Although vaccination is indispensable for animal production, the use of unhygienic needles can lead to post-vaccine abscesses and consequently loss of meat products and higher production costs. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of needle hygiene in the prevention of post-vaccine abscesses in cattle, estimate economic losses caused by post-vaccine abscesses, and verify whether cattle farmers sanitize the needles used in vaccination. Four groups containing 120 cattle were vaccinated against the foot-and-mouth disease. The GI, GII, and GIII groups were vaccinated using needles sanitized by different methods, while the GIV group served as control. Six months after vaccination, ultrasound exams were performed and abscesses were quantified. Subsequently, cattle were slaughtered, carcass losses due to the presence of abscesses were quantified, and economic losses were calculated. In slaughterhouses, 100 cattle farmers were interviewed on the adoption of needle hygiene for vaccines and the number of cattle they slaughtered. The numbers of abscesses diagnosed per group were as follows: GI (n = 3, 2.5%), GII (n = 5, 4.2%), GIII (n = 4, 3.3%), and GIV (n = 11, 9.2%). The occurrence of abscesses in GI, GII, and GIII did not differ statistically from each other but was statistically lower than that observed in GIV. The economic losses due to the presence of abscesses in the carcasses varied from R$ 0.12 to R$ 0.31 per animal of the herd whose needles were sanitized or not, respectively. Only 13% of the interviewed cattle farmers carried out some method of needle hygiene for vaccination. 78.8% of the slaughtered cattle were vaccinated with needles without any sanitization method. Thus, needle hygiene for cattle vaccination decreases the occurrence of post-vaccine abscesses. This practice minimizes losses by R$ 0.19 per animal due the damages caused by the removal of abscesses during the slaughter of animals. Most cattle farmers do not adopt needle hygiene for cattle vaccination.
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