A clinical trial in summer of 2008 evaluated effects of feeding 0 (CONTROL) or 40% wet distillers grains plus solubles (WDGS) with and without vaccination against E. coli O157:H7 on the probability of shedding E. coli O157:H7 in the feces. No interaction (P = 0.97) was observed between vaccination and diet for E. coli O157:H7 shedding. Steers fed WDGS were 2.1 times more likely (P \u3c 0.01) to shed E. coli O157:H7 than cattle fed CONTROL. Vaccination resulted in cattle that were 43% less likely (P \u3c 0.01) to test positive for E. coli O157:H7 than the unvaccinated cattle

Erickson, Galen E.

Jepson, Ashlynn N

Klopfenstein, Terry J.

Luebbe, Matt K.

Moxley, Rodney A.

Rich, Amy R

Smith, David R

English

DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska

University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Nebraska Beef Cattle Reports Animal Science Department 2010 Vaccination to Reduce the Prevalence of Escherichia Coli O157:H7 in Feedlot Cattle Fed Wet Distillers Grains Plus Solubles Amy R. Rich University of Nebraska - Lincoln, arr@huskers.unl.edu Ashlynn N. Jepson University of Nebraska - Lincoln Matt K. Luebbe University of Nebraska - Lincoln, mluebbe2@unl.edu Galen E. Erickson University of Nebraska-Lincoln, gerickson4@unl.edu Terry J. Klopfenstein University of Nebraska-Lincoln, tklopfenstein1@unl.edu See next page for additional authors Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/animalscinbcr  Part of the Animal Sciences Commons Rich, Amy R.; Jepson, Ashlynn N.; Luebbe, Matt K.; Erickson, Galen E.; Klopfenstein, Terry J.; Smith, David R.; and Moxley, Rodney A., "Vaccination to Reduce the Prevalence of Escherichia Coli O157:H7 in Feedlot Cattle Fed Wet Distillers Grains Plus Solubles" (2010). Nebraska Beef Cattle Reports. 580. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/animalscinbcr/580 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Animal Science Department at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Nebraska Beef Cattle Reports by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Authors Amy R. Rich, Ashlynn N. Jepson, Matt K. Luebbe, Galen E. Erickson, Terry J. Klopfenstein, David R. Smith, and Rodney A. Moxley This article is available at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/animalscinbcr/580 Page 94 — 2010 Nebraska Beef Report  © The Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska.  All rights reserved.Vaccination to Reduce the Prevalence of Escherichia Coli O157:H7 in Feedlot Cattle Fed Wet Distillers Grains Plus SolublesAmy R. RichAshlynn N. JepsonMatt K. LuebbeGalen E. EricksonTerry J.  KlopfensteinDavid R. SmithRodney A. Moxley1SummaryA clinical trial in summer of 2008 evaluated effects of feeding 0 (CONTROL ) or 40% wet distillers grains plus solubles (WDGS) with and without vaccination against E. coli O157:H7 on the probability of shed-ding E. coli O157:H7 in the feces. No interaction (P = 0.97) was observed between vaccination and diet for E. coli O157:H7 shedding.  Steers fed WDGS were 2.1 times more likely (P < 0.01) to shed E. coli  O157:H7 than cattle fed CONTROL.  Vaccination resulted in cattle that were 43% less likely  (P < 0.01) to test positive for E. coli O157:H7 than the unvaccinated cattle.IntroductionResults of vaccinating feedlot cattle against type III secreted proteins of Escherichia coli O157:H7 as have been reported in several beef reports (2008 Nebraska Beef Report, pp. 92-94; 2006 Nebraska Beef Report, pp. 68-69; 2006 Nebraska Beef Report, pp. 70-71; 2005 Nebraska Beef Report, pp. 61-63). Peterson et al. (2007, Journal of Food Protection 70:287-291) tested the effects of vaccinating cattle against E. coli on the probability of detecting E. coli O157:H7 in feces and colonization at the terminal rectum in cattle on diets including 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50% inclusion of distillers grains.  Cattle fed 0% distillers had numerically greater colonization than steers fed 10, 20, or 30% distillers, but the difference was not statistically significant. Like-wise, numerically fewer steers fed 0% distillers were colonized with E. coli O157:H7 compared to steers fed 40% or 50% distillers, but again, the differ-ence was not statistically significant. In that study, the significant diet effect was for steers fed 40 or 50% distillers compared to steers fed 10, 20, or 30% distillers. Our objective was to test the effect of feeding 0 and 40% distillers grains, with or without vaccinating against type III secreted proteins of E. coli O157:H7, on shedding of E. coli O157:H7 in feces of feedlot cattle.ProcedureThe clinical trial was conducted from May to October of 2008 at the beef research feedlot at the University of Nebraska Agricultural Research and Development Center using 480 steers in 60 pens.  Pens were assigned randomly to one of four treatments (15 pens per treatment) in a 2x2 facto-rial treatment design. The two factors were diet and vaccination treatment. The dietary treatments were either 0% distillers finishing diets (CONTROL) or diets containing 40% wet distill-ers grains plus solubles (WDGS). The vaccination treatment was a 3-dose vaccination regimen or no vaccina-tion. The treatments were assigned to pens of cattle within two sampling blocks and assigned randomly to either the north or south feeding facilities. The vaccine, marketed in Canada as Econiche by Bioniche Life Sciences, was administered as a 2-ml subcutaneous injection.  In the pres-ent study, a 3-dose vaccine regimen was given on feeding days 1, 25, and 53 to the cattle receiving that treat-ment.  Steers that were not vaccinated were handled similar to the vacci-nated steers, but received no vaccine injection. Five days prior to the initia-tion of the trial, steers were limit fed at 2% of BW to minimize variation in rumen fill. Steers were fed a 1:1 ratio (DM basis) of alfalfa hay and wet corn gluten feed during limit feeding.  Steers were weighed individually on days 0 and 1 to determine initial BW. Steers (783 +/- 40 lb) were stratified by BW and assigned randomly to pens (8 steers/pen) based on day 0 BW.All diets contained 15% corn silage , 5% supplement, and corn fed as high moisture corn (HMC) and dry rolled corn at a 3:2 ratio (DM basis) . The WDGS treatment contained wet distillers grains with solubles at 40% inclusion, which replaced the corn mixture. Steers were adapted to finishing diets in 21 days by replac-ing alfalfa hay with the 3:2 mixture of HMC and DRC. On day 25 of the experiment , calves were implanted with Revalor-S.  Steers were slaugh-tered on day 159.Fecal samples were obtained from the rectum on days 75, 96, 117, and 138. The samples were labeled with a bar code, which blinded the laborato-ry personnel to animal identification and treatment, and sent within a few hours of collection to Food Safety Net Services in San Antonio, Tex., for cul-ture.  Standard broth enrichment and plate culture methods (2008 Nebraska Beef Report, pp. 92-94) with modifica-tions were used to yield a positive or negative result for the presence of E. coli O157:H7 in the feces.  Identity of each isolate was confirmed by stan-dard methods, including PCR. The effect of vaccine treatment on the probability of detecting E. coli O157:H7 from feces was modeled using multi-level logistic regression (GENMOD, SAS Institute, Cary, N.C.).  Factors included in the model were the main effects of dietary treat-ment and vaccination, the inter-action between diet and vaccination, sampling block, location within the feedlot, and test period (date of sam-pling). Least squared means of the © The Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska.  All rights reserved. 2010 Nebraska Beef Report  — Page 95 0.30.250.20.150.10.050Probability Control WDGSDietFigure 1. Probability of steers shedding E. coli O157:H7 in the feces as influenced by feeding 40% wet distillers grains (WDGS) or none (CONTROL) to finishing cattle. Figure 2. Probability of steers shedding E. coli O157:H7 in feces as influenced by vaccination treatment .0.30.250.20.150.10.050Probability No YesVaccinationwas observed (P > 0.40) or effect of test period (P = 0.17). Sampling block and location within the feedlot were variables impacting E. coli O157:H7 shedding (P < 0.01) and were account-ed for in the model.  E. coli O157:H7 was detected in 369 of the 1899 fecal samples or 19%. For steers fed WDGS and vaccinated, E. coli O157:H7 was detected in 94 of 477 samples, or 19.7%, and 43 of 478 samples for vac-cinated steers fed CONTROL, or 9.0%. Among unvaccinated steers, E. coli O157:H7 was detected in 154 of 470 samples (32.8%) for steers fed WDGS, versus 78 of 474 samples (16.5%) for CONTROL steers. Feeding WDGS increased  (P > 0.01) the probability for shedding E. coli O157:H7 by 2.1 times in this study when distillers was fed at 40% of diet DM (Figure 1). Vaccinating steers was effective (P < 0.01) at reduc-ing E. coli O157:H7 shedding by 43%, a slightly lower effect than seen in previous vaccine trials (Figure 2). Pre-vious data collected by Peterson et al. (2007) suggested that feeding higher levels (40 and 50% DM) of wet distill-ers grains increases the prevalence of E. coli O157:H7; however, the lower levels that are more commonly fed resulted in significantly lower colo-nization than high levels. Peterson et al. (2007) also reported that there was not a significant difference between any level of WDGS inclusion and their control or 0% distillers grains. Results from the current study suggest that feeding 40% WDGS increases the shedding of E. coli O157:H7, simi-lar to the numerical differences in colonization observed by Peterson et al. (2007). The impact of feeding distillers grains on shedding of E. coli O157:H7 is likely dependent on dietary inclusion; however, vaccina-tion mitigates the risk. 1Amy R. Rich, graduate student, Matt K. Luebbe, technician, Galen E. Erickson, associate professor, Terry J. Klopfenstein, professor, Animal Science, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Neb.; Ashlynn N. Jepson, undergraduate student, David R. Smith, professor, Rodney A. Moxley, professor, Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences, UNL.parameter estimates from the multi-variable analysis were used to calcu-late adjusted probabilities for fecal shedding by treatment level.  Relative risk (RR) values for each vaccine treatment were calculated from the adjusted probabilities.  ResultsThere was no interaction (P = 0.97) between diet and vaccination; there-fore, the main effects of diet and vac-cination are presented. Likewise, no test period by treatment interaction 

Vaccination to Reduce the Prevalence of Escherichia Coli O157:H7 in Feedlot Cattle Fed Wet Distillers Grains Plus Solubles

UNL | Libraries

University of Nebraska - Lincoln 
DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln 
Nebraska Beef Cattle Reports Animal Science Department 
2010 
Vaccination to Reduce the Prevalence of Escherichia Coli 
O157:H7 in Feedlot Cattle Fed Wet Distillers Grains Plus Solubles 
Amy R. Rich 
University of Nebraska - Lincoln, arr@huskers.unl.edu 
Ashlynn N. Jepson 
University of Nebraska - Lincoln 
Matt K. Luebbe 
University of Nebraska - Lincoln, mluebbe2@unl.edu 
Galen E. Erickson 
University of Nebraska-Lincoln, gerickson4@unl.edu 
Terry J. Klopfenstein 
University of Nebraska-Lincoln, tklopfenstein1@unl.edu 
See next page for additional authors 
Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/animalscinbcr 
 Part of the Animal Sciences Commons 
Rich, Amy R.; Jepson, Ashlynn N.; Luebbe, Matt K.; Erickson, Galen E.; Klopfenstein, Terry J.; Smith, David 
R.; and Moxley, Rodney A., "Vaccination to Reduce the Prevalence of Escherichia Coli O157:H7 in Feedlot 
Cattle Fed Wet Distillers Grains Plus Solubles" (2010). Nebraska Beef Cattle Reports. 580. 
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/animalscinbcr/580 
This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Animal Science Department at 
DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Nebraska Beef Cattle 
Reports by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. 
Authors 
Amy R. Rich, Ashlynn N. Jepson, Matt K. Luebbe, Galen E. Erickson, Terry J. Klopfenstein, David R. Smith, 
and Rodney A. Moxley 
This article is available at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/
animalscinbcr/580 
Page 94 — 2010 Nebraska Beef Report  © The Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska.  All rights reserved.
Vaccination to Reduce the Prevalence of Escherichia Coli 
O157:H7 in Feedlot Cattle Fed Wet Distillers Grains 
Plus Solubles
Amy R. Rich
Ashlynn N. Jepson
Matt K. Luebbe
Galen E. Erickson
Terry J.  Klopfenstein
David R. Smith
Rodney A. Moxley1
Summary
A clinical trial in summer of 
2008 evaluated effects of feeding 0 
(CONTROL ) or 40% wet distillers 
grains plus solubles (WDGS) with and 
without vaccination against E. coli 
O157:H7 on the probability of shed-
ding E. coli O157:H7 in the feces. No 
interaction (P = 0.97) was observed 
between vaccination and diet for E. coli 
O157:H7 shedding.  Steers fed WDGS 
were 2.1 times more likely (P < 0.01) 
to shed E. coli  O157:H7 than cattle fed 
CONTROL.  Vaccination resulted in 
cattle that were 43% less likely  
(P < 0.01) to test positive for E. coli 
O157:H7 than the unvaccinated cattle.
Introduction
Results of vaccinating feedlot cattle 
against type III secreted proteins of 
Escherichia coli O157:H7 as have been 
reported in several beef reports (2008 
Nebraska Beef Report, pp. 92-94; 2006 
Nebraska Beef Report, pp. 68-69; 2006 
Nebraska Beef Report, pp. 70-71; 2005 
Nebraska Beef Report, pp. 61-63). 
Peterson et al. (2007, Journal of Food 
Protection 70:287-291) tested the effects 
of vaccinating cattle against E. coli 
on the probability of detecting E. coli 
O157:H7 in feces and colonization at 
the terminal rectum in cattle on diets 
including 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50% 
inclusion of distillers grains.  Cattle fed 
0% distillers had numerically greater 
colonization than steers fed 10, 20, 
or 30% distillers, but the difference 
was not statistically significant. Like-
wise, numerically fewer steers fed 0% 
distillers were colonized with E. coli 
O157:H7 compared to steers fed 40% 
or 50% distillers, but again, the differ-
ence was not statistically significant. 
In that study, the significant diet effect 
was for steers fed 40 or 50% distillers 
compared to steers fed 10, 20, or 30% 
distillers. Our objective was to test the 
effect of feeding 0 and 40% distillers 
grains, with or without vaccinating 
against type III secreted proteins of 
E. coli O157:H7, on shedding of E. coli 
O157:H7 in feces of feedlot cattle.
Procedure
The clinical trial was conducted 
from May to October of 2008 at the 
beef research feedlot at the University 
of Nebraska Agricultural Research 
and Development Center using 480 
steers in 60 pens.  Pens were assigned 
randomly to one of four treatments 
(15 pens per treatment) in a 2x2 facto-
rial treatment design. The two factors 
were diet and vaccination treatment. 
The dietary treatments were either 0% 
distillers finishing diets (CONTROL) 
or diets containing 40% wet distill-
ers grains plus solubles (WDGS). The 
vaccination treatment was a 3-dose 
vaccination regimen or no vaccina-
tion. The treatments were assigned 
to pens of cattle within two sampling 
blocks and assigned randomly to 
either the north or south feeding 
facilities. The vaccine, marketed in 
Canada as Econiche by Bioniche Life 
Sciences, was administered as a 2-ml 
subcutaneous injection.  In the pres-
ent study, a 3-dose vaccine regimen 
was given on feeding days 1, 25, and 
53 to the cattle receiving that treat-
ment.  Steers that were not vaccinated 
were handled similar to the vacci-
nated steers, but received no vaccine 
injection. Five days prior to the initia-
tion of the trial, steers were limit fed 
at 2% of BW to minimize variation 
in rumen fill. Steers were fed a 1:1 
ratio (DM basis) of alfalfa hay and wet 
corn gluten feed during limit feeding.  
Steers were weighed individually on 
days 0 and 1 to determine initial BW. 
Steers (783 +/- 40 lb) were stratified by 
BW and assigned randomly to pens (8 
steers/pen) based on day 0 BW.
All diets contained 15% corn 
silage , 5% supplement, and corn fed 
as high moisture corn (HMC) and dry 
rolled corn at a 3:2 ratio (DM basis) . 
The WDGS treatment contained 
wet distillers grains with solubles at 
40% inclusion, which replaced the 
corn mixture. Steers were adapted to 
finishing diets in 21 days by replac-
ing alfalfa hay with the 3:2 mixture 
of HMC and DRC. On day 25 of the 
experiment , calves were implanted 
with Revalor-S.  Steers were slaugh-
tered on day 159.
Fecal samples were obtained from 
the rectum on days 75, 96, 117, and 
138. The samples were labeled with a 
bar code, which blinded the laborato-
ry personnel to animal identification 
and treatment, and sent within a few 
hours of collection to Food Safety Net 
Services in San Antonio, Tex., for cul-
ture.  Standard broth enrichment and 
plate culture methods (2008 Nebraska 
Beef Report, pp. 92-94) with modifica-
tions were used to yield a positive or 
negative result for the presence of E. 
coli O157:H7 in the feces.  Identity of 
each isolate was confirmed by stan-
dard methods, including PCR. 
The effect of vaccine treatment 
on the probability of detecting E. coli 
O157:H7 from feces was modeled 
using multi-level logistic regression 
(GENMOD, SAS Institute, Cary, 
N.C.).  Factors included in the model 
were the main effects of dietary treat-
ment and vaccination, the inter-
action between diet and vaccination, 
sampling block, location within the 
feedlot, and test period (date of sam-
pling). Least squared means of the 
© The Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska.  All rights reserved. 2010 Nebraska Beef Report  — Page 95 
0.3
0.25
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
Pr
ob
ab
ili
ty
 Control WDGS
Diet
Figure 1. Probability of steers shedding E. coli O157:H7 in the feces as influenced by feeding 40% 
wet distillers grains (WDGS) or none (CONTROL) to finishing cattle. 
Figure 2. Probability of steers shedding E. coli O157:H7 in feces as influenced by vaccination 
treatment .
0.3
0.25
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
Pr
ob
ab
ili
ty
 No Yes
Vaccination
was observed (P > 0.40) or effect of 
test period (P = 0.17). Sampling block 
and location within the feedlot were 
variables impacting E. coli O157:H7 
shedding (P < 0.01) and were account-
ed for in the model.  E. coli O157:H7 
was detected in 369 of the 1899 fecal 
samples or 19%. For steers fed WDGS 
and vaccinated, E. coli O157:H7 was 
detected in 94 of 477 samples, or 
19.7%, and 43 of 478 samples for vac-
cinated steers fed CONTROL, or 9.0%. 
Among unvaccinated steers, E. coli 
O157:H7 was detected in 154 of 470 
samples (32.8%) for steers fed WDGS, 
versus 78 of 474 samples (16.5%) for 
CONTROL steers. 
Feeding WDGS increased  
(P > 0.01) the probability for shedding 
E. coli O157:H7 by 2.1 times in this 
study when distillers was fed at 40% 
of diet DM (Figure 1). Vaccinating 
steers was effective (P < 0.01) at reduc-
ing E. coli O157:H7 shedding by 43%, 
a slightly lower effect than seen in 
previous vaccine trials (Figure 2). Pre-
vious data collected by Peterson et al. 
(2007) suggested that feeding higher 
levels (40 and 50% DM) of wet distill-
ers grains increases the prevalence of 
E. coli O157:H7; however, the lower 
levels that are more commonly fed 
resulted in significantly lower colo-
nization than high levels. Peterson et 
al. (2007) also reported that there was 
not a significant difference between 
any level of WDGS inclusion and 
their control or 0% distillers grains. 
Results from the current study suggest 
that feeding 40% WDGS increases 
the shedding of E. coli O157:H7, simi-
lar to the numerical differences in 
colonization observed by Peterson 
et al. (2007). The impact of feeding 
distillers grains on shedding of E. 
coli O157:H7 is likely dependent on 
dietary inclusion; however, vaccina-
tion mitigates the risk. 
1Amy R. Rich, graduate student, Matt K. 
Luebbe, technician, Galen E. Erickson, associate 
professor, Terry J. Klopfenstein, professor, 
Animal Science, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, 
Neb.; Ashlynn N. Jepson, undergraduate student, 
David R. Smith, professor, Rodney A. Moxley, 
professor, Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences, 
UNL.
parameter estimates from the multi-
variable analysis were used to calcu-
late adjusted probabilities for fecal 
shedding by treatment level.  Relative 
risk (RR) values for each vaccine 
treatment were calculated from the 
adjusted probabilities.  
Results
There was no interaction (P = 0.97) 
between diet and vaccination; there-
fore, the main effects of diet and vac-
cination are presented. Likewise, no 
test period by treatment interaction 


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Vaccination to Reduce the Prevalence of Escherichia Coli O157:H7 in Feedlot Cattle Fed Wet Distillers Grains Plus Solubles

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