With a focus of reducing antibiotic usage on farms going forward now, when spring-calving farms are starting the dry period, may be a good time to discuss vaccinating cows for scour.
Young calves are potentially faced with a number of infectious diseases, with scour being one of the more common ones.
It mainly occurs as a result of an altered gut function, which increases the amount of faeces and fluids the calf eliminates.
Farms that have experienced severe cases of scour in the past – or where there is a history of scour – should consider vaccinating the pregnant cow or heifer in a bid to tackle the problem.
Scour
Vaccinating a cow/heifer will allow her to produce antibodies against the main scour-causing bacteria and viruses.
However, the antibodies produced by the cow or heifer will not pass to the calf before birth. Therefore, it is essential that the calf receives adequate amounts of colostrum.
Ahead of the dry period, it may be a good idea to discuss options with a vet for scour vaccinations and determine when it needs to administered.
There are a number of scour vaccinations available to farmers and a discussion should be had with a vet to determine which would suit every individual farm best.
Although it may not completely eliminate scour on your farm, it should greatly reduce the number of cases that occur.
Prevention
It is important to note that a vaccination will not help to resolve poor or bad management practices.
Good management practice needs to continue on farms and high standards of hygiene need to be maintained.
Part of this includes ensuring that all feeders are kept clean as bacteria can easily build up on feeders.
It is also extremely important to check the teats on the feeders as they can harbour bacteria too.
And, possibly the most important control measure during the calf-rearing process is controlling access to the shed. People coming onto the farm can introduce bacteria to the calves.