FAST FACTS ANSWERS TO YOUR QUESTIONS ABOUT
THE NEW FOOTHILL ABORTION VACCINE
by Jenna Chandler EBA Product Manager, Hygieia Biological Laboratories
No doubt the decades of waiting and the tortuous path to get there made many ranchers do a double take earlier this fall, when Hygieia Biological Laboratories announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture had granted the Woodland company a conditional license for its Epizootic Bovine Abortion (EBA) Agent product. Through the tenacity of University of California, Davis and University of Nevada, Reno researchers, and cattle producers across the West, the foothill abortion vaccine was finally a reality, and now the EBA vaccine for foothill abortion is commercially available. Its differences in handling, administration and application in herd health all make it a unique vaccine, with some degree of getting used to. Understandably, questions by the dozens are coming in about the new product. But of course, the number one question producers are asking is, “Is this right for my operation?�
COMMONLY ASKED QUESTIONS Who should use the Hygieia foothill vaccine? Producers who pasture heifers and cows in California, Nevada, Oregon or anywhere the pajaroello tick can be found should consider the EBA vaccine for their operation.
Who can be vaccinated? Any open heifer or cow who is six months of age or older and weaned may be vaccinated.
Can older or nursing cows be vaccinated? Yes. While many producers vaccinate their replacement heifers, older cows may be vaccinated, though accounting for the needed 60 day window between vaccination and breeding may be more difficult to accomplish when cows have young calves. There is no known risk to the suckling calf when the dam is vaccinated.
Can pregnant animals be vaccinated?
12 California Cattleman November 2020
NO. Only open (not pregnant) animals should be vaccinated. If a naive (i.e. not previously exposed to the P. abortibovis bacteria) cow or heifer is vaccinated, she will likely abort her calf in 3-5 months. Any naive cow or heifer that becomes pregnant in less than 60 days after vaccination may also lose her calf to the disease.
