Blue Ridge Cattle Co.

This message showed up in our inbox this week and honestly, it made our day.

One of the most rewarding parts of raising and selling freezer beef is hearing from customers after they’ve had a chance to sit down and enjoy it with their family.

We spend a lot of time thinking about cattle, feed, health, finishing, processing dates and all the details that go into producing quality beef. Messages like this are a reminder of why we do it.

Thank you to everyone who supports our small family farm. We never take it for granted. 🥩

Did you know?: Cattle learn routines quicker than people think. Consistent feeding, calm handling and low-stress interactions make a huge difference over time — even with our feeder calves. Keeps cattle calm, keeps us safe and supports a higher quality of meat, too! 🥩
BlueRidgeCattleCompany.com

One of the questions we get asked A LOT is whether or not we vaccinate our cattle — and whether cattle receive mRNA vaccines — so we wanted to talk a little about what we actually use and why.

The short answer is yes, we do vaccinate our cattle. Preventative herd health is a major part of raising cattle responsibly and humanely. Vaccines help reduce illness, stress, suffering, and in many cases death loss within a herd.

Some of the vaccines commonly used in cattle help protect against diseases such as:

1️⃣ Clostridial diseases (“7-way” or “blackleg vaccines”)
These diseases are caused by naturally occurring bacteria found in soil and the environment. Many are extremely aggressive and often fatal with very little warning.

Examples include:
• Blackleg — sudden death and severe muscle damage
• Malignant edema — severe swelling and tissue infection
• Black disease — severe liver damage
• Enterotoxemia (“overeating disease”) — rapid toxin buildup that can quickly kill growing calves

2️⃣ Respiratory diseases (IBR, BVD, PI3, BRSV, Mannheimia)
Respiratory illness is one of the most common health issues in cattle and can cause pneumonia, fever, poor growth, chronic lung damage, and death in severe cases.

Good herd health is about more than one shot or one product. It’s nutrition, minerals, clean water, pasture management, low-stress handling, observation, and preventative veterinary care all working together.

And because we get asked this often too: there are currently no commercially available mRNA vaccines approved for use in beef cattle in the United States.

At the end of the day, our goal is healthy cattle raised responsibly and humanely because sick animals suffer — and no producer wants that.