Producers who have trouble finding vaccines should shift their focus to improved biosecurity and cattle management
A potential shortage of scours vaccines may have producers and veterinarians seeking solutions during calving this winter.
Pharmaceutical companies that produce bovine-specific medications have been fraught with shortages due to transportation and manufacturing issues.
“We’ve seen a contraction of product lines and the shortages are really just a function of that,” said Cody Creelman, veterinarian and chief executive officer of Fen Vet in Airdrie, Alta.
“Vaccine manufacturing is finicky at the best of times. There’s a lot of quality control that goes into it and the margins, quite frankly, for the pharmaceutical companies on cattle vaccines are quite thin.”
Read Also
The Western Producer Livestock Report – August 21, 2025
Western Producer Livestock Report for August 21, 2025. See U.S. & Canadian hog prices, Canadian bison & lamb market data and sales insights.
Producers are advised to check with their veterinarian regarding available vaccine for cows.
A potential shortage could prompt producers to minimize use of vaccines and antibiotics and improve biosecurity and management.
“Vaccines and other pharmaceuticals are amazing tools that we have at our disposal, but they are no match to proper management,” said Creelman. “We can’t be cutting corners in our management of producing our cattle and relying on vaccines or antibiotics to cover off on some of those corners.
“So, the best thing in a scours vaccine shortage is making sure that we are doing everything else we can in the management of those cattle.”
Scours can be minimized by keeping cow vaccinations current, keeping cows in good body condition and carefully managing calving areas to prevent spread of pathogens that cause calf scours.
Separating cow-calf pairs from the calving herd and using the Sandhills calving method will help contain outbreaks.
“(This) is essentially a rotational calving pasture strategy where you have different cohorts of cattle calving out onto clean calving grounds,” Creelman said.
However, not every producer has ideal calving systems.
“They can have limits in the number of paddocks they have available, the winter-feeding grounds that they have, the resources and manpower that they have that limit their ability to follow some of these best practices, but it’s a really good opportunity to kind of rethink how we calve out cows, and what we can do.”
If calf diarrhea persists, have a plan, he added.
“Everyone should have an isolation pen and make sure there is a separate (and labelled) esophageal feeder for sick diarrheic calves and newborns. If you get one case, isolating the calf and its mother in a separate pen until fully recovered may prevent spread.”
Calves are born into environments with a high pathogen load. If the immune system supported by colostrum is not able to overcome that load, they’re going to develop scours.
The main treatment is administration of water and oral electrolytes by tube to the infected and dehydrated calves.
Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs, should only be used after calves have been properly rehydrated.
Creelman advised against “throwing the whole kitchen sink” at the problem.
“If we’re treating every scouring calf with antibiotics, we could be potentially creating antimicrobial resistance in our herd. That’s going to render the treatment options for other diseases less effective.”
Not all scours are the same, so be sure to choose the correct treatment.
“Each pathogen has its own nuance in terms of how long it persists in the environment (and) what the potential treatments are for those specific pathogens,” said Creelman.
“By working with a herd health veterinarian, we can take fecal samples of those calves as they break with diarrhea. We can send them off to the lab. We can get very quick turnaround and identify specifically; we have this one pathogen that is causing these problems. That allows us to implement potential treatments and tailored management in order to control them as well.”
In a year of possible vaccine shortages, it’s important to follow the label or consult with a vet because timing varies between brands.
The most common cause of neonatal diarrhea is infection from a viral, bacterial or protozoal contagion.
Viral infections easily replicate in a host that has a weak immune and gastrointestinal system.
Rotavirus and coronavirus are among the most common. Less common are bovine viral diarrhea virus and infectious bovine rhinotracheitis.
Bacterial infections that cause calf scours include E. coli, salmonella and clostridium perfringens.
Parasitic infections should also be considered when dealing with scours. They include cryptosporidium and coccidia.
“There’s a whole host and usually in a scours outbreak situation, we often see multiple organisms at play,” said Creelman.
Vaccines stimulate the cow to produce antibodies in the colostrum, but must be given to the cow at the appropriate time. Depending on the product label, that can range from three weeks to a couple months pre-calving.
The calf must also receive adequate colostrum four to six hours after birth.
If scours are a common and frequent problem, Creelman suggests shifting the calving period to later in the year.
“We very rarely see scours outbreaks in summer calving situation. So, cows that are calving in May and June and July don’t have scours issues for the most part in comparison to when we’re calving out over the winter months.”
