IBR advice needed

Ameila

Hi all i have being looking after my dads dairy herd for the last 6 months as he is very sick "cancer" anyway the problem is our cows have being repeating every 21 days not holding to the bull most of the cows are bought in lost 90% of herd to tb 4 years ago I've done a milk sample it shows ibr v high positive blooded a few positive for ibr now we haven't used a vaccine for ibr and 1 vet said don't use a vaccine if you have it while they other said use a vaccine .My question is whether or not to vaccine and if i do will i get them in calf how long to see results. Sorry for long post dont want to burden dad and i ve no one to ask.

Milked out

Ameila wrote: »

Hi all i have being looking after my dads dairy herd for the last 6 months as he is very sick "cancer" anyway the problem is our cows have being repeating every 21 days not holding to the bull most of the cows are bought in lost 90% of herd to tb 4 years ago I've done a milk sample it shows ibr v high positive blooded a few positive for ibr now we haven't used a vaccine for ibr and 1 vet said don't use a vaccine if you have it while they other said use a vaccine .My question is whether or not to vaccine and if i do will i get them in calf how long to see results. Sorry for long post dont want to burden dad and i ve no one to ask.

Sorry to hear of your dads illness, I think a few of the lads here will have more experience of it but I think the idea is to use a live vaccine if you have an outbreak. It may be no harm to fertility test the bull as well if you haven't done so

Ameila

Milked out wrote: »

Sorry to hear of your dads illness, I think a few of the lads here will have more experience of it but I think the idea is to use a live vaccine if you have an outbreak. It may be no harm to fertility test the bull as well if you haven't done so

Thank you , i actually didn't do that would ibr affect him ? .

blackdog1

Ameila wrote: »

Thank you , i actually didn't do that would ibr affect him ? .

You gave 2 options blood test all animals and cull out positives but if they have been vaccinated before I don't think this will work or you could just vaccinate for the next few years live ibr vaccine every 6 months

mahoney_j

Ameila wrote: »

Hi all i have being looking after my dads dairy herd for the last 6 months as he is very sick "cancer" anyway the problem is our cows have being repeating every 21 days not holding to the bull most of the cows are bought in lost 90% of herd to tb 4 years ago I've done a milk sample it shows ibr v high positive blooded a few positive for ibr now we haven't used a vaccine for ibr and 1 vet said don't use a vaccine if you have it while they other said use a vaccine .My question is whether or not to vaccine and if i do will i get them in calf how long to see results. Sorry for long post dont want to burden dad and i ve no one to ask.

Firstly sorry to hear about your dads illness and fair play to u for keeping things going ,I bet he's delighted about that alone.on the Ibr,you were proactive in getting milk and bloods sampled and know the problem.id suggest going with a live vaccine straight away intramuscular to all cows and calves and repeat again every 6 months.did bloods,milk show up anything for lepto or bvd??

grassroot1

I wonder if you have maybe 2 problems a fertility issue and a ibr issue. You don't say if you are using AI or natural service, if cows are regular on approx. 21 day cycles it would seem to be more a bull fertility issue.
maybe if your not using AI it might be a good idea to AI the cows to a different breed ones that you see the bull serve.
Your priority must be to get cows incalf ASAP. are there any nearby farmers you could ask for help/ideas a fresh pair of eyes etc. (the only stupid question is the one you didn't ask) Good luck

Ameila

mahoney_j wrote: »

Firstly sorry to hear about your dads illness and fair play to u for keeping things going ,I bet he's delighted about that alone.on the Ibr,you were proactive in getting milk and bloods sampled and know the problem.id suggest going with a live vaccine straight away intramuscular to all cows and calves and repeat again every 6 months.did bloods,milk show up anything for lepto or bvd??

Yes but we vaccinate for those so they will show on milk ,blood negative for both lepto and bvd and calves all clear .mahoney should i change the bull

Ameila

grassroot1 wrote: »

I wonder if you have maybe 2 problems a fertility issue and a ibr issue. You don't say if you are using AI or natural service, if cows are regular on approx. 21 day cycles it would seem to be more a bull fertility issue.
maybe if your not using AI it might be a good idea to AI the cows to a different breed ones that you see the bull serve.
Your priority must be to get cows incalf ASAP. are there any nearby farmers you could ask for help/ideas a fresh pair of eyes etc. (the only stupid question is the one you didn't ask) Good luck

Thank you , natural service majority of cows repeating every 21 days haven't tried Ai this year due to time .

Greengrass1

Ameila the IBR could (more than likely ) be affecting your bull aswell same as it is the cows.

I would vaccinate we didn't for yrs listening to our own vet and dad got fed up one yr after all the empty cows and vaccinated whole herd
complete turn around in herd.
vaccinate now with live vaccine and again 1st week of dec.
You'll will have antibodies in your cakves then and in cows colostrum.
do all cows every June and Dec with 6 mth live vaccine and if you want to move to yearly it vaccine you can
get a few 20 ml vlies when calving starts and
vaccinate all calves then at 10 days old in batches. Some could be 3 wks again you have a batch of ten to do but it's no buggy as long as you get them done for Ibr. The antibodies from colostrum will do them till 2 wks old.
vaccinate all calves then 3 months later.

mahoney_j

Ameila wrote: »

Yes but we vaccinate for those so they will show on milk ,blood negative for both lepto and bvd and calves all clear .mahoney should i change the bull

Right so the fact your using a bull leads me to think your bull may be infertile,how old is he and how many cows has he to serve.id get him fertility tested by your vet or someone asap to confirm that theory.on the lepto and particularly bvd,the test is for antibodies which will show positive if vaccinating .a test for bvd virus can also be done on milk which will show up if any cows are positive.id be chasing the bull first though

Ameila

Greengrass1 wrote: »

Ameila the IBR could (more than likely ) be affecting your bull aswell same as it is the cows.

I would vaccinate we didn't for yrs listening to our own vet and dad got fed up one yr after all the empty cows and vaccinated whole herd
complete turn around in herd.
vaccinate now with live vaccine and again 1st week of dec.
You'll will have antibodies in your cakves then and in cows colostrum.
do all cows every June and Dec with 6 mth live vaccine and if you want to move to yearly it vaccine you can
get a few 20 ml vlies when calving starts and
vaccinate all calves then at 10 days old in batches. Some could be 3 wks again you have a batch of ten to do but it's no buggy as long as you get them done for Ibr. The antibodies from colostrum will do them till 2 wks old.
vaccinate all calves then 3 months later.

Thank you Greengrass , i will see about vaccine tomorrow, should i change bull aswell, and what s the name off vaccine i should use .

grassroot1

Ameila wrote: »

Thank you , natural service majority of cows repeating every 21 days haven't tried Ai this year due to time .

Switching to AI and leaving cows in after morning milking for AI should not add a lot of labour. Tell the vet you want to solve the IBR problem once and for all, either IBR goes or they do!!!

Greengrass1

Ameila wrote: »

Thank you Greengrass , i will see about vaccine tomorrow, should i change bull aswell, and what s the name off vaccine i should use .

I'd get the bull fertility tested Ameila only takes 5 min. Your vet might be able to do it.
If he is fertile the IBR could be effecting him.
I'm not sure how quick the vaccine will work on his semen so can't really advise on buying a new one. Your probably very busy with your father being sick so font put pressure on yourself with AI
vaccine is about 3e a shot .
Were using rispoval here

orm0nd

Ameila wrote: »

Thank you Greengrass , i will see about vaccine tomorrow, should i change bull aswell, and what s the name off vaccine i should use .

Rispoval IBR LIVE

or

Bovillis IBR LIVE


Good Lucl !

Ameila

Thanks guys i was getting overwhelmed but now i have solutions to work on tomorrow .

Milked out

Ameila wrote: »

Thank you , i actually didn't do that would ibr affect him ? .

I would test him as it May be anything that could affect him or cause him to become infertile be it temporarily or longer. What's the bull to cow ratio? It may be no harm to source a second bull if possible and alternate them if the current one is fertile to to reduce the workload on each. While ibr appears to be an issue also it may not be the only problem so the bull is the other place to look. In the meantime if you contact local ai man to call at a certain time in the day if he can and have the cows bulling in the yard for him he could work away and just txt him or call to say if there are any for service each day
one vet here says while ibr can cause problems when it flares up he feels sometimes if a ball went wide in croke park someone would blame ibr for it instead of looking at everything else as well

Dawggone

I have IBR in the herd. Blood test every animal 2yrs old in the herd. Vaccinate all positives and cull when it suits you. The vaccine will stop them shedding the virus.
You will be free from IBR as soon as you cull positives. Otherwise you will be vaccinating to eternity and closing the continental market to your stock.



Sorry about your Dad.

Ameila

Milked out wrote: »

I would test him as it May be anything that could affect him or cause him to become infertile be it temporarily or longer. What's the bull to cow ratio? It may be no harm to source a second bull if possible and alternate them if the current one is fertile to to reduce the workload on each. While ibr appears to be an issue also it may not be the only problem so the bull is the other place to look. In the meantime if you contact local ai man to call at a certain time in the day if he can and have the cows bulling in the yard for him he could work away and just txt him or call to say if there are any for service each day
one vet here says while ibr can cause problems when it flares up he feels sometimes if a ball went wide in croke park someone would blame ibr for it instead of looking at everything else as well

Got a herd health screening test done on milk tank every thing was fine expect ibr same on blood test will stat Ai and get bull tested .

whelan2

i just ai in the morning, doesnt take much longer for milking, text ai man that i have a few cows and he is normally here before milking is finished, have you used this stock bull before?

trixi2011

You could always leave the bull in with the cows and Ai as well would make it a lot easier to pick up bulling cows

howdee

Hi Amelia, sorry to hear about your dad and your herd issues, I was having fertility issues this year also, I had a 50% hold to the first service which would be very low for my herd. I got the vet out and blooded 20% of my cows, came back with high levels of ibr.
Luckily the cows are holding to their second service so it has given me time to have a think about what to do.
The other thing that others has said is don't rely on the bull, I have had an infertile bull in the past but luckily I noticed him and got him tested. He put 2/60 animal in calf.
When did the bull go in with the cows and how many have repeated on you?

Ameila

whelan2 wrote: »

i just ai in the morning, doesnt take much longer for milking, text ai man that i have a few cows and he is normally here before milking is finished, have you used this stock bull before?

Yes got him last year to clean up after ai no problems .

Sam Kade

whelan2 wrote: »

i just ai in the morning, doesnt take much longer for milking, text ai man that i have a few cows and he is normally here before milking is finished, have you used this stock bull before?

I wish my ai man was as quick, he's milking as well doesn't arrive until 12 or 1

Ameila wrote: »

Yes got him last year to clean up after ai no problems .

Sorry to hear about your dad

Sam Kade

howdee wrote: »

Hi Amelia, sorry to hear about your dad and your herd issues, I was having fertility issues this year also, I had a 50% hold to the first service which would be very low for my herd. I got the vet out and blooded 20% of my cows, came back with high levels of ibr.
Luckily the cows are holding to their second service so it has given me time to have a think about what to do.
The other thing that others has said is don't rely on the bull, I have had an infertile bull in the past but luckily I noticed him and got him tested. He put 2/60 animal in calf.
When did the bull go in with the cows and how many have repeated on you?

Did you vaccinate? I just sent off a sample of milk at the start of the week to test for lepto and ibr because a few cows would slacken off on their milk for a day or two for no reason, would that be a symptom of ibr?

greysides

https://www.pfizer.ie/UserFiles/File/animal_health/ibr/3941_Irish_Rispoval_IRE_Q_A_v3.pdf

Please note the recommendations on booster shots in the link above have been updated as below:

Vaccination scheme

Calves of 2 weeks to 3 months of age at first vaccination
The first vaccination should be applied intranasally, followed by a second vaccination intramuscularly at 3 months of age. A proportion of young calves may have maternally derived antibodies to BoHV-1, which may affect the immune response to vaccination. Consequently, the protection afforded by the vaccine may not be complete until the revaccination at 3 months of age. As an extra precaution in situations of high challenge with BoHV-1, maternal antibody positive animals that have been initially vaccinated at around 2 weeks of age may be given an additional vaccination between the first vaccination and vaccination at 3 months of age. This additional vaccination may be given via either intranasal or intramuscular administration and may be given from 3 weeks after the first vaccination.

Cattle at 3 months of age or older

Animals should be given one intramuscular vaccination. To prevent abortions associated with BoHV-1 female cattle require a primary course of two intramuscular doses of vaccine 3-5 weeks apart.

Booster vaccinations

Animals should be given a single dose booster vaccination 6 months after their initial vaccination course. Animals initially vaccinated with Rispoval IBR-Marker Live may be given a single dose booster vaccination with either Rispoval IBR-Marker Live to provide 6 months of protection or Rispoval IBR-Marker Inactivated to provide a duration of protective immunity of 12 months. Thereafter, single dose booster vaccinations should be administered every 6 months (if using Rispoval IBR-Marker Live) or every 12 months (if using Rispoval IBR-Marker Inactivated).

Advice on correct administration

Beef cattle and fattening bulls are vaccinated preferably just prior to housing (crowding) or at transfer to new groups.

Cattle at immediate risk of IBR

In order to stimulate local immunity in cattle already exposed to IBR or under immediate risk of infection, (including pregnant cattle) it is recommended to administer the first vaccination intranasally. In this case, the second vaccination should be given intramuscularly 3 to 5 weeks later to complete the initial course.
It is recommended that all the cattle in the herd are vaccinated.

Ameila

Well lads and lady's just an update bull tested very good no problems with his swimmers and i vaccinated yesterday so fingers crossed and pray it works or I'll be in deep dudu.

greysides

Another angle to consider would be trace elements..............could be a blind alley though but worth thinking about (Se, I, Cu).

Ameila

greysides wrote: »

Another angle to consider would be trace elements..............could be a blind alley though but worth thinking about (Se, I, Cu).

Cows in good condition shiny coats.Would they look healthy it their was a problem .

farmersfriend

Ameila wrote: »

Well lads and lady's just an update bull tested very good no problems with his swimmers and i vaccinated yesterday so fingers crossed and pray it works or I'll be in deep dudu.

Hi amelia, hopefully things will turn around now, very frustrating when u can't actually see whats wrong. I'm sure your dad is very proud of you, and u are doing the right thing.

greysides

Ameila wrote: »

Cows in good condition shiny coats.Would they look healthy it their was a problem .

I wouldn't be depending on it.

grassroot1

Lets hope you are sorting the problem, keep observing cows for bulling and see how it goes.