Blackleg

reilig

Up to what age do you inject your animals for blackleg?

Do you give cows a booster?

I spoke to a guy last night who recons that his 2 year old bull needs a booster??

whelan1

i inject them as calves at turn out and they get a booster as weanlings and thats it

vanderbadger

havent dosed anything for it in years, dont know if im taking a gamble or not

whelan1

vanderbadger wrote: »

havent dosed anything for it in years, dont know if im taking a gamble or not

we where told by a long dead neighbour that if you do them for blackleg they wont get redwater

reilig

I always do with covexin 8 but to be honest I never do cattle that are over 15 months old. I didn't think that there was that much of a risk. I wonder does the level of risk depend on the quality of your land or the part of the country that you are in?

jeff greene

Always do them here, do them when dehorning and again 6 weeks later or going out. Do them as maidens also.

Baralis1

whelan1 wrote: »

we where told by a long dead neighbour that if you do them for blackleg they wont get redwater

From experience, thats definately not true.

We just do them the once soon after they've been weaned. I don't think a booster is necessary.

Bizzum

whelan1 wrote: »

we where told by a long dead neighbour that if you do them for blackleg they wont get redwater

You were told wrong! There was a time we got plenty of redwater, and always vaccinated for Blackleg. Years since we had it though, thankfully.

We vaccinate the calves at a few mths, and any young stock going out to grass after their first winter. We don't usually give a booster soon after the first shot though.

krazyfarmer

I never had an animal with blackleg until last August. Have never vaccinated.
Lost an 19 month old bullock. He completely lost the power of his back legs.
Vet asked had I done any ploughing or digging in that field. I had filled up a wet place with topsoil.
He said spores can live in soil for years.

Bitten & Hisses

I always inject as calves and again at turnout when they're yearlings. That said, I never injected last year and (touch wood) all was fine. I'm suspicious of the vaccie's effectiveness since 2002 when we lost a 12 month old pedigree bull with serious potential to blackleg.

funny man

reilig wrote: »

Up to what age do you inject your animals for blackleg?

Do you give cows a booster?

I spoke to a guy last night who recons that his 2 year old bull needs a booster??

I know a man who bought a bull last year and vaccinated him the next day but he died 2 weeks later from blackleg before he got his booster, just a case of bad luck, his farm always had a high incidence of blackleg and all animals under two get a shot after that no more is given.
it's a relatively cheap vaccine so if you have had it in the past i'd cover all animals up to 3 years.

LostCovey

whelan1 wrote: »

we where told by a long dead neighbour that if you do them for blackleg they wont get redwater

Your neighbour was right to a degree - bacillary haemoglobinuria is caused by blackleg-like bacteria, and does occur on some farms in Ireland.

The more common redwater in Ireland is caused by parasites carried by ticks, and won't be prevented by blackleg vaccination

LostCovey