Vaccination essential in beef cattle

are too acute for treatment hence even if animals survive the disease, there is still loss in production either through loss of weight, milk or poor fertility.
The use of vaccines to prevent disease is a small investment with high returns, and as such, can be considered some form of insurance policy.
The cost of vaccine is always low relative to the cost of the animal; it is, however, astonishing that farmers are often comfortable buying antibiotics for treatment than vaccines for disease prevention.
Vaccines must, however, be used correctly to give optimal protection.
Using vaccines at the incorrect time, or damaging them through poor storage and handling will negate their effects and be a waste of money.
All vaccines have an accompanying package insert, which details the storage directions, route of administration, the age, sex of animals to be inoculated, time of year, and any contra-indications or precautions for use.
The package insert must be read carefully before the vaccine is used.
Vaccines are administered by recommended specific routes.
It is important to give vaccines by the recommended routes as vaccines may be ineffective or cause severe irritation if given by another route.
It is important that all syringes and needles used for vaccinations are sterile.
If needles and syringes are re-used they must be boiled for at least 20 minutes before use.
Failure to sterilise needles will cause formation of abscesses and even death due to introduction of a generalised bacterial infection.
Sterilisation of needles and syringes with alcohol or methylated spirit is not recommended as this turns to render the vaccine inactive.
To protect newborn animals against specific diseases vaccines are given to mothers and immunity is transferred through the colostrum.
This is called maternal or passive immunity.
Newborn animals must receive sufficient colostrums after birth for this to be successful.
Depending on time of occurance of a specific disease, vaccination can be started around weaning when the colostral immunity is low.
As vaccination is a preventive measure, it is of little value to vaccinate during an outbreak of disease, because the incubation time of disease is invariably shorter than the time taken to develop immunity after vaccination.
It should also be noted that vaccination during an outbreak always carries the risk of transmission of diseases from one animal to another particularly in cases of lumpy skin disease.
However, they are exceptional cases where vaccination can be carried out in face of an outbreak and this should be at the recommendation of a veterinarian.
Vaccination is generally a harmless procedure but occasionally there are side effects.
These responses occur in a very small percentage of animals that it can be considered to be negligible.
Live vaccines are generally contra-indicated in pregnant animals as they may cause abortions.
As a general rule, it is not advisable to use vaccines in the last trimester of pregnancy unless indicated.
Vaccine failure may occur in herds that have been vaccinated.
The reasons why vaccines may not protect under certain circumstances can be attributed to factors affecting the vaccine itself, the administration of the vaccine and the animal itself.
Vaccines can be damaged by incorrect storage (heating or freezing) or exposure to direct sunlight or if the diagnosis is incorrect and a wrong vaccine was used.
It is very important that farmers source their vaccines from reputable suppliers where cold chain is adhered to.
Equally important is the fact that farmers must get the right technical advice so that they vaccinate using the correct vaccine.
Other factors that may cause vaccine failure are:
l Not giving boosters when they are indicated.
l Using the wrong route.
l Vaccinating while the animal is already incubating the disease.
l Using the wrong dosage (wrong dilution or faulty calibration of auto vaccinating syringe).
l Administration of vaccines with other products that may inactivate the vaccine, e.g administration of live bacterial vaccines with antibiotics that can inactivate the vaccine.
Chronic diseases, heavy worm burden, poor body condition may result in a poor immune response after administration of a vaccine.
Following a set of vaccination programme ensures that vaccines are given timeously and boosters are not forgotten.
The vaccination programmes given here are guidelines and should be adapted for local conditions with the help of the nearest Veterinary Distributors (Pvt) Ltd branch/outlet or your nearest Government veterinary office or private veterinarian who knows the prevalence of local diseases.
In the table above, essential vaccines are given in bold type, while those given in normal type are optional or are required in endemic areas, i.e. areas where the disease frequently occurs or has occurred in the past.
Please note that technical and proprietary names have been used in this discussion.
l For further consultation visit or phone Veterinary Distributors (Pvt) Ltd Branches/Outlets and talk to our Technical Sales Team on our shop floors. Dr Pasca Gwarada is a veterinary surgeon by profession and a holder of BVSc (UZ), MSc (UK).