Some guys have told me they vaccinate fawns when they are pulled from the mother and tagged in the first days of life. Others say they wait until they are weaned. What are the pros and cons? The last two years I've waited until the fawn is weaned, but as we all know, an animal won't get the full benefit of a vaccine until it has had a booster.
I had the chance to talk to a seasoned veteranarian last fall about this. The problem with waiting until weaning is that there is no coverage for the fawn for those three months of nursing, except from passive immunity through the mother's milk. The other problem is that weaned fawns will need to be darted or put through the chute again for their first booster.
This was what was news to me...if you decide to give the initial vaccination when the fawn is just a few days old, the passive immunity from the colostrum might very well override the effectiveness of the vaccine, making their booster shot at weaning time basically their first effective shot. The vet did say that it was not necessary to give the first booster shot in the normal 2-4 weeks, but there would be diminished coverage at some point prior to the booster shot. Therefore, if the vaccine is for pneumonia, for example, there probably isn't much danger during the summer months for that diminished coverage; however, if EHD is the concern, diminished coverage moving into the last few weeks prior to weaning could be very important.
My big question is whether everyone thinks that a fawn gets a proper auto-immune response to the initial vaccination if he is just days old, or does the passive immunity from his mother actually cause the shot to be ineffective? Has anyone ever pulled blood to measure the titer levels on fawns when still nursing?
One thing I learned last summer was that the thought of colostrum being the only passive immunity is totally wrong. We were all taught that the molecules found in colostrum were only made within the first couple of days of lactation, and that the fawn's gut could only digest it in the first couple of days, due to the size of the molecules. Last year I learned first hand that there is some immunity passed througout the various stages of lactation-not just in the first few days. I had two fawns from different does that automatically weaned themselves by escaping the pens they were in and finding their way into other pens with other deer. They were close enough to my scheduled weaning date that I figured that it wasn't worth moving them back and causing stress on them and the others they were with. They were on feed, after all, and were pretty big. A few weeks later I ran them through the chute, vaccinated them, and sent them back out with other weaned fawns. Neither of them were alive just a few weeks after that, while all the other fawns, who had been through the same vaccination protocol (but weaned on time) remained in good health. I believe fawns receive immunity from their mother's milk until they are weaned for this reason.
I had the chance to talk to a seasoned veteranarian last fall about this. The problem with waiting until weaning is that there is no coverage for the fawn for those three months of nursing, except from passive immunity through the mother's milk. The other problem is that weaned fawns will need to be darted or put through the chute again for their first booster.
This was what was news to me...if you decide to give the initial vaccination when the fawn is just a few days old, the passive immunity from the colostrum might very well override the effectiveness of the vaccine, making their booster shot at weaning time basically their first effective shot. The vet did say that it was not necessary to give the first booster shot in the normal 2-4 weeks, but there would be diminished coverage at some point prior to the booster shot. Therefore, if the vaccine is for pneumonia, for example, there probably isn't much danger during the summer months for that diminished coverage; however, if EHD is the concern, diminished coverage moving into the last few weeks prior to weaning could be very important.
My big question is whether everyone thinks that a fawn gets a proper auto-immune response to the initial vaccination if he is just days old, or does the passive immunity from his mother actually cause the shot to be ineffective? Has anyone ever pulled blood to measure the titer levels on fawns when still nursing?
One thing I learned last summer was that the thought of colostrum being the only passive immunity is totally wrong. We were all taught that the molecules found in colostrum were only made within the first couple of days of lactation, and that the fawn's gut could only digest it in the first couple of days, due to the size of the molecules. Last year I learned first hand that there is some immunity passed througout the various stages of lactation-not just in the first few days. I had two fawns from different does that automatically weaned themselves by escaping the pens they were in and finding their way into other pens with other deer. They were close enough to my scheduled weaning date that I figured that it wasn't worth moving them back and causing stress on them and the others they were with. They were on feed, after all, and were pretty big. A few weeks later I ran them through the chute, vaccinated them, and sent them back out with other weaned fawns. Neither of them were alive just a few weeks after that, while all the other fawns, who had been through the same vaccination protocol (but weaned on time) remained in good health. I believe fawns receive immunity from their mother's milk until they are weaned for this reason.
