# Cow Vaccinations Do you or Dont you Vaccinate?



## Nicki

Hi,

I am a fairly new cow owner we have had them for a few years now all of our heifers, and bull came fully vaccinated.  We now have our first two calves that are approximatley 10 months old and we have not vaccinated yet.  I am curious what others opinions are on vaccinating?  If my cattle are only on my property and have no contact with other cattle do they really need to be filled full of vaccine?  Also we have a list of recommended vaccinations from our local vet which recommends a black leg 4 way I believe at 6 months old if we do decide to give this does it matter that I am a few months late?  Does anyone know of any major side affects?  When people advertise ORGANIC beef does anyone know if these animals have been vaccinated?  To me organic means no vaccinations, wormers, or other man made type chemicals?  Thanks in advance Nicki


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## jhm47

I only vaccinate the calves that I plan to sell as feeders.  They are exposed to many other cattle in sale barns, and I would rather have them vaccinated to protect the buyer from having them get sick.  I don't vaccinate my cows, but I've maintained a closed herd since 1988.

Blackleg and anthrax are two diseases that you might consider.  They are not spread from animal to animal, but rather come from eating or drinking contaminated dirt or water.  These spores can infect cattle for decades after being shed from an infected animal in the past.  This should not affect the orgainc status of your cattle.  These injections can be done at any age.  They should be done annually.

FYI:  Blackleg and Anthrax are deadly diseases.  The first symptom is usually sudden death.  They become sick and die within minutes.   There is also the Clostridium (overeating disease).  I would also consider that.  It also kills quickly and is not passed from animal to animal.

As to wormers and antibiotics, if you have a bad worm infestation, you really should consider worming.  Worms can weaken them and make them more susceptible to other infections.  If one of your animals gets sick, antibiotics are often the only way to save them from a lingering death.  Organic is fine, but don't let your animals suffer needlessly in order to keep them organic.


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## Beekissed

There are many ways to deworm animals organically that are quite effective and do not let "animals needlessly suffer."  

A simple search online can yield many options for this and there are many farms doing this now, quite successfully, I might add.


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## FarmerChick

You need to research what organic beef means.
The USDA has a list of what is to be labeled organic and not....do not quess.

Certified Organic has an unbelieveable strict list of regulations.  Only on certified organic pastures, only certified organic hay, only certified organic grains....etc. etc. etc...and the list goes on.

Naturally raised beef is no growth hormones, no antibiotics but YES you can give wormers to fight parasites etc.  They are fed no enhanced grains, etc. etc.


Now to parasite loads.

Yes you can raise them on natural wormer situations.  BUT you must be vigilant...you must do your own fecals or have the vet check parasite load more often than if you use chemical intervention....because with chemical intervention wormers you have a very much higher rate of parasite kill...therefore knowing you are taking care of a problem....but when you rotate pastures, use DE or whatever etc....you do not have as big of a percentage of handling the parasite problem.  So you want to truly check your animals more often to see if a problem with parasites is developing.

And if one beef cow then you can handle sanitiary conditions easier than if you have a big herd of animals together.

So it is all a matter of how you want to work your animals.  Key being, don't quess, research and decide the amt. of involvement you want with your farming.  Natural raised sometimes requires a tad more work but the benes are great.

But you need research on what truly is considered organic, natural raised beef or use of light chemicals etc.


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## YakLady

That's one reason why my husband and I chose Tibetan Yak as our preferred breed of cattle.  They are naturally parasite and disease resistant, and they are incredibly hardy.  We do not vaccinate, but we do deworm twice a year.  Even though they are parasite resistant doesn't mean we should tempt fate, IMO.  Parasite resistant doesn't necessarily mean parasite-proof.  So far, the worst thing we've dealt with is a scratched cornea (which completely healed on it's own in a week), a cow whose side was gored (treated with a shot of antibiotic and cleansed the wound-healed completely without even a scar), a bull had a tummy ache for a couple of days in the Summer (not sure why, but he shook it off on his own), and a bottle fed calf who was overfed by the neighbor when we had to leave town for a couple of days.  He had the runs for about a week, but got over it.  I made a home made electrolyte solution and gave him some Immodium.  All of these things were due to human error, I think.  The eye injury was because we didn't have time to completely rid a field of burdock.  The goring happened in an unmonitored area at the ranch that we bought her from.  The bull's tummy ache was probably because I fed him too much grain during a treat session.  I'm amazed at how hardy these animals are.  Especially now when it's frigid.  They act like they're on some exciting resort vacation-they love it!


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## jhm47

In reality, most animals are somewhat parasite resistant.  If they weren't, the parasites would eventually overwhelm their systems and they would die.  In cattle, the most susceptible to worms seem to be the younger calves.  The mature cows and bulls usually have built up some natural immunity to worms, but still often harbor a slight infestation.  The problems arise when these cattle are stressed in some way, such as disease, change of seasons, poor quality feeds or water, weaning, etc.  Then, with their natural defenses depressed, the worms will have a resurgence, and the problems multiply upon themselves.  

Worming with "natural" methods is sometimes (but not always) effective.  When an animal becomes infested with worms, and gets another medically debilitating condition, it's best to go to a stronger method to deworm them.  The faster and most completely you can rid the animal of the worms, the more quickly they can concentrate their efforts on ridding themselves of the other condition.  This is somewhat similar to AIDS.  AIDS is not fatal in itself, but the other conditions that routinely attack our bodies (and which we are easily able to fend off) quickly become serious.  This is because AIDS makes it impossible for our bodies to defend themselves against other conditions which usually are not a problem.


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## amysflock

Keep in mind if you have any inkling of taking your animals to the fair, or having them off-site for any reason (like pasturing somewhere else or having to take them to another farm for breeding), they should (and in the case of fairs, MUST) be vaccinated. It's not only to keep your animals safe, but everyone else's too. It's not terribly expensive (downright cheap if you can do it yourself), takes little time and beats the vet bills, delay in beef butchering (lost weight and antibiotic residues) and heartache that can result from not taking precautions.


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## JerseyXGirl

We only have two steers and so we do not vaccinate.  We do use commercial wormers though.  If we were to add or bring any new calves in then we would of course vaccinate.  As recommended by our vet.


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