Cases of clostridial diseases are increasing, particularly in housed dairy cattle.
Why is this happening?
An alarming number of dairy and beef producers still don’t vaccinate for clostridial disease, vaccinate only sporadically or forget about giving booster shots.
Vaccines for clostridial diseases are the cheapest on the market, so cost is not an obstacle to developing a routine vaccination protocol with a veterinarian.
The choice of vaccine may vary slightly depending on the clostridial organisms prevalent in your area.
Clostridial organisms are spore-producing bacteria that live in the soil and can last for 50 years or more.
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The spores are often ingested.
Bruising, handling, liver damage and myriad other problems can trigger the disease.
Survival is rare even with vigorous treatment.
Cattle can be protected if they are vaccinated with the multivalent clostridial vaccines, up to a nine-way approved for beef and dairy in Canada. Label directions must be followed.
Dairies also see the sporadic hemorrhagic bowel syndrome, also known as jejunal hemorrhagic syndrome. Clostridium perfringens A is thought to be involved, but unfortunately no vaccine is licensed in Canada.
Some dairy farms are using a vaccine specifically for this condition under an emergency drug release protocol.
Ontario dairy operations are seeing more cases of clostridial disease that are caused primarily by Clostridium septicum and Clostridium chauvei.
Outbreaks occur annually in calves on pasture, so we know it is in the soil in abundance in some locations, but how is soil from the fields getting into dairy barns?
Exposure is possible if heifers are pastured at any time in their lives.
As well, baled hay often contains dirt thrown up by pickups and pocket gophers drag lots of soil to the surface.
Dr. Mac Littlejohn of the Kirkton & St. Mary’s veterinary group in Ontario says he has seen an in-creased incidence since the advent of the disc bines versus sickle haybines, most likely because more dirt is thrown into the swath.
Excavating or dirt brought in on the tires of farm equipment and other vehicles can contain clostridial spores.
A critical mass of spores is usually necessary before we see clinical disease, which so often leads to sudden death of the cow.
An autopsy is necessary to confirm it, which is why it is imperative to have a veterinarian conduct them on sudden deaths. We need the sample for BSE submission, but most importantly we need to find out the actual cause of death. This also helps us in our vaccination decisions.
Dairy producers use more synchronization programs such as Ov-sync or Co-sync, which require GnRh and prostaglandin shots.
The labels on all prostaglandins warn of the rare possibility that bruising created by administering the prostaglandin will initiate a clostridial myositis. These can occur in almost outbreak form in unexposed dairy cattle.
Veterinarians used to recommend boostering clostridial coverage every five years, but that is often increased now to every year be-cause of the increasing incidence of clostridial redwater deaths in the West and concentrated pockets of clostridial spores in pastures across Canada. It’s even done twice a year in cases where redwater is prevalent.
A farm’s herd veterinarian should review clostridial prevention efforts and make sure there are no gaps in clostridial coverage.
Make sure to booster young calves at weaning, and remember to do mature cows, even if they spend most of their lives inside the barn.
In the dairy barn, some herd veterinarians booster the entire herd at once. A short-term decrease in milk production is expected when any vaccine is given to dairy cattle, so most producers give it in the dry off period.
The vaccine can be bought from 10 to 125-dose sizes, so there is a vaccine that fits all situations.
Some clostridial vaccines also contain histophilus, which may be prescribed for calves.
These vaccines are usually ap-proved for organic beef and milking programs, but this should be confirmed for the specific vaccine.
A rough poll that I conducted with veterinarians and herd owners found that dairy cows were the most frequently missed, followed by beef herd bulls.
Calves are more commonly vaccinated at least once, but the booster shot is often missed or given months late, creating a gap when the calves are susceptible.
With spores lasting as long as they do, the only way to prevent clostridial disease is to vaccinate.
Clostridial vaccines are close to 100 percent effective if administered properly and followed up with boosters at the right time.
