If you’ve ever lived near a creek or river in the summer time, like the majority of ranches tend to do, then you might have met your fair share of mosquitos bugging you. What most people never seem to understand is that mosquitos love more than just human blood; they actually enjoy horses and cattle and really any animal on a ranch. The problem is, you can’t keep your farm animals inside away from the mosquitos. Nor can you always protect them with nets or even those flashy lights that make the mosquitos run into it.
It might not seem like much but it is not actually the mosquito bites that matter. They can be bitten up all over. They may not like it, and you may want to do something about that with whatever you can. But the importance isn’t the bite, it is all about the right vaccines for your animals. Particularly when dealing with mosquitos, getting the West Nile Virus vaccine is crucial if your horses and other livestock are around running or still water.
The vaccine doesn’t cost too much any you only have to worry about them being vaccinated during the months of July through October. After which, most mosquitos are gone at that point, since the water is too cold for them to hatch. And if you don’t think your horses are at risk that much; if you have any mosquitos around you then there is always a chance. There were over 700 cases of horses contracting West Nile Virus just last year in the United States, and that means a fair number of horses are being hit by it.
If that doesn’t convince you then the American Association for Equine Practitioners might, considering they say it is one of the many vaccines that should be mandatory for horse owners. The other vaccines include: rabies, tetanus, eastern equine encephalitis, and western equine encephalitis. They are all significant and regular dangers to your horses and they should be managed. If you don’t want to take care of them, then why bother having them? They look to you for that comfort, friendship and care because they can’t. So help your horses out.
Source: http://www.thehorse.com/articles/34411/west-nile-virus-can-threaten-horse-health-this-fall