had data that showed the BVD protection from their vaccine went out a year or more with one shot. So the short story is that if you vaccinate them in Oct./Nov., you still have plenty of protection thru the next calving and breeding season. BUT, you still have to give them the first shot in the spring, when they are non-pregnant. Just the first time though.

See, progress is good sometimes. :wink:
 
This vets reasoning for not caring where I bought my drugs from was basically that she shouldn't be trying to make money of meds. That the measley amount of mark up she took on them was not worth her customers costing themselves money over in her book. Yes, she does recommend certain drugs (She is a Pfizer person) but she doesn't care about where you get them from. Really like her and her new vet. So much easier on the animals than the old vet...
 
Tap from what I understand you are right about the BVD Protection. I think the Vibrio Lepto doesn't last that far out so we haven't swithed to Preg Guarding in the fall yet.

have a good one

Lazy ace
 
I think the killed vaccines work pretty well, especially if the cattle have a good immunity level to begin with. We like to vaccinate the calves at pasture turnout, then weaning with live. Then any replacements we keep get another shot of live pre-breeding. That makes three live shots before they get to join the cow herd.

As for the cows, we usually end up putting the bulls in before we can get a chance to vaccinate them in the spring, so they get a shot of killed BVD/IBR etc with vibrio and lepto in it when we process them to go to pasture.
 
If you want to know the dif between live and killed vaccine, call a major feedyard and say you are wanting to feed your calfcrop with them and ask for their vaccination reccomendations. Ain't much all feedyards will agree on, but they'll agree on this one.
 
Brad S.: You make a valid point but also remember the feedyards don't have to deal with the problems in the cow calf herd that the MLV are causing.
 

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