10/10/07 Better vaccination

Sometimes you think you are doing a good job, but you're really only going through the motions. I'm Jeff keane; I'll be back in one minute to explain. In a Beef magazine article by Burt Rutherford, John Peirce, a veterinarian for AzTx Cattle Company basically took cattle producers to the woodshed and said he would give most of us an "F" if he were a schoolteacher. AzTx is a cattle feeding and ranching operation in Hereford, Texas. Dr. Peirce says the reason we would get that failing grade is our poor performance in administrating vaccines in calf preconditioning programs. I'll admit it is easy to fall into a less than perfect mode while vaccinating a group of calves. Many times we get ready to vaccinate calves by preparing all the vaccines that need to be reconstituted as soon as we start. Dr. Peirce recommends only mixing as much as you will use in about thirty minutes. Vaccines, especially modified live types, are actually fragile and start to deteriorate as soon as the two components are united. This breakdown can be enhanced by heat and sunlight so the last portions of a large mixed amount may be nothing but sterile water by the time it is administered to the calf. Veterinarian Peirce prefers using ten dose bottles and of course keeping the vaccine cool and also keeping vaccine syringes cool before filling them. His recommendation is to try to do a perfect job on each calf by taking your time since it's a quality job not a speed job. Looks like I may have to put in a little more study time on our vaccinating techniques to pull that "F" grade up. I'm Jeff Keane.