Bonus Magazine Spring Summer 2023

Top reasons to choose TrichGuard for your herd Mitigate the economic impacts of a trichomoniasis outbreak. TrichGuard vaccination significantly reduce the losses associated with a Tritrichomonas foetus ( T. foetus ) outbreak by limiting the duration of infection in cows, which in turn increases pregnancy and calving rates. 1,4,6 Vaccination also helps control the spread of infection in a herd. 8 Trichomoniasis is widespread in South Africa. Twenty South African veterinary practices on average are reporting the disease to the RuVASA disease reporting system every month. 2 The Free State, Mpumalanga, North West, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape regularly report the disease, with infrequent reports coming from the Northern- and Western Cape. 2 You can’t control everything. Ensure herd protection against T. foetus by vaccinating your cows, as neighbouring bulls may disregard fences and introduce T. foetus into your naïve herd. 1,6 Vaccination is a worthy investment. Vaccination with TrichGuard provides significant reproductive protection. 1 In one trial 62 % of vaccinated cows produced calves while only 31 % of non-vaccinated cows bore calves. 4 In another study vaccination resulted in a 50 % pregnancy rate in vaccinated heifers, while only 20 % of heifers were pregnant in the non-vaccinated group. 1 Building resilient herds • A calf production decrease from 14 % to 50 % 5,6 • A 5 % to 12 % reduction in weight gain during the suckling period 5,6 • A 4 % to 10 % reduction in weaning weights 5,6 • A reduction of 4 % to 10 % in monetary return per calf born 5,6 • A 5 % to 35 % reduction in the return per cow confined with a fertile bull 5,6 • A 12 % to 30 day longer breeding season 6 • In 2008 to 2011, the financial loss this disease incurred on a South African 84 cow herd was estimated to be R150,000.00 over a two year period. 3 The potential economic implications of trichomoniasis One bad bull could aect everything