Nutrition And Management Keys To Health
And Immune Response In Dairy Cattle
MOUNT JOY (Lancaster Co.)
“Designing an effective vacci
nation program is a little like
building a roof,” said Jeff Ma
mett, senior territory manager
with Pfizer Animal Health. “You
need to know the expected snow
load and winds you’re building
against and understand the basic
principles of how it has to work.”
Recently, Mamett presented
the notes and slides of Dr. Victor
Cortcse, well-known expert on
animal immunology and vaccina
tion, during an Agri-Basics cus
tomer seminar on the topic.
Herd health cannot be man
aged out of a bottle, said Mamett,
stressing good management and
nutrition as the absolute keys to
health and immune response be
cause of two basic principles that
are non-ncgotiablc and refuse to
be ignored.
The first and foremost non-ne
gotiable principle of immunology
is very simple, but also critical to
understand: “The clinical signs of
disease occur in animals when
the disease challenge they are ex
posed to surpasses the level of
disease resistance they possess.”
Pulling from his decades of ex
perience as a professional farm
manager and his 14 years with
Pfizer, Mamett gave examples,
including one about a dairyman
who was vaccinating for coUform
mastitis, and it wasn’t working.
“When I got to the farm, I
could see why,” said Mamett.
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Looking forward, reaching higher
dressed. In effect, the disease
challenge was not being reduced
through management, so it was
still greater than the level of dis
ease resistance the cows were get
ting out of a bottle.
“The objective of a vaccination
program, is to build resistance
levels as high as you can, but to
do that, you need an immune sys
tem that is capable of respond
ing,” Mamett explained the sec
ond non-negotiable principle.
“Sick, stressed, or nutritionally
deficient animals will not re
spond to vaccines because they
do not have a fully functional im
mune system.”
So how do vaccines work? In
ternally, it’s a matter of budding
the defense based on getting a
good look at the enemy’s offense
and being prepared with a strong
team of primary and secondary
defenders. “It takes three to four
weeks to build that recognition,
which consists of both responses
antibody (bloodstream) and T
cell (cellular),” Mamett de
scribed.
The recommendation to re
vaccinate in two to four weeks
comes from the understanding
that a second lode at the attacker
promotes a more rapid response.
“They’ve seen it before so more
soldiers are activated with the
next dose,” said Mamett. “We’re
tooled up with the first dose, now
we can make these guys real
fast.”
Mamett pointed out that modi-
You'll feel the difference.
fled live vaccines produce a
quicker onset of immunity than
killed vaccines. The system is set
up to differentiate the two. In
general, killed vaccines activate
die bloodstream police. This is
why killed vaccines require a
booster dose to increase the army
because the initial dose doesn’t
achieve the memory response at
the cell level.
The caution with MLV vac
cines is they will cause a preg
nant animal to lose her calf
with one exception. The excep
tion is for pregnant animals that
have already had the MLV vac
cine within the previous 11
months. This is one reason why
having a vaccination program is
so important to gain the ad
vantages of MLV vaccines, and
to effectively protect the herd
across generations.
Mamctt talked about the four
main viruses: BVD, IBR, BRSV,
and PIS. He stressed the underly
ing problem with BVD the per
sistently infected (PI) animal.
“The PI animal is an insidious
problem for dairy producers, and
it can get ugly in a big hurry.
Critical Discussions, Well-Known Speakers
Highlight Upcoming Cattle Convention
DENVER, Colo. A wide
range of topics and interests will
be on the table when cattle pro
ducers meet Jan. 28-31 in Phoe
nix, Ariz., for the 2004 Cattle
Industry Annual Convention
and Trade Show. The event
includes meetings of the Na
tional Cattlemen’s Beef As
sociation (NCBA), the Cat
tlemen’s Beef Promotion and
Research Board, the Ameri
can National Cattle Women,
Inc., Cattle-Fax, and the Na
tional Cattlemen’s Founda
tion.
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When an unborn calf is exposed
to BVD between 70 and 120 days
gestation, the calf may live, and if
so will become a PI shedding
BVD virus its entire life.”
Mamett also talked about bac
teria especially Lepto, which is
a big concern in the dairy busi
ness. “Here in the U.S., the most
predominant strain of Lepto that
causes the insidious economic
losses in reproduction, is not con
tained in any of the 5-way vac
cines,” he said. “This strain uses
the cow as a maintenance host
for a month to a year, causing no
signs of illness, and then affecting
the reproductive system.”
“The Lepto strains that use
other animals as maintenance
hosts (like dogs) will transmit to
cattle and cause them to become
sick,” said Mamett. “We vacci
nate for these Lepto strains be
cause they can be transmitted to
humans and they can make cows
sick. But the Lepto that affects
reproduction and uses the cow as
a host, is the moving target we re
ally need to address because of
the economic cost.” Pfizer makes
the only vaccine (Spirovac) avail
able for this hardjo-bovis strain.
ical decisions on the behalf of
their industry at the four-day
event.
Joint industry committees dis
cussing beef checkoff issues and
programs will meet Friday, Jan.
30. At those meetings, results of
checkoff-funded strategies and
tactics for the first three months
of fiscal year 2004 will be pres
ented and reviewed.
NCBA policy committees will
meet Friday, as well. At those
meetings, NCBA affiliates will
bring policy from their states and
members for discussion, delibera
tion and adoption.
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Vaccination protocols are not
one-size-fits-all. The idea behind
a herd vaccination program is to
give vaccinations when the ani
mal’s immune system is most
capable of responding and to pro
vide protection for the big eco
nomic diseases.
Mamett urged producers to
consult with their veterinarians
to develop a program that fits
their own herd management sys
tems and the challenges on their
own farms.
He strongly advised using an
intranasal vaccine for newborns
and new arrivals because the im
mediate release of interferon pro
vides a temporary umbrella until
vaccines given to older animals
or colostrum antibodies con
sumed by newborns, are up to
speed.
More information on this topic
is available in the latest editions
of the Agri-Basics dairy newslet
ter “The Agri-Vator” available
on-line at www.agribasics.com.
Or contact Agri-Basics, Inc. at
(800) 361-9265 for a complimen
tary copy and information about
our independent dairy nutrition
consulting services.
The Cattle-Fax Outlook Semi
nar is scheduled for Wednesday
afternoon, Jan. 28. This session,
will cover issues of critical impor
tance to cattle producers and
feeders.
The Board of Directors meet
ings for the Cattlemen’s Beef
Board and the National Cattle
men’s Beef Association are Satur
day morning, Jan. 31. Awards
honoring NCBA Top Hand
Members, the National Cattle
men’s Foundation Beef Industry
Scholarship Award winner, Na
tional Collegiate Beef Quiz Bowl
winners and others will be pres
ented at a luncheon that
day.
Advance registration
for the event ends Jan.
2. For more information,
contact the NCBA Con
vention and Meetings
Department at (303)
694-0305.
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