10/11/2026
Calving Protocol?
Folks are always interested in our vaccination program and calving protocol.
Here’s what we do - it starts with the mothers!
1. Vaccinate the mothers 45-60 days before calving to boost maternal antibodies in their colostrum. We vaccinate the cows as much for the benefit of the calves as anything else! We also preg-check at this time and sort off any opens - 2 birds, 1 stone!
We give 3 SoliDose implant vaccines + Lepto and Blackleg, which pretty much cover everything (scours, respiratory, etc).
We also give Multimin and Vitamin ADE, when can pass along to the calf during late gestation and then again through the mother’s milk.
2. Our calving protocol consists of the following:
- Tissue DNA Sample, left ear
- EID in same hole as tissue sample, which is helpful because we scan them in our chute from the left side.
- Identification ear tag (sire top, calf middle, dam bottom, Recip # on back)
- We give a drug called Amplimune that is an immunostimulant to help boost the calf’s immune system. It has also been shown to reduce scours and respiratory illnesses. Finally, I theorize it may act as an adjuvant to the Nasalgen vaccine by alerting the calf’s immune system and potentially strengthening its response to the vaccine.
- We administer Nasalgen 3 at birth to provide additional protection against respiratory disease by stimulating immunity directly in the calf’s nasal passages. This helps the calf develop its own protection while maternal antibodies from colostrum are still present. Intranasal vaccines are one of the most effective ways to provide protection that won’t be fully blocked by maternal antibodies.
We are primarily relying on the mother’s maternal antibodies provided through her colostrum and milk to carry the calf to our branding time vaccines at 3-4 months of age. The Nasalgen and Amplimune are intended to act as additional layer of
insurance to bridge any potential immunity gap between birth and branding-time vaccines.
PS We may eventually add the oral Scour Gaurd or the Tri-Sheild product, which could add additional protection from scours, but we vaccinated the cows for scours and we are generally at low risk of scours anyways.
