Beef School, Ep. 8: Improving on-ranch vaccination implementation

Photo via Canada Beef Inc.

From storage requirements to difficult-to-spell words like ‘Mannheimia haemolytica’ and ‘rhinotracheitis,’ there’s a lot to consider when it comes to vaccinating cattle. And that complexity is one of the reasons Cody Creelman, veterinarian and managing partner of Veterinary Agri-Health Services, suggests producers develop a customized, written vaccination protocol, with annual reviews.

“It’s important to [re-assess it] every year for two reasons,” says Creelman, in the following episode of the Beef School. “The first reason is just to keep it fresh, so the veterinarian would know what’s going on with that operation, what new risks have come up, what the disease challenges have been for the last year. But on the flip side, we also need to do that to fulfill some of the regulatory components within Western Canada.”

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A consultation (like sitting down to work on vaccination protocols) with your veterinarian is one way to help develop or maintain a valid veterinary-client-patient relationship, something that’s needed in order to legitimatize prescriptions.

In this episode of the Beef School, veterinarian and managing partner of VAHS, Cody Creelman, talks about the importance of vaccines, their use in Western Canada, and how often cattle producers should be re-visiting their vaccination protocol. He also takes some time to bust a few myths and call for improvements in syringe maintenance.

Though the majority of recent changes to regulations in Canada revolve around injectable and in-feed antimicrobials, Creelman says this may have an indirect impact on where vaccines are available. Feed stores no longer able to carry now-prescription drugs, for example, may decide to also stop stocking certain vaccines.

But, while retail outlets figure that out, cattle producers have their own work to do, in:

  1. Creating or re-evaluating a customized vaccination protocol;
  2. Re-visiting vaccine labels to ensure they are using the appropriate drug and dosage in the appropriate class of cattle;
  3. Developing a storage strategy for vaccinating in various weather conditions;
  4. Realizing the site of injection really does matter;
  5. Ensuring everyone on the ranch knows how to properly maintain syringes (no detergents, no using multi-dose vaccine syringes for antimicrobials, and always doing a distilled water rinse); and
  6. Ensuring they have a valid veterinary-client-patient relationship.

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