United States Department of Agriculture • Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service • Safeguarding American Agriculture 

Veterinary Services 

Centers for Epidemiology and Animal Health December 2009 

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

Vaccination of Calves for 

Respiratory Disease on U.S. 

Beef Cow-calf Operations 

Vaccinations are an integral tool for the prevention of 

disease and for maintaining herd health. Immunizations 

can improve health and productivity in the herd and 

reduce disease occurrence in animals as they move to 

subsequent stages of beef production. 

In many cases, beef calves leave the operation 

either at or shortly after weaning and are sent to stocker 

or backgrounding operations or directly to feedlots. 

Preconditioning programs have been designed to 

prepare calves to move from the cow-calf herd to the 

feedlot with as little adverse impact on health as 

possible. These programs may or may not include 

guidelines or requirements for respiratory vaccinations, 

weaning management, and nutritional management. The 

largest disease burden experienced by animals in 

feedlots is attributed to respiratory disease. 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National 

Animal Health Monitoring System (NAHMS) conducted 

the Beef 2007–08 study, which focused on beef cow-calf 

health and management practices in 24 States.* These 

States represented 79.6 percent of U.S. operations with 

beef cows and 87.8 percent of U.S. beef cows. 

One of the goals of the Beef 2007–08 study was to 

take an in-depth look at calf vaccination practices on the 

Nation’s beef cow-calf operations. 

General vaccination practices 

Overall, only 11.7 percent of operations vaccinated 

any calves from birth to 21 days of age for any diseases. 

In contrast, 62.3 percent of operations vaccinated any 

calves from 22 days of age to weaning for any diseases. 

Approximately one of three operations vaccinated any 

calves of this age group specifically for respiratory 

pathogens. 

 

* Regions: 

West: California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, 

Wyoming 

Central: Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South 

Dakota 

Southeast: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, 

Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia

Calf respiratory disease vaccination 

 

Overall, 60.6 percent of operations did not typically 

vaccinate calves against respiratory disease before sale 

(table 1). However, the percentage of operations that did 

not usually vaccinate calves against respiratory disease 

was strongly related to herd size. A higher percentage of 

operations with 1 to 49 beef cows than operations with 

50 or more beef cows did not vaccinate calves against 

respiratory disease from birth to sale. Similarly, a higher 

percentage of operations with 50 or more beef cows 

vaccinated calves 2 or more times from birth to sale 

compared with operations with 1 to 49 beef cows. About 

4 of 10 operations with 200 or more cows (41.8 percent) 

vaccinated calves against respiratory disease two times 

before sale. Overall, a relatively small percentage of 

operations (2.8 percent) vaccinated calves three or more 

times for respiratory disease before sale. 

Table 1. Percentage of Operations by Number of 

Times Calves were Typically Vaccinated Against 

Respiratory Disease from Birth to Sale, and by Herd 

Size 

Percent Operations 

Herd Size (Number of Beef Cows) 

 1-49 50-99 100-199 

200 or 

More All Ops.

Number 

of Times Pct. Pct. Pct. Pct. Pct. 

0 73.7 36.9 28.3 18.0 60.6 

1 13.6 21.7 26.3 24.2 16.6 

2 12.7 33.2 38.7 41.8 20.0 

3 or more 0.0 8.2 6.7 16.0 2.8 

Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Overall, 69.1 percent of calves were vaccinated 

against respiratory disease (table 2). The percentage of 

calves that did not receive vaccinations against 

respiratory disease varied by herd size and ranged from 

63.9 percent of calves on operations with 1 to 49 cows to 

11.9 percent on operations with 200 or more cows. Onehalf of calves on operations with 200 or more cows 

(50.0 percent) were vaccinated against respiratory 

disease 2 times compared with 16.8 percent of calves on 

operations with 1 to 49 cows. 

(revised January 2010) 
United States Department of Agriculture • Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service • Safeguarding American Agriculture 

Table 2. Percentage of Calves by Number of Times 

Calves were Typically Vaccinated Against 

Respiratory Disease from Birth to Sale, and by Herd 

Size 

Percent Calves 

Herd Size (Number of Beef Cows) 

 1-49 50-99 100-199 

200 or 

More All Ops.

Number 

of Times Pct. Pct. Pct. Pct. Pct. 

0 63.9 31.7 27.4 11.9 30.9 

1 19.3 21.8 29.8 20.8 22.5 

2 16.8 36.9 35.1 50.0 36.7 

3 or more 0.0 9.6 7.7 17.3 9.9 

Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

A higher percentage of operations in the Central 

region vaccinated calves against respiratory disease 

than operations in the Southeast region (66.9 and 26.7 

percent, respectively) [table 3]. 

Table 3. Percentage of Operations by Number of 

Times Calves were Typically Vaccinated Against 

Respiratory Disease from Birth to Sale, and by 

Region

Percent Operations 

Region

 West Central Southeast 

Number 

of Times Pct. Pct. Pct. 

0 42.5 33.1 73.3 

1 26.1 30.1 10.3 

2 28.9 30.7 14.8 

3 or More 2.5 6.1 1.6 

Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 

A lower percentage of calves in the Southeast 

region (48.3 percent) were vaccinated against 

respiratory disease compared with calves in the West 

and Central regions (86.8 and 84.6 percent, 

respectively). About one-half of calves in the West 

region (50.2 percent) were vaccinated 2 times against 

respiratory disease from birth to sale, while about 4 of 10 

calves in the Central region (43.0 percent) and onequarter of calves in the Southeast region (25.9 percent) 

were vaccinated 2 times (table 4). 

Table 4. Percentage of Calves by Number of Times 

Calves were Typically Vaccinated Against 

Respiratory Disease from Birth to Sale, and by 

Region 

Percent Calves 

Region

 West Central Southeast 

Number 

of Times Pct. Pct. Pct. 

0 13.2 15.4 51.7 

1 26.7 27.7 16.2 

2 50.2 43.0 25.9 

3 or More 9.9 13.9 6.2 

Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 

The timing of when to vaccinate calves against 

respiratory disease is important to the effectiveness of a 

preconditioning program. For the 39.4 percent of 

operations that vaccinated any calves for respiratory 

disease before sale (table 1), 49.8 percent vaccinated at 

least 31 days prior to weaning; 38.1 percent vaccinated 

at the time of weaning; and 28.9 percent vaccinated after 

weaning but before sale. The percentages of operations 

that vaccinated calves against respiratory disease were 

similar across herd sizes and all other time periods 

relative to weaning and sale (table 5). 

Table 5. For Operations that Vaccinated Calves 

Against Respiratory Disease before Sale, Percentage 

of Operations by when Calves were Vaccinated and 

by Herd Size 

Percent Operations 

Herd Size (Number of Beef Cows) 

 1-49 50-99 

100-

199 

200 or 

More All Ops.

Vaccinated ... Pct. Pct. Pct. Pct. Pct. 

After weaning 

but before sale 27.4 24.9 39.5 27.6 28.9 

At weaning 30.2 47.6 40.8 44.6 38.1 

Less than 14 

days prior to 

weaning 10.3 12.1 11.9 11.3 11.2 

30 to 14 days 

prior to 

weaning 12.9 24.9 36.1 39.0 22.8 

From birth 

through 31 

days prior to 

weaning 51.4 51.4 40.8 53.2 49.8 
United States Department of Agriculture • Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service • Safeguarding American Agriculture 

There were few differences in the timing of 

vaccination of calves for respiratory disease by region, 

with the exception that in the West region a higher 

percentage of operations vaccinated calves from 30 to 

14 days prior to weaning compared with the Southeast 

region (41.1 and 12.0 percent, respectively) [table 6]. 

Table 6. For Operations that Vaccinated Calves 

against Respiratory Disease before Sale, Percentage 

of Operations by when Calves were Vaccinated and 

by Region

Percent Operations 

Region

West Central Southeast

Vaccinated . . . Pct. Pct. Pct. 

After weaning but 

before sale 10.8 28.5 34.2 

At weaning 29.6 42.4 36.4 

Less than 14 

days prior to 

weaning 10.8 12.6 9.9 

30 to 14 days 

prior to weaning 41.1 28.7 12.0 

From birth 

through 31 days 

prior to weaning 55.6 43.9 53.7 

Summary 

Preconditioning beef calves can affect the 

subsequent occurrence of respiratory disease and, in 

turn, the productivity of calves. In some cases, 

preconditioning calves can result in price premiums to 

the producer. There are many reasons why some 

producers may not precondition their calves, including 

uncertainty about the return on investment for 

preconditioning or inadequate facilities or labor to handle 

and hold calves for processing. 

____________________________ 

For more information, contact: 

USDA:APHIS:VS:CEAH 

NRRC Building B, M.S. 2E7 

2150 Centre Avenue 

Fort Collins, CO 80526-8117 

970.494.7000 

E-mail: NAHMS@aphis.usda.gov 

http://nahms.aphis.usda.gov

#565.0909 

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