It’s a cold, grey, still morning and although birds are singing and lambs are in the fields spring doesn’t seem to have really got underway yet. However, we all know that can rapidly change and the turnout of cattle is always at about the same time of year give or take a week or two.

There’s no doubt that one of the biggest changes in cattle disease control has been the number and variety of effective vaccines that are available.

While this has been useful in controlling diseases such as BVD, lungworm, leptospirosis and some viral pneumonias, it has created an additional problem of how to fit all these vaccines in so that they all work to best effect. It’s less of a problem for adult cows already in a vaccine programme, but young heifers often have two doses as part of their primary course and this is where timing becomes important. Some vaccines have doses that have to be given at set times, others cannot be given alongside any other medication.

Regardless of timing, vaccines work best in a fit, healthy animal and other diseases can reduce their efficacy. Liver fluke is particularly important to consider, not only through general condition loss, but through damage to the liver where many of the antibody proteins are made. On top of this you may be having to time a TB test and it is important that vaccines aren’t given around the time of the first part of the test. I often talk about farm health planning and this is a perfect example of sitting down, ideally with your vet and planning precisely what stock need which treatment and when.

Many vets now have reminder systems for vaccines, but I still feel it is worth taking time to look at a plan each year. Adjustments can often be made, such as bringing some treatments well forward of the 'normal' date. Leptospirosis for instance, can cause some infertility in young calves, so the primary course could be completed well before turnout, improving the health of the calf as well as reducing the planning headache.

Iain Richards, South Lakes Vet