Vaccines for the Beef Cow Herd: Ripsaw or Cross Cut?

– William P. Shulaw DVM MS, Extension Veterinarian, Beef/Sheep, The Ohio State University

Vaccines are one of the tools producers use to protect the health of their breeding herd. Like providing adequate energy and protein at critical times, a trace mineral supplement, and clean calving areas, vaccines do not provide absolute protection but are a part of the total heath program. The most common ones used by producers are for the viruses – infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR), bovine virus diarrhea (BVD), parainfluenza (PI3), and bovine respiratory syncytial virus (BRSV) – and five types of the bacteria we call Leptospira or ‘lepto’ as it is commonly called. All four viruses are involved in the respiratory disease complex we used to call shipping fever, but IBR, BVD and Leptospira also cause Continue reading

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