Everyone will ask the question what is the best drug or strongest drug for pneumonia. The drugs we use to treat pneumonia are prescription drugs and some very important antibiotics. Because we are so reliant on them and need to use them correctly, only your prescribing vet should recommend them.
On 28 September 1928, Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin. It changed the face of medicine but now the bacteria are fighting back and resistance to antibiotics is a real challenge.
We still need antibiotics to treat sick animals but we need to minimise the amounts we use. We do this by getting better at preventing the problem.
So the big thing when talking about treatments is the ability to spot symptoms early. Then decide what is the best treatment. The length of the treatment is really important also.
We must ensure we give the correct dose based on accurate weight of the animal.
We now are armed with the information to spot a sick animal and symptoms early. We know if we can get in early with the right product we can have a dramatic difference on treatment outcomes.
It is a good idea to have treatment plans for your farm, discussing with your vet the best options for certain diseases. This should be reviewed over time to make sure these treatment plans are working. If you are treating the same animals repeatedly, you need to look at why treatments aren’t working.
Remember pneumonia is inflammation as well as infection of the lungs. This is why anit-inflammatory medications work so well when we have animals with pneumonia.
There are some arguments for early identifications only requiring these medicines as antibiotics have little effects on viral pneumonias.
The problem is by the time we spot these cases on farm most have some bacterial involvement as well.
The forgotten nutrient is by no means something we can brush over. Fresh, clean water is vital for rumen health and immunity in the young weanling. Remember the rumen is a large fermentation bath that is the new engine of this young animal. Any bath doesn’t really work without water.
Adequate numbers of deep drinkers with clean water are a good investment. Good water flow is really important also. Just remember avoid leaks because this increases moisture and humidity in sheds which increases the risk of pneumonia.
So more water, just not on the floor of the shed!
By now people are very conscious of pneumonia being complex because of the many factors that feed into the risk of it occurring. However, most infectious diseases are the same because they usually overwhelm the animal’s immune system or they take advantage of a lowered immune system.
Nutrition will be a factor on some farms this year as, because of the potential fodder shortages, some people will be feeding more meal and straw to weanlings. Just be careful of acidosis, which is a condition that occurs when a lot of starches are fed and the rumen ph drops and animals can become quite sick. This can open the door for other issues such as pneumonia. The things to watch out for with acidosis are lack of cudding and loose faeces.
A very simple thing to get right is feed space for these young weanlings. The target is to have adequate feedspace for each animal to feed as a group. Remember, weanlings grow, so ensure they are not too heavily stocked. Also look after other factors, such as fluke dosing. Liver fluke affects the liver and can knock back performance and drop immunity. We are also hearing more reports of rumen fluke issues, although only where there are heavy burdens of the young immature rumen fluke do we see any problems. Trace elements also can play a role in immune function, with copper and selenium being two that are essential. Be careful with minerals as over supplementation can sometimes be a problem. Knowing the mineral deficiencies on farm is much better for targeted supplementations.
We also have to be aware of roundworm risk in weanlings. Thankfully, when looking at lungworm control, our farms will have covered roundworm risk.
What’s the plan in an outbreak
Over the last four weeks we have taken a comprehensive look at weanling pneumonia, with 19 videos and 19 articles. We have focused on what your options are when you have a pneumonia outbreak.
I suppose it’s a numbers game, if you had 1% to 2% pneumonia, should you be concerned? This is where it gets tricky because we need to make sure when we see one animal, that there are not others with symptoms.
Remember, at the very start we said the hidden cost is the damage that is being done to the lungs. There is huge value in investigating the cause of pneumonia also. So, if you have pneumonia every year in weanlings, find out what’s causing it?
1 Have you a problem and are treating more than 2% to 5% of weanlings or more each year?
2 Look at investigating what is causing the
problem.
3 Have good treatment plans drawn up in conjunction with your vet and review them over time.
4 Consider vaccinating animals if you know what virus or bacteria is causing your pneumonia.
5 Review your weaning protocols – can you reduce stress?
6 When animals are housed, look at auditing your sheds (with our house audit checklist). Are you maximising fresh air in your house? Remember we don’t often need new houses but some alterations to inlets and outlets can have a huge impact.
7 Reduce any parasite burdens before weaning, particularly lungworm.
8 If you are having problems, get advice about your weanling management and look back through our video series to see if there are areas that might be at risk in your farm.
This is the other end of the process for many farms buying recently weaned cattle. So what are some steps you can take to help ensure these weanlings are healthy?
1 Buying direct from a known source where you can find out all relevant management, dosing and vaccines given. This way you have less chance of animals mixing, shedding and spreading disease. Direct from farm of origin about three to four weeks after weaning is the premium option.
2 When going to the mart to purchase weanlings, it is important to watch out for any signs of pneumonia. A careful eye should be cast for any signs of nasal discharge or scour. Listen for excessive coughing when moving weanlings.
3 Avoid stressful handling and make sure transport distances are as short as possible. Newly arrived animals can be kept in for the first 48 hours in a well-bedded shed for close observation. If turning them out, only do so when the forecast for the coming days is settled and keep them close by as they will need monitoring.
4 Administration of vaccines should be left for 24 to 48 hours after animals have settled in. Where there is a big risk of disease, live vaccines should be considered due to their fast action. Have that conversation with your vet around vaccine options.
5 When worm and dosing history is unknown, it is often better to give a good fluke and worm quarantine dose.
6 Watch cattle very carefully for the first 10 to 14 days as most viruses/bacteria will show symptoms if animals have been heavily stressed around weaning.
7 Offer plenty of fresh clean water to new arrivals after transport and feeding meal to reduce the nutritional strain.
So after four weeks, it’s the end of our weanling pneumonia series. The videos will be available online. It has been great to work on both management and disease together in this series. The two are so strongly interlinked when we talk about tackling pneumonia on farm.
Everyone will ask the question what is the best drug or strongest drug for pneumonia. The drugs we use to treat pneumonia are prescription drugs and some very important antibiotics. Because we are so reliant on them and need to use them correctly, only your prescribing vet should recommend them.
On 28 September 1928, Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin. It changed the face of medicine but now the bacteria are fighting back and resistance to antibiotics is a real challenge.
We still need antibiotics to treat sick animals but we need to minimise the amounts we use. We do this by getting better at preventing the problem.
So the big thing when talking about treatments is the ability to spot symptoms early. Then decide what is the best treatment. The length of the treatment is really important also.
We must ensure we give the correct dose based on accurate weight of the animal.
We now are armed with the information to spot a sick animal and symptoms early. We know if we can get in early with the right product we can have a dramatic difference on treatment outcomes.
It is a good idea to have treatment plans for your farm, discussing with your vet the best options for certain diseases. This should be reviewed over time to make sure these treatment plans are working. If you are treating the same animals repeatedly, you need to look at why treatments aren’t working.
Remember pneumonia is inflammation as well as infection of the lungs. This is why anit-inflammatory medications work so well when we have animals with pneumonia.
There are some arguments for early identifications only requiring these medicines as antibiotics have little effects on viral pneumonias.
The problem is by the time we spot these cases on farm most have some bacterial involvement as well.
The forgotten nutrient is by no means something we can brush over. Fresh, clean water is vital for rumen health and immunity in the young weanling. Remember the rumen is a large fermentation bath that is the new engine of this young animal. Any bath doesn’t really work without water.
Adequate numbers of deep drinkers with clean water are a good investment. Good water flow is really important also. Just remember avoid leaks because this increases moisture and humidity in sheds which increases the risk of pneumonia.
So more water, just not on the floor of the shed!
By now people are very conscious of pneumonia being complex because of the many factors that feed into the risk of it occurring. However, most infectious diseases are the same because they usually overwhelm the animal’s immune system or they take advantage of a lowered immune system.
Nutrition will be a factor on some farms this year as, because of the potential fodder shortages, some people will be feeding more meal and straw to weanlings. Just be careful of acidosis, which is a condition that occurs when a lot of starches are fed and the rumen ph drops and animals can become quite sick. This can open the door for other issues such as pneumonia. The things to watch out for with acidosis are lack of cudding and loose faeces.
A very simple thing to get right is feed space for these young weanlings. The target is to have adequate feedspace for each animal to feed as a group. Remember, weanlings grow, so ensure they are not too heavily stocked. Also look after other factors, such as fluke dosing. Liver fluke affects the liver and can knock back performance and drop immunity. We are also hearing more reports of rumen fluke issues, although only where there are heavy burdens of the young immature rumen fluke do we see any problems. Trace elements also can play a role in immune function, with copper and selenium being two that are essential. Be careful with minerals as over supplementation can sometimes be a problem. Knowing the mineral deficiencies on farm is much better for targeted supplementations.
We also have to be aware of roundworm risk in weanlings. Thankfully, when looking at lungworm control, our farms will have covered roundworm risk.
What’s the plan in an outbreak
Over the last four weeks we have taken a comprehensive look at weanling pneumonia, with 19 videos and 19 articles. We have focused on what your options are when you have a pneumonia outbreak.
I suppose it’s a numbers game, if you had 1% to 2% pneumonia, should you be concerned? This is where it gets tricky because we need to make sure when we see one animal, that there are not others with symptoms.
Remember, at the very start we said the hidden cost is the damage that is being done to the lungs. There is huge value in investigating the cause of pneumonia also. So, if you have pneumonia every year in weanlings, find out what’s causing it?
1 Have you a problem and are treating more than 2% to 5% of weanlings or more each year?
2 Look at investigating what is causing the
problem.
3 Have good treatment plans drawn up in conjunction with your vet and review them over time.
4 Consider vaccinating animals if you know what virus or bacteria is causing your pneumonia.
5 Review your weaning protocols – can you reduce stress?
6 When animals are housed, look at auditing your sheds (with our house audit checklist). Are you maximising fresh air in your house? Remember we don’t often need new houses but some alterations to inlets and outlets can have a huge impact.
7 Reduce any parasite burdens before weaning, particularly lungworm.
8 If you are having problems, get advice about your weanling management and look back through our video series to see if there are areas that might be at risk in your farm.
This is the other end of the process for many farms buying recently weaned cattle. So what are some steps you can take to help ensure these weanlings are healthy?
1 Buying direct from a known source where you can find out all relevant management, dosing and vaccines given. This way you have less chance of animals mixing, shedding and spreading disease. Direct from farm of origin about three to four weeks after weaning is the premium option.
2 When going to the mart to purchase weanlings, it is important to watch out for any signs of pneumonia. A careful eye should be cast for any signs of nasal discharge or scour. Listen for excessive coughing when moving weanlings.
3 Avoid stressful handling and make sure transport distances are as short as possible. Newly arrived animals can be kept in for the first 48 hours in a well-bedded shed for close observation. If turning them out, only do so when the forecast for the coming days is settled and keep them close by as they will need monitoring.
4 Administration of vaccines should be left for 24 to 48 hours after animals have settled in. Where there is a big risk of disease, live vaccines should be considered due to their fast action. Have that conversation with your vet around vaccine options.
5 When worm and dosing history is unknown, it is often better to give a good fluke and worm quarantine dose.
6 Watch cattle very carefully for the first 10 to 14 days as most viruses/bacteria will show symptoms if animals have been heavily stressed around weaning.
7 Offer plenty of fresh clean water to new arrivals after transport and feeding meal to reduce the nutritional strain.
So after four weeks, it’s the end of our weanling pneumonia series. The videos will be available online. It has been great to work on both management and disease together in this series. The two are so strongly interlinked when we talk about tackling pneumonia on farm.
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