VACCINATIONS OF STOCK 2025

There is thin line between a healthy herd and a disaster and this applies to both Cattle and Goats.

The few milliliters of liquid inside the bottle of vaccine, you are holding may look unimpressive. Yet its effect on your herd can mean the difference between disaster and profit.

What is a Vaccine?

A vaccine is a strain of an infectious disease: in other words, the disease causing organism that will make your livestock sick. When a pathogen enters the body, the immune system reacts by producing antibodies to fight that pathogen. When you inject the infective agent into the body, it triggers an immune reaction which gives the body some resistance to that specific disease.

It is, however, important to realize that the immune reaction takes some time between 1 – 2 weeks to develop. Vaccines enable you to build immunity in your herd against a variety of diseases, which would otherwise cause great loses. Always remember that animals suffer from stress after a vaccination. This is quite normal in all stock. Vaccinations are literally a thin line between profit and loss of your enterprise.

Keep in mind though those vaccines cannot be used as a treatment for disease. Vaccines protect an animal against diseases prior to exposure, but the animals body needs time to produce the necessary protection after vaccination. All vaccines should be given to stock in July / August each year as insects, mosquitos and fly’s spread diseases and they are not around at that time of the year.

Young stock born in spring (September / October) should be vaccinated in January / February each year against Black Quarter & Botulism with Supavax as they have had no protection at all. Young fat animals are always very susceptible to Black Quarter / Quarter Evil as they will only be vaccinated in July / August with the rest of the herd / flock. This applies to both cattle and goats. Young animals that will be going to a feedlot in March / April should also be vaccinated for Bovine Respiratory Disease (BRD) at 6 months of age and then again before entry into the feedlot.

Types of Vaccines

There are essentially two types of vaccines: active and inactivated (or killed) vaccines. Live vaccines come in pill form and must be activated with a diluent before use. (e.g. Lumpy Skin Vaccine). Only use the diluent supplied with the vaccine. Inactivated vaccines are premixed in one container and need no mixing before use. Please remember that viruses are only controlled with vaccinations. e.g. Lumpy Skin. Vaccines are also provided in combination forms, such as Supavax (Anthrax, Black Quarter & Botulism), which makes it easy to vaccinate animals against more than one disease simultaneously.

Inactivated vaccines must be given more frequently than live vaccines. It is very important to note which type of vaccine you are using, as this will give you an exact indication of the dose frequency of the product. Read the label supplied with the vaccine. When starting with a vaccination program, ensure that your animals receive the necessary boosters at the correct intervals each year normally in August each year.

If you are unsure about which to use, read the package label and keep it in a clear sheet folder for further reference later. Some live vaccines can cause side effects if used incorrectly.

How to handle vaccines.

Take extra care when using a vaccine, as some of the diseases that animals are vaccinated against, are zoonotic (transferrable to humans). Consult your medical practitioner if you have accidentally pricked yourself.

It is vital that vaccines are kept cool between 4 - 8˚C. Place them in a cooler bag with your blue blocks / an ice pack as soon as you have purchased it. Back at the home the vaccine should be stored in the fridge, but make sure it does not freeze. When you are ready to use it, transport it to the handling facility in a cooler bag with ice packs. It is Very Important.

Always make sure that you are using the correct injection technique – some vaccines can only be injected in the muscle, while others must be administered subcutaneously under the skin (read the label as to the applications of the vaccine). Also ensure that you administer the correct dose, 1 – 2ml, or the product won’t work and the animals will be unprotected. Use one needle per animal to prevent disease transmission between animals.(Viruses are spread by needles) If your crush takes 10 animals then you need 24 needles, 12 being used to vaccinate the stock and 12 being sterilized in boiling water on a gas burner stove. (Extra needles because of breakages or needles bent / dropped alongside the crush)

Order your requirements of vaccines from your supplier so that they are available for you in July / August. Diseases in your stock cause great losses of good quality breeding stock. The cost of vaccines per animal is very cheap compared to the value of your stock.

Vaccines are an insurance against loss of good quality breeding stock.

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