Young growing calves seem vulnerable to a lot of diseases but the big two are scour and pneumonia.

While some farms will treat the occasional case, some can have huge breakdowns. There are significant costs to pneumonia in terms of treatment and any calves that die.

However, we often forget the lost performance from lung damage. When a calf’s lung is damaged from infection such as bacteria, the tissue doesn’t recover.

The lungs take in oxygen, the fuel of life. When this is reduced, growth performance and future production will be compromised.

So pneumonia prevention is key on our farms this spring.

The symptoms

Pneumonia is the inflammation of the lungs and airways. This can lead to a high temperature (>39.5°C) in the early stages, so a thermometer is a great tool to have. Calves will often start breathing faster, with more than 55 breaths per minute. They may go off their feed, suckler calves can look empty and their mothers won’t look like they have been sucked.

You can get some coughing in calves also, with dropped ears.

If treatments aren’t working you need to consult your vet on antibiotic choice

The nostrils are the gateway to the lungs so any discharges can be a sign of problems in the airways.

Viruses tend to have clear runny discharges. When you see yellow tinges it is more likely to have a bacterial component.

The earlier we spot the symptoms, the more likely any drug will work better. If treatments aren’t working you need to consult your vet on antibiotic choice.

Anti-inflammatories play an important role when given early to take down inflammation and temperatures. We should never look at antibiotics as a way of continually controlling pneumonia issues.

The pathogens

In young calves, viruses and bacteria cause pneumonia. These agents can act together.

Some of these viruses can be circulating in our herds while a lot of bacteria that cause pneumonia can be found in the tonsils of healthy calves.

Young calves are prone to PI3 and RSV viruses which are commonly found in our herds.

Older calves can be prone to infections with IBR but, with more herds vaccinating, they should be less at risk.

We are increasingly seeing mycoplasma pneumonia affecting dairy and suckler calves. With no vaccines and treatment difficult, it is really important to manage the risks of pneumonia.

Getting a diagnosis

Finding what pathogens are causing pneumonia in your herd can be valuable. This is really important when building a vaccination plan. Nasal swabs are a good option for getting an idea of what agents are active in young calves.

Your vet can get a swab from the lymph tissue in the nose. Blood tests in young calves can show up antibodies from colostrum and are less useful.

Getting an idea of what bacteria may be causing the problem can help in deciding what treatments to use. For example, there are limited effective antibiotic options for mycoplasma.

Post-mortems on dead calves can also provide really valuable information. While no one wants to lose calves, samples can feed into a control programme and treatments.

The weather

The weather doesn’t directly cause pneumonia, but changes in it can significantly increase stress, which can reduce immunity and open the door to viruses and bacteria.

The recent mild weather has made a lot of calf sheds stuffy and has reduced fresh air flow through them.

This is a time to be particularly vigilant with calves indoors. On mild days, sheds should be opened up to allow fresh air flow.

However, if the temperature drops at night, we need to adapt.

When considering turnout for calves, watch the weather forecast and try to do it at a time of settled conditions.

Housing and fresh air

Few things will affect pneumonia more than poor air quality in calf sheds.

Calves under four weeks old don’t generate heat, meaning we must get fresh air into sheds by natural ventilation.

This can be difficult because we also don’t want draughts blowing in on calves, making them cold.

Fresh air contains ozone, which kills bacteria and viruses

Every shed is slightly different, and the challenges with dairy calves are different to those with beef calves.

If you are seeing pneumonia problems every spring, the first place to start is to look at housing and fresh air.

Fresh air contains ozone, which kills bacteria and viruses. Fresh air might be the cheapest and most effective disinfectant of them all.

Shed stocking density plays a big role in spreading disease and also air quality. Making sure calves have the optimum amount of space is key.

Stress

Remember most of the bacteria and viruses that cause pneumonia are circulating in our herds.

Stress lowers calf immunity and opens the door for the bugs to proliferate and cause pneumonia.

Minimising stress by consistent feeding, using painkillers at dehorning and managing stocking density is important.

In young calves with pneumonia I will always go back to look at colostrum management.

The massive reduction in BVD in our herds has helped with pneumonia. We need to push on with BVD eradication and have zero tolerance for any farmers keeping PIs on farm.

Vaccination

Every farm has different problems bugs and challenges. By diagnosing what is causing pneumonia we can develop a more strategic vaccination plan.

So if we know we have an RSV issue in young calves before four weeks then we look at intranasal vaccination.

If it is IBR in older calves, we look at a herd vaccination programme for the whole herd.

Dead vaccines that require two shots often take longer to raise protective immunity but can give longer protective cover

If it is bacterial pneumonia, we often use dead vaccines that are administered in two shots two weeks apart.

Live vaccines provide quicker cover but often for shorter periods of time.

Dead vaccines that require two shots often take longer to raise protective immunity but can give longer protective cover.

Vaccines will never replace good management but are an aid for farmers to reduce exposure to pneumonia and require planning to get the best value for money.

Do pneumonia vaccines pay? If used and timed correctly against the right bugs, they certainly do.