Cattle vaccination schedule: mandatory vaccines

While things are going smoothly in the barn, the vaccination calendar always looks like something to deal with later. But having to tell a buyer at the door one morning that the animal has not been vaccinated, or watching a disease that gets into the barn take the whole herd off milk, explains in one go how expensive this business is. Vaccination is a small price paid in advance to reduce the risk of disease; the price paid once disease arrives is milk, calves and sometimes the animal itself.

In this article we cover the compulsory vaccinations you will meet in cattle in Turkiye, how to manage vaccination day on the farm, the mistakes most often made, and what is really worth writing down. Vaccination itself is a veterinarian's job; the aim here is for you to be prepared and organised.

What does "compulsory vaccination" mean?

For some diseases, vaccination is not left to the farm's preference; it is carried out under a state control programme. That has two practical consequences. First, vaccination is done by officers of the provincial or district directorate of agriculture or by authorised veterinarians, and it goes into the official record. Second, missing vaccinations and records can cause problems with veterinary health reports and movement procedures, and an orderly record of vaccination is generally looked for in livestock support payments too. Which document is required for which procedure changes with the legislation and the year; confirm the current requirement with the provincial or district directorate. So vaccination is not only a health matter, it is a matter of whether your animal is sellable and movable.

The official record of a vaccination works hand in hand with the ear tag and holding records. If an animal is not tagged and registered, the vaccination record does not attach to it either. So not delaying tagging and registration the moment a calf is born is the first step of the vaccination calendar. For a detailed record-keeping routine, take a look at our how to keep herd records article as well.

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) vaccination

FMD is a compulsory vaccination carried out through state campaigns, and it is applied nationwide in set periods, generally more than one period a year. The scope of the campaign — above what age animals will be vaccinated, and in which period calves born to unvaccinated dams will be taken in — is set by the official instruction announced each year, and it can change. So find out the age limit by asking the provincial or district directorate, not from hearsay. Vaccinations are carried out by officers of the provincial or district directorate of agriculture or by authorised veterinarians.

What FMD means for a farmer is this: when the disease gets in, the animal goes off feed, cannot walk because of lesions in the mouth and on the hooves, milk drops fast, and deaths can be seen in young animals. Even if the herd gets back on its feet, the loss in that lactation does not come back. Campaign periods are announced nationwide; the exact dates for your area are announced by the provincial or district directorate. What is expected of you is that your animals are in the barn and able to be gathered when the period opens.

A practical note: the vaccination status of an animal is generally asked about in movement and sale procedures. If you have a sale, a change of pasture, a fair or a breeding purchase in mind, missing the vaccination period can lock up your trade outright. When you buy, confirm the vaccination status of the animal you are buying from its paperwork.

Brucellosis vaccination

Brucellosis vaccination is applied to female cattle, at a young age and within the programme. Because which animal, at what age, and whether a repeat is needed are set by the official programme and the veterinarian's decision, no age, method of administration or repeat interval is given here. Since brucellosis also matters for public health (it is a zoonosis), it is followed within the programme.

The scope of the practice varies with the region and the situation of the holding: on disease-free holdings and in some regions, female calves of a certain age are vaccinated, while in places where the disease is widespread, wider mass vaccination may be carried out. The provincial or district directorate will tell you which scope your own holding falls into.

Brucellosis is taken seriously for two reasons. The first is that it causes abortion in the herd, retained membranes and loss of pregnancies; it hits next year's calf numbers directly. The second is that it passes to people: unboiled raw milk, fresh cheese and, above all, touching the membranes of an animal that has aborted with bare hands are the best-known routes of infection. If you have seen an abortion in the barn, do not clean up without gloves, do not leave the aborted calf and membranes lying about, and report the situation to your veterinarian. Keeping your pregnancy monitoring in order also makes it easier to catch this picture early; the pregnancy signs and tracking article helps on this.

A warning: because brucellosis vaccination can affect test results and the age at which it is given is critical, which animal gets it and when is strictly the veterinarian's decision. Do not act on the reasoning that "it was done to the neighbour's heifer, so let mine have it too".

Lumpy skin disease (LSD) vaccination

LSD vaccination is applied to cattle above the age set within the programme; the age limit and the scope are set by the official instruction. Since LSD is contagious and causes economic loss, vaccinating within the programme matters.

LSD is mostly carried by blood-sucking insects such as flies, mosquitoes and ticks; the pressure therefore rises in the hot months and in wet areas. Widespread nodules on the skin, fever, a drop in milk and loss of condition are typical. Skin lesions take a long time to heal and reduce breeding value and hide quality. Alongside vaccination, fly control in the barn, not letting manure pile up and drying out standing water make a serious difference. And do not forget that immunity takes some time to establish after vaccination; an animal is not protected from the day the vaccine is given.

Other vaccinations

Depending on the region and the risk situation, anthrax, rabies and calf vaccination programmes (for example against respiratory or scours agents) may also be applied. Your veterinarian decides which vaccination is needed on your holding.

The logic of this group is not "the same list for everyone" but "what is happening on your farm". If there has been a case of anthrax on your pasture in the past, if there is rabies pressure in the area, or if your calves go down with pneumonia in the same period every year, the programme is built accordingly. On the calf side, the strongest protection, which comes before any vaccine, is colostrum; no programme works fully in a calf that did not drink enough clean colostrum in the first hours after birth. We covered this in detail in the calf care: the first 30 days article. In females you are raising for breeding, a complete vaccination history also affects their later value; the heifer rearing article looks at that side.

An example general calendar (for guidance)

• FMD: In campaign periods, cattle above the age set by the official instruction
• Brucellosis: In female calves, at the young age set by the programme
• LSD: In cattle above the age covered by the programme
• Depending on region and risk: Anthrax, rabies, calf programmes

This list contains no ages or dates, because the official programme is announced each year and varies by region. For exact age limits and dates, contact your provincial or district directorate of agriculture and your veterinarian.

If you would rather read the same information by group of animal, the table below makes it easier:

Vaccination day: how it is done on the farm

Do not leave vaccination day as "they come, they do it, they go". On a prepared farm, vaccination is over faster and the records stay complete.

1. A week before: Update your list of animals in the barn. Make sure newborns, animals sold and animals that have died are correct on the list. Report in advance any animal that has lost its tag.
2. A few days before: Write pregnant, freshly calved, sick or weak animals on a separate sheet. You will point these out one by one when the vet arrives.
3. On the morning of vaccination: Tie the animals or bring them to the restraint area. Provide enough light and a clean floor. Do not chase the animals until they sweat; with a stressed animal the procedure is harder and injuries happen.
4. During the procedure: Read out the ear tag number aloud and confirm it. Tick each animal off your list as it is marked. This simple habit largely removes the question "was that one done?"
5. When it is finished: Which vaccine, what date, who administered it, which animals were skipped and why — write these down. Photograph the paperwork and keep it.
6. For the next few days: Watch feed intake, milk volume and general liveliness a little more closely than usual. Mild dullness and a temporary drop in milk can be seen after vaccination; if it goes on, consult the vet.

Following the change in milk after vaccination from records is far more reliable than following it by eye. If you take daily measurements, seeing that week's course on the milk tracking screen removes "it seemed that way to me".

Common mistakes and how to spot them

• Skipping newborns. Calves that were not in the barn on campaign day, or were skipped because they were not old enough, get forgotten. The sign: being told "this one has no vaccination" months later during a movement. The remedy: write every skipped animal on a separate "missing" list.
• Not adding a newly bought animal to the calendar. An animal that comes in from outside and is not on your list gets vaccinated in no period at all. The sign: no record at all appearing in the animal's history. The remedy: let the animal go into the records on the day it enters the barn.
• Forgetting the repeat dose. You remember the first one; if nobody reminds you of the repeat, it slips. The sign: a single date in the record. The remedy: when you write down the first one, note the repeat date the vet gives you at the same moment.
• Losing the paperwork. Paper put in a pocket gets lost, a photo on a phone gets deleted. The sign: not being able to find the document when it is asked for in a support or movement application. The remedy: file the record under the animal, not on a piece of paper.
• Taking the vaccine for a shield. A vaccine lowers risk, it does not remove it. With poor housing, overcrowding, heavy fly pressure and an inadequate ration, a vaccine on its own is not enough. Ration calculation and the layout of the housing complete the vaccine's effect.
• Putting a sick animal on the list. Not telling the vet about an animal with a fever, with scours or in very poor condition leads to a wrong decision. The sign: that animal getting markedly worse after vaccination. The remedy: always state the animal's condition beforehand.
• Trusting memory alone. Even with a small number of animals, human memory gets muddled after a while. The sign: two people giving different dates.

Which signs call for a veterinarian

In the situations below do not wait, call your veterinarian the same day. Some carry the suspicion of a notifiable disease, and delay harms your herd and your neighbours alike.

• Increased drooling, sores on the tongue or gums, lameness and going off feed — if it is seen in more than one animal, do not wait at all.
• Widespread, hard, round nodules on the skin; discharge from the eyes and nose with fever and a drop in milk.
• Abortion in a pregnant animal, retained membranes, a dead or very weak calf born — especially if there is more than one in the same herd.
• Sudden death, with blood coming from the natural openings of the dead animal. In this case do not touch the carcass, do not cut it, do not open it; report it immediately.
• A severe reaction within hours of vaccination: violent trembling, laboured breathing, inability to stand.
• Fever, going off feed, or a drop in milk that does not recover, lasting more than a few days after vaccination.
• A growing, hot and painful swelling at the injection site.

Have this information to hand when you call: the animal's ear tag number, its age, whether it is pregnant, which vaccine was last given and when, how many animals have similar signs, and when it started. This lets the vet give you the right guidance over the phone.

Why record keeping works

Records do nothing magical; they only make forgetting harder. But given what forgetting costs, that is no small thing. The concrete benefits of a regular vaccination record are these:

• Less friction in movement and sale. Being able to say straight away which animal was vaccinated when saves time when you are dealing with a buyer and with official procedures.
• Repeat doses do not get missed. Once you write the date down and tie it to a reminder, the chance of forgetting drops sharply.
• Your conversation with the vet becomes clearer. Giving an exact date instead of "I think it was done around spring last year" speeds up both diagnosis and decision.
• The pattern in the herd becomes visible. If trouble appears in the same age group in the same period every year, only records will let you notice it.
• Handing the work over becomes easier. Whoever looks after the barn while you are away can see what has been done from the system rather than from a piece of paper.

Records can be kept in a paper notebook too; what matters is that they sit under each animal and do not get lost. If you are thinking of moving from the notebook to digital, the digitalisation on the farm article explains where to start. To keep vaccination and treatment records animal by animal, you can look at the vaccination and treatment tracking page.

A short checklist

• Are the tags and records of every animal in the barn up to date?
• Have you found out the period dates and age limits announced by the provincial or district directorate?
• Is the list of pregnant, sick and freshly calved animals ready?
• Are the restraint area and the lighting suitable for vaccination day?
• Has each animal treated been ticked off?
• Have the skipped animals and the reasons been written down?
• Have the date, the name of the vaccine and the person who administered it gone into the records?
• Has any repeat date been tied to a reminder?
• Has the paperwork been photographed and stored?
• Were milk and feed intake watched in the days after vaccination?
• Have newly bought animals been added to the calendar?

One last reminder: age ranges and exact dates have deliberately not been given in this article. The official programme is announced each year and varies with the region and with the situation of your holding. For the exact programme, contact your provincial or district directorate of agriculture and forestry and your veterinarian.

Vaccination records in one place

In Alprivo Herd Management you can keep every animal's vaccination and treatment record animal by animal, and set reminders for repeat dates.