The Cattle Page

This page contains information about common diseases of calves and cattle. More cattle topics are covered in the News Letters each month.

Rearing Calves Preventing Scouring

Somehow it seems that there will always be something stopping your cows returning to the bull and having a viable calf every three hundred and sixty five days. During the nineteen seventies, and before it was Brucellosis that was the major cause of abortion. Once the eradication programme was undertaken by the Ministry and affected animals were identified and removed from herds another bacterial disease moved in to take its place.

Five or six years ago we went through a period where more and more abortion investigations carried out at the Veterinary Investigation Centres were not yielding a positive result. After a time it was realized that something was being missed and a new organism Neospora came to light. This is now thought to be responsible for more than half of the bovine abortions that are investigated. There is still a great deal that we do not know about this parasite. In 1984 an organism similar to Toxoplasmosis was identified as a cause of a severe meningitis in dogs. It took a further four years to identify this organism as Neospora caninum and it was realized that it behaves differently to the infection that infects cats and sheep.

The organism can only multiply in animal cells, particularly in the placenta of the cow, damaging it sufficiently to cause it to fail. It is thought now that most abortions occur in cows that are already carrying the disease and not as a result of ingesting the oocysts for the first time. Cows that contact the infection late in a pregnancy are more likely to produce a live calf that is a carrier of the infection. This is how the infection passes down the generations. It is thought that dogs become involved when they eat infected placentas and that they pass the infection onto pastures through their faeces. Researchers have discovered that the oocysts are not readily produced by dogs and that when they do appear in the faeces they are present in relatively small numbers and for a short time.

Because we still have a great deal to learn about Neospora it is difficult to give any specific advise about how to control it. Certainly dogs may carry the parasite in their faeces so it would be wise to stop them contaminating pastures and areas where feed is stored if you can. All placentas should be removed and disposed of especially if any of your farm dogs have a tendency to do this for you. There is only a slight tendency for cattle that have aborted once with this problem to do so again so the argument for culling these animals is not strong.

Hopefully soon we will discover more about Neospora and have better ways to control it. Presumably as the parasite produces an immune response in cattle there are possibilities for the development of a vaccine, but that remains a long way into the future

It is difficult for  high yielding dairy cows to eat sufficient fodder to meet their energy requirements. Even in the early summer when the grass is at it's best newly calved cows drift into an energy deficit, metabolizing fat to maintain the quantity of milk that they are producing. When they start to loose weight in early lactation you will have problems trying to get your better cows back into calf. The way to avoid this is to buffer feed grass or maize silage before afternoon milking each day to maintain the weight and milk yield of your cows.

There is no easy solution to keeping the milk somatic cell count below 150,000 per ml. You will need to tackle this problem by maintaining hygiene standards both at milking and in the cubicles or covered yard. Try to keep good records of which cows are being treated for mastitis and which quarters are involved so that you can use this information with details of individual cow cell counts to target your most aggressive treatments at the problem cows. It is important not to allow infections that occur during lactation to become established. Even the mildest cases should be treated for three days with a suitable antibiotic, some infections will take at least five days of treatment to clear all of the infection from the udder. 

Take particular care when inserting dry cow tubes to ensure that the teat ends are clean and disinfected. This is not the time to introduce new bacteria into the udder.

Liver Fluke

Normally in the part of Shropshire we do not see many cases of Liver Fluke  because most pastures are too dry in the autumn to sustain the small snails that are the secondary host. In recent years the weather conditions have been ideal for Fluke to develop and we are seeing the parasite on farms that had been thought to be clear of the infestation. Fluke can affect sheep and cattle of any age. It can unknowingly be brought in when stock are purchased and can readily be missed unless you are actively looking for it.

In the past we have monitored faeces samples more frequently than we do today. There is a tendency now to assume that the wormer you are using will treat everything so there is no need to find out if it is working properly. Liver fluke are large flat parasites four centimeters or so in length and they were readily visible when fallen animals were processed at a Knacker Yard or Hunt Kennels. Even if a full post mortem was not undertaken you would be quite likely to get a phone call to let you know that there was fluke in that animal that you took in during the morning. Sometimes the parasite may not have been responsible for the loss of the animal, but it would have contributed to it. At the moment very few post mortems are being undertaken, many animals are buried and you will be totally unaware of this potential problem.

The parasite has a complicated life cycle. The adults live in the bile ducts of cattle or sheep. Each parasite can shed up to 50,000 eggs each day. These are passed in the faeces to contaminate the pasture. The next stage is called a miracidium, this is quite delicate and can only survive for three hours or so. The life cycle is often broken at this stage if the pasture is not wet and if there are no mud snails about for the miracidia to infest. Once inside the snail the parasite is relatively secure again, over a period of five weeks or more they pass through two further stages before they divide to become metacircaria the stage that can infect the final host. Once inside sheep or cattle it will take three to four months before they reach the mature stage and shed eggs that can be detected in the faeces.

Liver Fluke forecasts are based on weather data and information from Abattoirs and Veterinary Investigation Centres. Both of these are showing more cases than were seen in previous years.

In theory we should be able to manage pastures to reduce the risk from fluke. The parasite cannot mature without the snail and the snail cannot survive on pastures that are well drained. It might be possible to fence off the wetter areas or not graze them during the critical times in the autumn. At the moment on most farms it will not be economic to do these things. In the past copper sulphate was used to control the snails on damp areas, but this option is no longer available to us because of the risk of contaminating water courses.

There are several drenches and injections available that you can use to combat this infestation. If your pastures are very wet you may need to use a drench that eliminates Immature Fluke every eight weeks from September onwards. On most farms Cattle will be dosed at housing or in the late autumn to stop the life cycle of the maturing parasite. If you are using a product that only eliminates adult fluke it may be better to postpone the treatments until January as most of the worms will be mature enough then to respond to the treatment.

Worming Strategies

In a normal summer in this part of the country pastures will be dry for two months or more. The larvae of the gut and lungworms have difficulty surviving during this period. They are vulnerable to drying out and are either trapped inside the dung pats passed by cattle or they migrate into the soil where they can cause no harm. Do not be fooled into thinking that these are simple organisms, they have a sophisticated way of ensuring they are present in maximum numbers when there are vulnerable animals about.

Some of the gut worms picked up in the autumn go into a dormant stage where they do not try to reproduce within the lumen of the gut of their host. The change of tactics mean that they burrow deep into the wall of the stomach and gut of your cattle ready to bust into activity early in the spring when maximum levels of infection are passed out onto the pastures. This is one of the ways that they cause so many problems for newborn calves.

Lungworms are a little bit different in the way that the adult worms are able to survive in the hostile environment of the lungs where the animal's immune system is desperately trying to reject them from the body. Eggs produced here move up into the throat with the mucus and eventually pass through the length of the gut to get to the outside. Lungworm larvae can survive for long periods in moist conditions, they are less active when the temperatures are low but will migrate up the grass stems when things warm up in the early spring. This is how they are able to overwhelm the immune system of younger calves that have not had the benefit of vaccination.

After a wet summer there will be no check on the build up of worms inside the animals and cattle will start to struggle against their internal parasites. Fortunately worming treatments have improved over the years, but they have also become more expensive so you need to target their use onto the animals that will get the most benefit. It is not always easy to predict when different groups of cattle will be housed. You may well have a good supply of silage but the temptation will be to keep young stock out for as long as possible to reduce the amount of work you have to do in the winter.

Herd Health Plan

It is difficult to devise a Herd Health Plan to cover both Dairy and Suckler cows on both lowland and Upland Farms. No two herds will be managed in exactly the same way. Your aims and priorities may change from one year to the next. The following is simply intended as a guide as to what you could be doing at different times of the year. Hopefully you will not have to cope with all of the conditions that are covered here. It may help you to decide if there are any things that you may need to do to improve the management of your herd. The Health Plan will follow the months of the year.

January. Always a difficult month for Scouring calves and the time of the year when it is not easy to get your cows back in calf.

February. Now is the time to vaccinate calves against Lungworm if you take advantage of the early grazing. You need to plan this vaccination programme as it takes a week or so for the vaccine to come. There is a gap of four weeks between doses and a further two weeks before the calves are fully protected and safe to go onto the pastures.

Look out for Lice in cattle of any age and treat accordingly.

March. This is the best month to boost the immunity of the cows against Leptospirosis as the disease is able to spread most readily in warm wet weather. Remember heifers and any animals that may not have been previously vaccinated will need two doses of the vaccine in the first year with an interval of four weeks between the injections.

This is also the time to build up the magnesium levels in the cows to prepare them for turn out. The Dairy Ration will have additions minerals added in the spring, but you cannot rely on it to protect the stale milkers and dry cows who are on a low intake of concentrates. Cows will only take enough of this mineral to satisfy their needs. Allow access to magnesium licks or powder at the silage barrier, if they are not particularly interested in it you probably do not need to worry too much.

April. This is the month when the winter routine should come to an end and the cows are able to go out to pasture once more. Always be careful when the herd first goes out, this is a bad month for cow deaths. Cows get very little exercise in the winter, they will sometimes over exert themselves if they are suddenly expected to walk a long distance to spring grazing. There will be a high risk of milk fever in older animals, especially if you are a farm that has problems with low phosphorus levels.

There is only a short period when most silage pits are empty at the end of the winter. This is the only time when you can take a critical look at the silage pit, is the concrete worn are stones getting into the feed and causing digestive problems for the cows. Also how are the tyres coping over the years? If there is any wire showing they must be discarded. The wire from the tyre walls is brittle and readily gets into the silage often un noticed. These are the little needles that work their way into the chest of your cows always with fatal consequences. this is an accident that you can avoid.

This is a good time to vaccinate against Blackleg if you have problems with this disease. One injection will protect most animals for a year although two doses may be necessary on high risk pastures.

May. You will be too busy silaging this month to want to do any routine work with your cattle.

June. You might be starting to calve your heifers now especially if you are troubled by summer mastitis and you want them to be in milk before the danger period. If there is a lot of grazing available try not to get them over fat. 

Herds that have problems with a shortage of copper that affects the cows fertility and production need to take precautions throughout the year. The copper injections work well and are best given when the cows go dry to prevent the usual dip in copper levels at calving that are difficult to get back up again for the time that the animals go back to the bull.

July. This is the start of the Summer Mastitis Season and the time that you should start the spot on treatments to reduce the build up of flies. Dry cow tubes are not specifically designed to stop summer mastitis, but they do help. Try to use a product that will protect the cows for the whole of the dry period for cows that calve from now until the end of October.

August. This is the month when Lung Worm often becomes apparent in both young cattle and young Dairy Cows that have not been protected against this disease. Some times the most noticeable sign in the cows is weight loss with just the occasional cough. Look out for this in newly purchased cows, there is a battle going on between the immune system of your cows and the lungworm larvae, sometimes the parasite will get the upper hand when animals are under stress trying to establish their place in the herd.

Many high yielding cows cannot get all of their energy requirements from grass. They will have problems with their fertility and may develop ketosis if they are not buffer fed with silage during the summer months.

September. Look out for Fog Fever in this month. Hereford Cows are particularly prone to this if they move onto new pastures in the Autumn. Cows that are being milked and have a daily concentrate ration will not usually develop this problem unless they have a dramatic change of pasture. 

If it has been a dry summer take particular care to make sure the cows do not have access to acorns in the next two months. Treatments are available but recovered animals are never able to perform to their full potential. 

Vaccinations against Bovine Viral Diarrhoea will continue throughout the year, initially the heifers need two injections four weeks apart and they should have the second injection four weeks before the are due to go to the bull. Boosters are given before every subsequent gestation so it is inevitable that this vaccine will keep you occupied this month.

October. When the cows first come into the buildings it is important to keep their feet in the best condition possible. No matter how clean you are able to keep the yards and passageways, it is inevitable that they will have contact with slurry for part of the day. Five per cent formalin in a footbath helps to keep the feet hard and will enable them to resist some of the bacteria in the slurry. This should be repeated every two weeks at the start of the winter.

It is often the younger cows that will be the most affected if there is a build up of the bacteria that cause dermatitis on the yards. It is not always easy to avoid this all together, it may cause fewer problems on farms where the yards are kept clear of slurry.

When the herd is first housed in the winter the best way to monitor the effectiveness of the winter ration is to have blood samples taken from a small sample of the high yielding, cows that have been in milk for some time and some of the dry cows. We can learn a great deal from metabolic profiles and determine if you could be feeding your herd more effectively.

November. Most of the buildings will be full of Cattle now. If you regularly send young cattle out in the Spring with Ringworm now is the time to organize the vaccination of your young stock against this disease.

Store Cattle are particularly prone to developing Infectious Bovine Rhino tracheitis. Animals brought into buildings now should be protected with the IBR nasal vaccine and have a pour on wormer to treat them for parasites and lice. Young cows brought into Dairy herds where IBR flares up from time to time will also benefit from the vaccine.

December. Sometimes in the middle of the winter you may get an increase in mastitis problems, especially if the cubicle beds are starting to get wet or if you are rationing the straw for loose housed cattle. Keep a look out for cases of E Coli mastitis. These can be difficult to detect in the early stages as there is only a subtle milk change.

More recently Herd Health Plans are being used to help you through some of the requirements to keep you Farm Assured. We are using the British Cattle Veterinary Association Scheme which is  comprehensive and involves the plans that you have for the treatments and prevention of the diseases that you come across on your farm. Over the years we have built up a huge knowledge about successful treatments of all of the common conditions you are likely to come across. We will be able to help you to keep the paperwork to a minimum and still have useful records that you can use to manage your livestock more effectively. 

The written Herd Health Plan is updated each year as things change on your farm. You may find that some conditions no longer occur or that you are using different drugs to treat things. All of the changes need to be written down. The plan does not restrict you to certain ways of treating things or restrict the drugs that you can use. It makes sure that everybody involved can read what normally happens when a problem occurs so that you all know what has been done.

The plan sets out guidelines for all of the treatments and vaccinations that are given and indicates how the treatments will be recorded. The recording system is most important so that you can look back through your records and see which treatment have been successful and which ones have not been so helpful. Often all that is needed is for someone to start a Note Book to record who was treated, when and for how long. If you run into cell count problems or have cows that are difficult to get back in calf your book can be invaluable to pin point the individuals that need to be investigated.

Protocols will be drawn up to reduce the risk of new diseases getting established on your farm. It is a requirement that you have suitable isolation facilities that you can use to house cows or calves that have diseases that are infectious. It is not very often that you will need to use an Isolation Unit but it is a good idea to have a plan as to the best building to use on the farm and to have an idea as to how to clean and disinfect it after it has been used.

Tuberculosis

In this part of Shropshire we are fortunate at the moment because we have not been affected too badly by Tuberculosis in our cows. It is alarming how the disease has spread so rapidly towards us from Herefordshire and there are concerns about the way it has affected so many farms in the Market Drayton area in the north of the county in the past two years.

We certainly have more than our fair share of badgers and although we like to treat any that are brought in as road casualties in some places there are so many that they are difficult to live with. It is a concern that although badgers are involved in the steady spread of Tuberculosis so little is being done to control the problem. Seemingly all of the progress that was made in the last thirty years to control tuberculosis in cattle has been lost and the disease is getting out of control.

What has changed is the amount of maize that is grown for winter feed, as new varieties have been developed the crop is now grown throughout the country. Badgers will travel long distances to find maize, they do a great deal of damage when they flatten the crop, and unfortunately some of them have brought tuberculosis to areas that have been free of the disease for decades.

Badgers are omnivores, but a large part of their diet is made up of worms and slugs. These contain a great deal of water so as they feed badgers will take in moisture, and hence produce substantial quantities of urine. Badgers affected with tuberculosis often get the infection in their kidneys and excrete the bacteria onto the pastures as they feed. That is why they are such a problem on farms where there are cows. They are able to contaminate the grass that the cattle eat and will sometimes find their way into cattle buildings to feed with them and infect their food.

The Veterinary Laboratories agency is now doing post mortem examinations again on badgers that are road traffic accident victims. This is useful to us because occasionally badgers infected with Tuberculosis are found in areas where there are no infected farms. When this occurs local farms with cattle are investigated to ensure that they have not been affected by the disease. If you see a dead badger by the road side in the west midlands area please ring 0800 389 7423 and someone will come and collect it and organize a post mortem examination.

Johne's Disease

This is a chronic wasting disease characterised by scouring and weight loss. It is caused by a bacterium that is a close relative of Tuberculosis called Mycobacterium avium paratuberculosis usually shortened to 'Map'. It is significant because it has become more common in recent years and because of it is thought to be associated with Crohn's disease in people.

Animals with Johne's disease pass large numbers of the bacteria in their faeces. The bacterium has a thick cell wall and can survive on pasture, in slurry and in water for well over a year. It is known that other herbivores such as sheep and rabbits can carry the infection in their gastro intestinal tract, but it is thought that cattle are the main source of the infection for man.

It has been shown that some calves can develop the infection in the uterus and that they can develop the infection at any time in their lives. The infection is most likely to get established in young animals. The most common source of infection is thought to be drinking contaminated colostrum or from teats that are covered with faeces. Johne's disease progresses only slowly and it is un usual for it to be noticed in animals under three years of age. There is no treatment for this disease.

The effects of Johne's disease often go un noticed. If you have a single animal in your herd affected by the infection there will be many more silent cases slowly developing that will have a reduced milk yield or may take longer to get into calf. It will stop the stock reaching their full production potential.

This is a difficult disease to control. The main source of infection is the purchase of animals that are carrying the disease. It will be difficult to purchase stock only from herds that are regularly blood tested to monitor for Maps. Remember purchased sheep can introduce the infection as well as cattle. Do all that you can to keep the water supply clean by using only mains water and making sure that the drinking troughs are kept clean. It will not be possible to stop the herd grazing land that has had slurry or manure spread on it, but you might be able to save the cleaner pastures for your young stock.

Many animals develop this infection as young calves. Try to keep the calving boxes clean and make sure that the teats of the cow are not contaminated with faeces. Calves should grow up in an environment where there is no faeces from adult animals. Young stock should not go onto pastures which adult animals have grazed or where slurry has been spread for at least three months and preferably for at least a year.

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Botulism

In the past three years there has been an alarming increase in reported deaths of cattle from Botulism with twenty insidence reported each year in England and Wales. The worrying thing is the number of animals involved often twenty or more bulling heifers or dairy cows. Occasionally animals will be down and partially paralyed, some may survive after being recumbrant for three weeks or more. The source of the bacteria that carry the toxin is litter and carcasses from broiler houses. The toxin is picked up by either direct contact with the litter or if carcasses have been moved onto fields by foxes or crows. It is not known why litter from certain farms is contaminated and other litter is safe. It is better to assume that all poultry litter is potentially contaminated so that it can be treated with caution.

Poultry litter is usually spread onto arable fields after the corn harvest. It is often stored on the headland before it can be used. Make sure cattle do not get access to these heaps and if there are any carcasses present make sure cattle and sheep do not graze fields where there are dead birds. Do not store the litter on grassland as the ground will be contaminated for many years unless you can plough it in. Make sure loaders and trailers are thoroughly cleaned of poultry litter before use to carry feed or silage as even a small amount of the toxin can be dangerous.

Ear Tags

If you have anything at all to do with cattle you will realize that the cattle identification system in the United Kingdom is complicated. The rules have changed so often in recent years that it is difficult be certain that the animal that is just about to leave your farm has the correct ear tags. As I understand it the rules are:

Cattle born after the 30th June 2000 must have two ear tags with the Crown Logo followed by UK then a six digit herd number followed by the six digit animal number that starts with a check digit. One of the tags must be large enough to be read from a distance. The other can be metal or plastic, a button tag or again distance readable.

Cattle destined for export must have two large ear tags each of which must have the above information and a bar code. There is more information about this if you follow this link.

The rules state that calves from Dairy Herds must be tagged within 36 hours of birth and other cattle within 20 days of birth. It is better to do all cattle within 36 hours of birth as they are easier to catch and identify when they are young.

Cattle born after 1st January 1998 and before the 1st June 2000 again must have two tags at least one of which must be distance readable. The Crown Logo and UK are still there but the herd number will be five or six digits long and the first one or two digits will be letters. The animal code will consist of five numbers.

Cattle born after the 1st April 1995 but before 1st January 1998 will have a single tag in the right ear with the letters UK followed by a six digit herd mark the first one or two of which will be letters and will be followed by a five digit unique number. these tags can be of various designs either metal or plastic.

Cattle born after 15th October 1990 and before the 1st April 1995 have a single tag of various materials in the right ear this consists of a five or six digit herd mark, the first one or two of which may be letters and a four digit animal code.

We are still having problems with the tagging system. Tags from some of the companies have been poorly printed so that the lettering fades and is difficult to read after even after just a short time. Some tags seen to attract the dirt more than others and are difficult to clean. The yellow tags are easier to read and it is unfortunate that other colours have been produced.

Tags are readily lost on some farms where there are sloping silage barriers and gates with sloping supports. 

It has been difficult to register some cows that were imported into this country as they have long numbers that do not fit into the boxes on the forms.

Cattle tags have come under the review of Stock Movements by Bill Madders that took place in 2006 and it is recommended that tags that do not reach the required quality standards that require them to remain legible and to be retained for the lifetime of the animal will no longer be sold.

If you have any problems with the new regulations we can usually sort them out or try the British Cattle Movements Scheme Helpline on 0845 050 1234

If you have any cattle that have lost an ear tag or damaged an ear because of a tag please report it to DEFRA on a Welfare Form. Hopefully this will help them to identify tags that are causing welfare problems and take action to improve them.

Vaccines

ImurespRP is a live virus vaccine to protect against the Bovine Parainfluenza Virus and Infectious Bovine Rhinotracheitis. It comes as a pellet you must mix with a vial of diluent. It is important that you store the vaccine in a refrigerator before use and that all five two ml doses are used as soon as possible when the vaccine has been reconstituted. The dose is given into one nostril and will start to protect the animal as soon as it has been given. Quick and easy the vaccine is inactivated if it goes too far into the nose, as it cannot survive at the body temperature of the calf. Animals can be protected from three weeks of age with a further dose given four weeks later then possibly again at twelve weeks if you are getting cases after this age.

Tracherine is used in a similar way. It must be stored in a fridge; the vaccine should only be activated immediately before you use it, as it will tend to loose its potency once the vials have been mixed. Infectious Rhinotracheitis is a particular risk when store cattle come into buildings in the autumn as this might be the first time that many of them come across the disease when animals are mixed from several different sources. Store cattle should be given this vaccine when they first arrive on the farm, as the disease is able to spread rapidly once it gets established.

Rispoval RS is a live vaccine that is given into the muscle to protect calves from the Respiratory Syncitial Virus. This is a particularly severe pneumonia that can occur even in well ventilated buildings. The lungs of affected calves starts to break down and air pockets form in the tissues. At least two doses are needed three weeks apart, a third dose may be  required for long term protection if the course is started at a very young age.

Bovipast RSP is an inactivated vaccine protecting against Parainfluenza, Respiratory Syncitial Virus and Pasturella (Mannheimia) haemolytica. This is a 5ml subcutaneous dose that can be given from two weeks of age and has to be repeated four weeks later before an adequate immunity developes. This is a useful combination as it covers the pathogens that are most commonly isolated from acute pneumonia cases.

Leptavoid H is a killed culture of Leptospira interrogans hargjo that can be used on breeding cattle from five months of age. Two injections at least four weeks apart are required to start the immunity and annual boosters are needed to maintain the protection throughout the life of the animal. Leptavoid H is a 2ml subcutaneous injection that is best given in the spring when the natural infection is at its most active. Like all vaccines the containers should be stored in a fridge and it is better to plan things so that the whole vial is used up in a single day.

Spirovac is an inactivated vaccine containing Leptospira borgpetersenii serovar hardgo hardjiobovis. It gives immunity to cattle from as young as four weeks to leptospirosis and will stop cattle carrying the infection as long as the vaccination course has been completed before the animals are exposed to the bacteria that cause the disease. Two doses are required four weeks apart and annual boosters are needed to maintain resistance to the infection.

Bovilis BVD is an inactivated strain of the Bovine Viral Diarrhoea Virus that has a chemical mixed with it to facilitatee its up take by the body. Cows are most susceptible to the infection during the first three months of pregnancy. Timing is critical; animals should be vaccinated by the 2ml intra muscular dose during the three months before service is anticipated and the second injection given after four weeks should occur at least one week before the first anticipated service date.

It has been shown that a single booster dose during the three months prior to the start of each subsequent pregnancy is sufficient to maintain this immunity.

Bovilis BVD must be stored in a fridge, if possible the whole vial should be used on the same day. It has been found that cows can be vaccinated effectively against BVD and Leptospirosis at the same time.

Ringvac is a live vaccine so it must be stored in a fridge. You have to mix a liquid with a tablet to get five doses of the vaccine that should be used straight away. The injection is given into the muscle on the upper half of the neck and a second dose is administered after two weeks to give life long protection against this disease. When you use the vaccine it is not necessary to try and disinfect the buildings that are used by the calves. The contamination in the buildings will gradually die out as there will be no infected animals to keep the disease active. Ringvac is particularly useful for calves that are sold as stores and on farm that sell newly calved heifers as this is one of the times when the lesions suddenly appear and spoil the animals that you have got ready for sale.

Bovilis Huskvac is an amazing vaccine because each vial contains 1000 living lungworm larvae that have been treated with radiation so that they can migrate to the lungs to produce an immune reaction but not change into the adult stage and cause disease. It is the only vaccine that has ever been developed to work against a parasite. Calves should be at least eight weeks of age before you get them to swallow the first dose of this vaccine. It is better to use the first dose as soon as it is delivered, although it can be stored in the fridge if you cannot give it straight away. A second dose arrives automatically after four weeks and treated animals must be kept in for a further two weeks before it is safe to let them graze. Because this is a living vaccine it will be inactivated if worming treatments are given at turn out so this must be avoided.

The timing of the vaccinations against lungworm is important. The vaccination regime assumes that the calves will be exposed to the natural infection after the vaccine has been administered to give solid immunity that will effectively last throughout their lives. We have not had any problems with lungworm in adult dairy cows in the herds that have always vaccinated. Bovilis Huskvac can be used on older stock, there is a special adapter to make it easier to give, but animals should only ever need the vaccine once as they will keep boosting their immunity every time they go out to grass. 

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