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As suckler farmers think ahead towards weaning, one disease that causes problems every year is pneumonia, particularly for farmers who combine weaning with housing and other management tasks.
Those purchasing weanlings have to face the challenge of animals being sick after arrival.Weaning is stressful, which impacts on the immunity of the animal, lowering it and allowing bacteria and viruses that are already circulating to cause problems.
We need to reduce stress while weaning but we can also stimulate the immune system (which fights infections) before this risky time.
This is what vaccines do. They stimulate the immune system which creates a memory of that pathogen.
When the real pathogen appears during weaning, the weanling will mount an immune response against it.
Vaccines work best when they are given to healthy animals before the risk period. Six to eight weeks out from weaning is a good time to administer your pneumonia vaccines
Which vaccines?
This is a choice different systems will have to make based on risk. Talk to your own vet with knowledge of your farm.
Where pneumonia has been an issue, I recommend combinations which cover against IBR RSV and PI3.
It is also important to incorporate bacterial cover with your vaccines. This will mean at least two vaccines being administered with the bacterial vaccines requiring a second dose.
Some producers will use the live intranasal vaccines that last 12 weeks, but they must be administered correctly.
These can be given one month out from weaning. You can administer IBR and RSV intranasally on the same day.
Remember, vaccines are expensive and must be stored, handled and administered correctly.
However, they won’t completely get rid of your pneumonia issues especially if housing facilities are poor and stress is high at weaning. They act like a valuable insurance policy for your weanlings.
More suckler farmers are reporting cases of mycoplasma pneumonia for which there is no vaccine.
It has been shown that you can help by covering your weanlings against other pathogens like IBR and RSV.
When purchasing weanlings, knowledge of prior vaccines is a plus.
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