Feedlot Vaccination: Does It Really Matter?

Abstract

The practice of vaccination has been used for more than 200 years and is an important component of livestock preventive medicine programs. The goal of vaccination is to stimulate an immune response in an individual that will protect that individual from disease or reduce the clinical signs in that individual. Vaccination applied to a population has a similar goal, as well as decreasing or preventing spread within a population. Commercial vaccines are evaluated for efficacy and safety, and the proper application of these products to varied cattle populations requires knowledge of risk factors and production system factors.

Keywords: Cattle; Immune response; Populations; Prevention; Protection; Protocols; Revaccination; Vaccination.