Agricultural News
IBR and Parasite Treatments Go Hand in Hand for Healthier Calves
Tue, 17 Dec 2013 11:45:07 CST
The vagaries of the weather at this time of year can wreak havoc when receiving cattle. Warm temperatures one day can give way to sub-zero wind chills and freezing precipitation the next. This all adds up to greater stress on cattle. That's why Dr. Mac Devin, senior professional services veterinarian for cattle with Boehringer Ingelheim, says it is critical to treat those newly-arriving stockers properly.
"We've known for many years that fall is the hardest time of year to deal with stocker calves, but that's when we have wheat pasture in a lot of the country. So, we have to deal with those things effectively.
"The cattle have come through a marketing situation where, maybe, they've been pulled off of their mamas one day, they're sold at an auction market the next day and they go to an order buyer one, two, three, four to five days to be assembled into truckload lots. And, so, there's a lot of stress, a lot of socialization, a lot of nutritional limitations during that period of time and so what happens is that during those stresses cattle tend to carry in something like an IBR and they tend to shed it. And IBR has a very short incubation period-it's about three to five days. So if you have an IBR shedder in a group of calves, pretty soon they all get the opportunity-just like a bunch of five-year-old children going to kindergarten."
Devin says cattle producers need to "take out some" insurance in these situations by getting some viral vaccine in those calves as early on in that marketing process as possible. He says Boehringer Ingleheim has a number of outstanding products producers can make use of beginning with their Pyramid line of vaccines.
"It has a unique adjuvant or carrier in it called Metastem. And what Metastem does is give that calf some leeway in terms of being able to respond to that vaccine. With all those stressors and nutritional deprivation and that sort of thing, a lot of those calves may not be able to respond to the vaccine the day they arrive and the day they are vaccinated, but in a few days they may equilibrate enough to respond and that's one of the things Pyramid does. It has a lipid-based adjuvant part that allows that viral antigen to remain out there circulating and ready for that immune system to respond to it."
Boehringer Ingleheim also has a second line called Express. Devin says that line has a very rapid immune response.
"In three or four days we've got a blooming response for IBR. In five to seven days we've got a blooming response for BBD. And, so, that's one of the great advantages of Express is that it goes to work pretty rapidly.
"So, we have one that's very forgiving and one that if the calf is able to respond on arrival gets the job done rapidly."
Another issue that is coming to the forefront when it comes to keeping cattle healthy is effective parasite control. Parasites are evolving and becoming more resistant to a number of products on the market. Devin says the issue is one of narrow resistance and can be dealt with most effectively by exercising proper management. For example, in the late fall, lice are a potential problem along with internal parasites so a pour on dewormer like Zydectin can be useful in controlling both.
"Strategic deworming was described many years ago with the intent of learning the most appropriate time to treat for the parasite. So, if we think about the fall, you have to know a little bit about the epidemiology of the parasites-epidemiology meaning when they predominate and when they are going to be most prevalent in that host."
Devin says the lifecycles of various parasites differ based on the different regions from where the cattle originate. If they originate in the warmer and wetter southeast, they will have different parasites than cattle from cooler areas and producers can strategically tailor their treatment choices to more effectively control the different species of parasites transmitted in different seasons.
With all the stresses of the variable winter weather in the Southern Plains, Devin say it is very important for producers to reduce the parasite load as much as possible to maintain healthy calves. He says the immune systems of calves carrying significant parasite loads are primed to fight off that threat and are not able to react as quickly to knock down viral threats which cause respiratory ailments. The parasites will interfere with the immune system's response to vaccines targeting viruses.
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