Do you vaccinate your livestock correctly? Do you read the label every time? Is your fridge at the correct temperature to store the vaccine? Today we're discussing gold star vaccination protocol with Kim Kelly, a Veterinary Technical Advisor from MSD Animal Health.

Mark and Kim discuss the common pitfalls people often stumble into when administering vaccines. These range from improper storage to incorrect administration and dosage. Kim lends us her expertise in avoiding these errors and how to make the most out of vaccines, so you're getting every cent's worth.

This episode will help you navigate the complexities, including mastering vaccination techniques, avoiding lumps and getting the maximum coverage.

Kim has a few key tips. First up is location, "The location of the injection is really important. Pretty much all the vaccines say to use in the interior half of the neck, which is right up close, behind the back of the ear. Not the shoulder. There is no reason to inject them as far back as the shoulder."

Next up is the route of administration. "Vaccines will say to inject under the skin. That means you really need to tent the skin and inject it into that tent. I have seen plenty of people say they don't need to do that, that they could use one hand and flick it out with a short needle. They might be able to, but I almost guarantee some of it isn't going where it needs to."

Mark and Kim also discuss the economics of vaccinology. How can you effectively protect large numbers of animals with production costs rising? Kim provides insights into how to prioritise vaccine usage. "We sometimes see people who just do one shot across all their sheep, and they are doing a half job on everyone. It would be better to do a full job on a proportion of your animals rather than a half job on everyone."

Kim also gives more examples of how flexible your vaccination protocol can be if you know your farm and stock well. "For a long time, farmers thought they needed to use "this" vaccine across all their sheep and now we can be a little bit more targeted. So [for] diseases like, for example, clostridial, it's more young animals that are more likely to be naive and haven't come across it naturally. So if we can give them their vaccinations, we can prioritise them."

Mark and Kim also cover minerals in your vaccines and how they can present a toxicity risk when combined with your other veterinary applications. You can find their handy tool for avoiding this here: https://www.sheepvax.co.nz/selenium-dose-calculator/.

Head Shepherd is brought to you by neXtgen Agri International Limited. We help livestock farmers get the most out of the genetics they farm with. Get in touch with us if you would like to hear more about how we can help you do what you do best: [email protected].

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