Vaccinating Calves

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The start of this week, we were busy on the trail moving pairs up to the mountain; towards the end of the week we started vaccinating calves. To vaccinate, we first had to gather the pairs into a corral and sort the pairs until we just had the calves. Once the calves were separated, we tied up the horses and set up the chute to begin vaccinating. We had 330 calves to vaccinate- we had two people pushing them into a corral, two others to sort (3-4 calves off at a time) and push into the chute, and three people (including myself) to vaccinate. One challenge I noticed during this vaccination process was the size of the calves. With all of the rain we have had, this area is a lot greener than usual, allowing the calves to grow faster than normal- which is great overall.

The calves received two shots, one of 7-way Clostridial (black leg) and another of Zoetis (Bovine Rhinotracheitis). The Nasalgen was administered up the nose of the calves; this helps mimic natural exposure to the most common causes of pneumonia. This week I learned the importance of heard health with vaccinating calves. It was also apparent to me the importance of administrating the shots correctly. When vaccinating cattle, it is extremely important to give the shots subcutaneously in the triangle of the neck.

One thing from this week I would challenge was the chute set-up when vaccinating. There were 3-4 calves crammed into a tiny metal chute. Their legs and heads would sometimes get stuck and it seemed very dangerous for the calves, and humans- as some of workers hands got smashed in between the metal and the calves during the process. I think it would having a chute with dividers would reduce the risk of smashing hands and cattle crowding one another. The dividers would act like little doors that would open to allow for the shots to be given.

On my own ranch, I want to immediately establish a vaccine schedule with my local vet and stick to it. I also want to find a chute like the one I described above to allow for less traumatic handling of the calves. Finally, I will definitely be investing a vet cooler to hold the drugs and needles during vaccinating to keep the drugs cool and everyone safe.

Submitted by: Chloe Henderson
Edits by: GrowinG Internship Team