Brucellosis vaccination waiver extends age to 14 months for heifers

Bismarck, ND – At a special meeting of the State Board of Animal Health (BOAH), the board issued a waiver of rule allowing the age of brucellosis vaccination to be extended from 12 months to 14 months for heifers.

“With a shortage of brucellosis vaccine and tags available, the board is temporarily extending the age requirement for heifer brucellosis vaccination to 14 months,” State Veterinarian Dr. Ethan Andress said. “USDA was consulted and did not have any concerns with the extension.”

“After taking all information into consideration, the board determined that these changes presented negligible risk to animal health in North Dakota,” Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring said.

The waiver will be revisited at the next regularly scheduled BOAH meeting on March 12, 2025.

Andress told TSLN last month that some veterinarians are waiting on brucellosis vaccine from the manufacturer because one batch was not immediately approved, although it was approved later. He said that as a result, some veterinarians have been unable to vaccinate heifers in a timely fashion. In addition, the U.S. Department of Agriculture rule, implemented Nov. 5, 2024, requires electronic identification tags be applied at the time of brucellosis vaccination, and those tags have also been in short supply, with some veterinarians being forced to postpone vaccinations because tags were unavailable.

–North Dakota Department of Agriculture and staff reporting