Always on the Move

For Texas stocker operator, continued growth is the key to success

Bill VanCleave of VanCleave Cattle Company in Satin, Texas, says life outside the cattle industry is hard to imagine.

“Cattle are just in me — I can’t do anything else,” VanCleave says. “I always knew that this was all that I wanted to do, and I love it.’”

VanCleave, who has been in the cattle business for more than 50 years and managed stocker cattle for almost 30 of those years, says he wouldn’t change his chosen profession, but it can be a tough business. For him, the most difficult aspect of his stocker operation is getting — and keeping — the cattle healthy.

“In the past, it seemed like even though we were vaccinating our cattle, at about the 21-day mark, they would begin to break with disease,” VanCleave says. “And, in this business, the cattle come from three to five different states, have spent a lot of time on a truck or in the sale barn, and are exposed to all kinds of diseases. We actually feel like the cattle are infected by the time they get here.”

VanCleave says getting cattle settled and vaccinated as soon as possible is extremely important, which is why he started using an intranasal vaccine, INFORCE™ 3 respiratory vaccine. He says he tries to stay one step ahead of the game, which has paid off. In fact, since VanCleave began using INFORCE 3, he says his death loss has gone from as high as 10 percent to losing less than 1 percent in 2010.

“When cattle get here and we’re waiting on another kind of vaccine to take effect, sometimes it just seems like it’s a day or two late,” VanCleave says. “That’s why INFORCE 3 has become one of our major tools. We think we hit a home run when we started using it.”

Michael Nichols, DVM, Veterinary Operations, Pfizer Animal Health, believes VanCleave has had so much success with INFORCE 3 because it helps stimulate a quick immune response, allowing producers to help kick-start the animal’s immune system.

“Intranasal vaccines, like INFORCE 3, help create an immune response where viruses attack first, stimulating mucosal immunity and triggering a quick immune response,” Dr. Nichols says. “In fact, when studying early intranasal vaccines, researchers were able to show that an intranasal vaccine helped demonstrate protection against infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR) virus within 48 hours.”1

In addition to helping stimulate a quick immune response, INFORCE 3 has been granted the highest label level of respiratory disease prevention awarded to date — prevention of disease — against bovine respiratory syncytial virus (BRSV). It also can help prevent disease caused by IBR and parainfluenza 3 (PI3) viruses — all of which can play a role in the development of bovine respiratory disease (BRD).

“Intranasal vaccines can be a terrific tool for producers because of the quick immune response,” Dr. Nichols says. “However, an injectable vaccine, like Bovi-Shield GOLD 5, can still play an important role in any respiratory vaccination program because it helps provide the longest demonstrated duration of immunity. For example, Bovi-Shield GOLD 5 can help protect cattle against respiratory disease caused by bovine viral diarrhea (BVD) virus Types 1 and 2 and IBR virus for at least 279 days.”*

Bovi-Shield GOLD® 5 also is the first and only vaccine labeled to prevent respiratory disease caused by IBR virus, and is labeled to aid in the prevention of respiratory disease caused by BVD virus Types 1 and 2, PI3 virus and BRSV.

After seeing the results of using this intranasal vaccine, VanCleave says he wouldn’t consider changing his respiratory vaccination program.

“The results were just so amazing that we wouldn’t consider processing cattle without INFORCE 3,” VanCleave says. “But, it hasn’t taken the place of anything — I wouldn’t use it without including Bovi-Shield GOLD 5 in our respiratory vaccine program.”

VanCleave says managing a profitable stocker operation can be difficult, but the secret to success is to always strive for more and remain flexible.

“If you’re not a little bit flexible, you’re not going to stay in the business very long — you’ve got to try to outguess the game,” VanCleave says. “You can’t ever be comfortable. You’re either moving forward or you’re moving backward, but we have to grow all the time.”

* Prevents IBR respiratory disease and IBR and BVD Types 1 and 2 respiratory DOI claims apply only to SC route of administration. Intramuscular respiratory IBR claim is “aids in prevention.”