sponsored by Land O' Lakes Animal Milk Products

Develop a good vaccination program for dairy heifers

John Campbell, professor at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, presented these eight take-home messages at the Western Canadian Dairy Seminar this past spring:

• Vaccinating dairy heifers serves two purposes:

1. Protecting the heifer from infectious disease as she grows.
2. Preparing the heifer’s immune system so that it will provide protection to the fetus during the heifer’s first pregnancy.

• Vaccines are not a replacement for other management tools such as colostrum management, nutrition, hygiene, ventilation, housing and biosecurity.
  
• It is essential that all calves receive 4 liters of good-quality colostrums within the first six hours of life.
  
• Modified-live vaccines tend to provide better and longer-lasting immunity than killed vaccines.
  
• Recent research would suggest that calves as young as two or four weeks of age can effectively respond to vaccines even in the face of maternal immunity.
  
• Clostridial vaccines should be a standard part of any replacement heifer vaccination program.
  
• A modified-live prebreeding vaccination for IBR, BVD, BRSV and PI3 viruses is the backbone for a heifer-vaccination program.
  
• Work with your veterinarian to develop a risk-based vaccination protocol tailored to the needs of the dairy operation.