Helena Madden, Ruminant Veterinary Manager with MSD Animal Health, joins Stuart Childs on the latest Dairy Edge to discuss the new vaccine against Cryptosporidium, Bovilis Cryptium.

Helena first discusses how crypto is consistently one of the main causes of calf scour and then explains how cleaver the parasite is at surviving. Billions of eggs (oocysts) are shed by sick calves but only 17 are required to cause infection! 

Consequently, it can be a difficult disease to manage once it gets in the gate.

Helena says the new vaccine is the product of 23 years of research which clearly shows the challenge that crypto poses at farm level that such effort was invested into finding a solution. However, it is still only part of the solution. 

Cleaning and disinfection of sheds and good management of calf sheds is still important to minimise the challenge while the vaccine boosts the animals ability to resist infection.

The vaccine requires a primary dose so it is important that people are aware of this as the final dose has to be given at least 3 weeks before calving to be effective so that will require some planning for farmers to ensure they have the primary course given on time to ensure the 2nd shot is given in sufficient time.

Helena emphasises the importance of colostrum management both in terms of ensuring good quality and quantity of colostrum but also making sure the calves get the colostrum as early as possible and for this vaccine, it is recommended that they get colostrum/transition milk for the first 5 days at least to maximise the protection.

For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the show page at:

https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/

The Dairy Edge is a co-production with LastCastMedia.com