Hazell Mullins: New year vaccinations. Don't let the cold snap derail good intentions
Plan out your vaccine calendar to ensure they are ordered in time and given at the correct time of year.
Last week's New Year themes article helped me to focus on what I want this year to look like, out with the unachievable resolutions and in with achievable themes for 2025.
One thing that can very much interfere with goals on the farm is the weather, the uncontrollable Irish climate, Jack Frost is certainly making his mark this week. At first in Carrignavar I was disappointed with the lack of snow we had compared with other parts of the country but within a few hours, the farm was like a glistening white carpet. The fairytale soon ends and reality hits of how difficult these conditions make farming.
The end is in sight for this cold snap and we can resume normal farming business without the imminent trait of frostbite or worse the dreaded frozen water pipes. The initial beauty of the snow is wearing off quickly and the ice is certainly not a welcome visitor to the yards.
It has been interesting to watch how the cows adjust to the snow and ice, they are like calves again learning to walk, thinking about their every step. It is important to allow the cows to move at their own pace in these icy conditions, they need to see where they are placing their feet.
We luckily had a bag of salt left over from last winter that was great to spread around the troughs and the steps to the parlour. This cold snap of January 2025 will be, no doubt, quoted for many years to future generations.
One thing that this weather has given me is the mental space to sit down and plan out the next few months ahead. I ticked off many admin jobs, paid a few bills, filled out my new diary with all my meetings and finally rang the vets to order my vaccines for the next few months.
It’s important to talk to your vet at this time of year and plan out your vaccine calendar to ensure they are ordered in time and given at the correct time of year to achieve maximum benefit. Stock up on new vaccine guns, and fresh needles and check the fridge is working correctly, you don’t want a big white warm cupboard instead of a fridge. Vaccines are delicate by nature and they need to be treated with care.
I rang our vets in Abbeyville this week to order scour vaccines for Rota/Corona/E.coli prevention for the cows. Next week will mark the three-week point before they first begin to calf down and this is “go time” for the vaccine for cows that are within the key three and 12 weeks from calving. It could also be the time to give the second cryptosporidium vaccine to these early calving cows if the first dose was given four weeks previous.
I had a call from a farmer this week asking about the timing of the crypto vaccine and wondering if could he begin the dose. It wouldn’t allow the seven weeks for the vaccine to work so it would only be suitable to use on his later calving cows. We discussed other aspects of prevention such as using a crypto disinfectant and concluded that colostrum management was the gold standard.
Also in January, IBR live vaccine is due we gave this last week to ensure there was a two-week gap between vaccinations.
We have about 20 cows calving in April this year so we batch these cows into a group to vaccinate after Valentine’s Day. If we vaccinated all the cows in January these April calving cows would fall out of the 3-12 week pre-calving time frame that benefits the most from the vaccine. We are also traditional on the farm and vaccinate our maiden heifers for Lepto in February.
Another vaccine to consider in February would be a live intranasal vaccine or a dead intramuscular vaccine for pneumonia for the baby calves. This always needs an in-depth conversation with your vet to see what vaccine is best to suit the pneumonia history on the farm.
It’s not just roses and chocolates on the shopping list in February, more importantly, it is also My dad’s birthday on Valentine’s Day so it’s a busy month.
Tiredness will have probably struck by the time St. Patrick's Day arrives, so I always book a little holiday around now for the end of spring as a motivator to keep going. It is also time to vaccinate the cows with their Lepto vaccine.
It is around now that I usually regret this plan and wish I had swapped them to a Christmas Lepto routine, perhaps next year will be the year I make that leap. It makes complete sense to move this to a time when life on the farm is less busy and chaotic, hindsight is a wonderful thing. It is also the month to think about BVD vaccination especially when using the dead vaccine to give an immunity boost pre-breeding.
A three-month plan is more than enough to try and focus on for this article. I am trying to incorporate my 2025 theme of being “proactive” as much as possible. It’s only the second week of January but I am feeling more focused already even with the cold snap trying to derail my good intentions.
Hope everyone stays safe this week and warmer days are on the horizon.
