Comparison of postvaccinal milk drop in dairy cattle vaccinated with one of two different commercial vaccines.

Abstract

Several veterinarians and dairy producers elect to vaccinate dairy herds with killed combination products in the fall or spring. Postvaccinal milk drop has been reported following the use of some killed vaccines, making it important to identify vaccines that can cause milk drop and evaluate the magnitude of postvaccinal milk drop. This study compared the pre- and postvaccinal milk production levels of dairy cows vaccinated with two commercial vaccines or injected with a saline placebo. Dairy cows receiving vaccine C (Cattlemaster Gold FP5; Pfizer Animal Health, Montreal, Canada) experienced a statistically significant difference in mean postvaccinal milk drop (-1.83 kg/cow/day) compared with cows receiving vaccine T (Triangle 4+Type 2 BVD, Wyeth Animal Health, Guelph, Ontario, Canada; -0.63 kg/cow/day) or saline (-0.02 kg/cow/day).