Subscribe to the Angus Beef Bulletin

Subscribe to the
newly redesigned
Angus Beef Bulletin

by clicking the
image above.


Sign up!

Quick links:

Share the EXTRA

Connect with
our community:

Follow us on twitterJoin us on Twitter
































Bookmark and Share


Don’t Let Vaccines Freeze in Cold Weather

Keep vaccines at a consistent temperature to ensure efficacy.

Cold weather can make things more challenging when vaccinating cattle. Russ Daly, Extension veterinarian and associate professor at South Dakota State University, says one important consideration when working cattle in cold temperatures is to be careful to not let vaccines freeze — whether you’re working with a modified-live virus (MLV) or a killed product.

It is important for vaccines to be kept at an optimal temperature while working cattle in cold temperatures so the vaccines work properly.

No matter what type of vaccine you’re using, it shouldn’t be allowed to freeze. The modified-live viruses will be inactivated by freezing, and the vaccine will no longer be potent, he explains. It won’t be able to stimulate an immune response, so you would essentially be wasting your time vaccinating those animals.

“It may even be more important to be careful with killed vaccines that contain adjuvants. Freezing of the adjuvants may create some compounds that could make the animals sick. We want to make sure we can keep those vaccines at refrigerator temperature while we are working with them,” he says.

This may mean using some hot packs in the bottom of a cooler or insulated container to ensure that nothing freezes.

“My standby when working cattle in cold weather: putting hot water bottles in the bottom of a Styrofoam cooler, with some holes in the top of the cooler to stick the pistol-grip syringes through when we aren’t using them. This keeps the needles from freezing, and keeps the syringe contents thawed out without getting them too warm,” he says.

Some people use propane heaters, and these might be good for keeping the work crew and some of the equipment or machinery warm. However, Daly warns against exposing the vaccines to hot temperatures. They need to be kept cool, but not too warm and not frozen.

This advice also applies to pour-on products and antibiotics. It’s best to start with something that is proper temperature and not let it freeze, says Daly. If you are using a pour-on dewormer or delousing product administered via tubing attached to a large container, even though the contents in the container probably won’t freeze, it doesn’t take very cold temperatures to freeze contents in the tube.

“This can be frustrating, so it pays to find ways to keep those products insulated and keep the tubing heated or insulated while you are working the cattle. It’s much better to keep things from freezing in the first place than trying to thaw them out,” says Daly.

A person might be proactive in protecting vaccines while working the cattle, but it’s also important to make sure the vaccine doesn’t get too cold during storage in the refrigerator. Temperatures are not always constant or consistent in a refrigerator. Sometimes items stored on the top shelf of a fridge-freezer combo will freeze. It pays to check the temperature in the refrigerator where you store vaccines and make sure they are not getting too warm or too cold.

comment on this story

Editor’s Note: Heather Smith Thomas is a cattlewoman and freelance writer from Salmon, Idaho.



 

 

 

 

 

 





Use this keyword search to find more articles like this one:


[Click here to go to the top of the page.]