In July and August, 2018, we commenced a vaccination program for the prevention of Caseous Lymphadinitis (CL) using Glanvac 6. Effective immediately, our vaccination program will not be continued. Every member of our herd had adverse reactions beyond the expected injection site abcesses, some very scary and some potentially detrimental to our program. These included extremely high fever, lethargy to the point animals needed to be shaken to wake them, reproductive issues including sudden and dramatic changes in heat cycle or loss of, swollen neck and throat, coming off feed, etc. etc.; these symptom started immediately after the initial dose, persisted for 2 weeks and then recurred again immediately after the booster.
Going forward, the animals who have had their initial round of vaccine and booster will not be revaccinated. The vaccine prevents us from blood testing them to determine exposure/infection as it makes their blood tests show positive, however we will monitor for abcesses and may do serum testing to determine antibody levels and track the results. After further research due to the reactions, the vaccine does not prevent disease, rather it is better considered a control method. Animals, despite vaccination, can still become INFECTED with the virus (but are asymptomatic), which was exactly what we were trying to prevent in the first place.
New animals, including kids and new acquisitions, will not be vaccinated. Unvaccinated animals will be tested on a yearly basis (starting late 2019/mid 2020) along with the CAE and Johne’s testing.
Any animal that presents an abscess will be quarantined until the abscess has gone away or ripened and ruptured. If a rupture occurs, animals will remain quarantined for 3 additional weeks and the exudate will be tested. Any suspected pregnant animal that comes up positive will be monitored daily for abscess presentation and quarantined until they can be sold.
We understand not everyone will be comfortable with this plan and we are happy to discuss our reasoning and our research. While we never want to have an outbreak on our farm, CL is one disease, though ugly, we are not overly afraid of and can be culled for. We have invested a lot of time and money into our foundation herd and they mean the world to us as individual animals, and as a potential future for our farm.
Steadfast Farm 
Leave a Reply