While disease prevention remains the primary purpose of vaccine programs, a well-designed vaccination protocol is now an essential marketing strategy for producers selling calves into value-added and graded feeder sales.

Technology intersects many segments of agriculture with applications extending into animal health for prevention, detection and treatment of illness. Many of the newer tools are aimed at blending data collection, analysis and specialized interventions.

When done correctly, early-life vaccination helps calves handle the stressors of branding, weaning, transport and feedlot entry with resilience.

A vaccination program is one part of a comprehensive disease control and prevention program. However, keeping pathogens from entering the herd is always preferred over protection that comes in a bottle.

“When we’re talking vaccines, the worst-case scenario is not vaccinating,” says Idaho County Extension Educator Meranda Small. “That means you’re not giving your animals the opportunity to be set up for success in a variety of scenarios.”

Bovine respiratory disease (BRD), or pneumonia, is the most common cause of death in cattle over 4 months old. Many different commercial vaccines are available for protection against organisms that cause BRD, but sometimes cattle get BRD even when they are vaccinated.

Early embryonic loss is defined as a loss within the first 42 days of pregnancy and has been reported to impact between 20% and 40% of pregnancies in beef cattle.

The immune system is the body’s military. It is tasked with being able to recognize pathogenic invaders that have entered the body and eliminate them as quickly as possible.