In 2016, MSD Animal Health launched a vaccination calendar with the aim to remind farmers of key vaccination dates on their farms via a free text message service.
MSD Animal Health has now updated this innovative herd-health-tool making it more user friendly.
In addition to making the calendar creation more user friendly, other updates include the option to edit existing calendars and the possibility to have multiple vaccination calendars.
Also, farmers that may be managing more than one herd can now create herd-specific herd health plans.
With increasing numbers of farmers moving towards multiple disease prevention protocols, this online tool will simplify routine vaccination. This will lead to healthier, more productive animals and more sustainable production systems.
Along with being free, another key draw of the vaccination calendar is the reminder service that is provided to farmers. A text message is sent to the farmer seven days before each vaccine booster is due.
Where an email address is given in the contact details, a reminder email is also sent. The full calendar is also emailed to the user. This can be printed off and used as a reminder of the critical vaccination dates.
How the calendar works
The calendar allows farmers – whether they are dairy, beef, or sheep farmers – to keep track of key vaccination dates on their farms.
Step 1: Choose your enterprise
Step 2: Identify the animals that require vaccination
The next step in completing the vaccination calendar is to identify the animals that require vaccinations.
On beef farms, farmers can choose either cows, calves, weanlings or replacement heifers, while dairy farmers can choose to design a calendar for cows, calves or replacement heifers.
The livestock options available on sheep farms include ewes, lambs, hoggets and rams.
Step 3: Choose the calving season
Both beef and dairy farmers are asked to enter the calving seasons on their farm when completing the cost-free vaccination calendar.
Step 4: Enter calving and breeding dates
Farmers are also asked to enter the start of calving date, this will ensure that farmers are given a timely reminder to vaccinate their cows.
To ensure that the calendar is functional, farmers and vets are also required to enter details on the breeding start date.
Step 5: Select the diseases that are to be included in the calendar
To complete the vaccination calendar, farmers are required to enter details of the diseases they intend on vaccinating against.
When this information is submitted, a vaccination calendar is generated to remind farmers of the correct time to vaccinate their animals.
An example of the vaccination calendar generated for a spring-calving dairy herd
Over 4,500 farmers have signed up for a free vaccine calendar so far.
Further information
For more information on MSD Animal Health vaccination calendar, or to download the app Click here
