We talk so much about stress in animals. So, what is stress and how does it play a role in weanling pneumonia? Stress in broad terms can be exposure to something that is not normal for the animal in its daily routine. Usually a challenge in management, weather or feeding that upsets normal daily affairs.
This stress, if prolonged, releases cortisol, which can have a very negative impact on animal health. Cortisol is the fight or flight hormone that in the wild will help remove an animal from danger. It is a biological response for short-term survival.
However, when stress is prolonged it can have a very negative effect on the animal’s performance. So by minimising stress we can really support good health and good immunity.
From earlier articles in this series, you will remember we are always battling between immunity (good) v infection (bad). In theory, everything could be a stressor on cattle but in weanlings there are a few key areas we would like to focus on.
The feeding of meal pre-weaning is fantastic on so many levels but it also allows human interaction
The weaning process itself is the number one stressor contributing to pneumonia – transportation of animals, nutrition, adequate water, other tasks like castration etc.
Remember cattle are herd animals and are sensitive to change and noise, so quiet handling is essential.
The feeding of meal pre-weaning is fantastic on so many levels but it also allows human interaction. We can never underestimate the impact stress has on welfare and profitability on farm.
The weather is often blamed for a farm’s pneumonia problem. So, how does the weather affect your weanlings’ risk of pneumonia? It’s changing weather that can be the risk. Remember changing conditions can cause stress. Viruses and bacteria will particularly multiply more rapidly in the cold. This is why draughts or cold winds blowing on cattle is bad.
However, the big risk is still days (calm and humid conditions, particularly indoors) with poor airflow in poorly ventilated sheds. This will potentially lead to build up of viruses and bacteria in the house due to increased risk of humidity.
It would be nice to blame the weather but to be honest a healthy immune system and a well-ventilated shed is pretty robust when it comes to weather changes.
We can’t control the weather but we can look at risks like poor ventilation and sheltering animals at times of severe adverse weather conditions.
This does mean we need to be extra vigilant when weather changes are due to occur.
Weaning is often a time of animal transport, within farm and between farms. After weaning, most weanlings will be heading for sale. Just remember weanlings should not ideally go for sale until two weeks after weaning. From a field of grass to a trailer can be a big shock. So quiet handling and a well-bedded box can help. Always stock the trailer one less than the required amount. Drive easy and allow good airflow to the animals.
This may seem like its simple advice and being over the top.
However, there can be no doubt that quiet animal handling will have a huge impact on reducing the risk of pneumonia.
One huge issue for the last month or so on many Irish farms has been lungworm. This is a long white worm that makes its home in the airways of cattle by the name of dictycaulus viviparous. Beef calves that suckle for most of the summer are at minimal risk while consuming their mothers’ milk. This is because the parasites make their home in grass and grazing greatly increases the risk. With the drought, you definitely saw calves picking more at grass earlier than normal. This of course increases the risk of these lungworm larvae (early stages) being ingested, going to the lungs from the gut and growing into egg-producing adults, building pasture pressure all the time.
The symptoms of lungworm can occur quite quickly. Most often this is coughing, particularly when moving. The animal drawing air into the lungs when being moved with lungworm will lead to more coughing from irritation.
Is it a problem?
Lungworm on its own can cause death through severe oxygen deficits and almost blocking the airways. Most commonly, though, it gets a partner in a virus or bacteria to cause more devastating effects. These lungworms often open the door to the viruses and bacteria.
How does this happen?
A lot of the bacteria that cause pneumonia are in the tonsils of cattle and a lot of the viruses can be circulating in the herd. So when lungworm causes irritation to the airways these viruses can invade the lungs causing more severe damage.
It is so important especially at weaning time (a time of stress) that we minimise lungworm infections.
It is a tricky parasite as a diagnosis can often require a lung wash by your vet as it doesn’t always show up in faeces. This is a parasite we need to risk monitor carefully.
So be extremely vigilant now for the symptoms of coughing and act fast. There are no resistance issues with lungworm. However, be careful if cattle have heavy burdens as the dosing strategy becomes important. Ivermectin can be very effective so if animals are badly infected with lungworm, dosing can kill huge numbers of worms that have to be coughed up and sometimes cause an aspiration pneumonia.
My top tip is to react fast and definitely get some advice regarding symptoms and the best dose for your animals.
Video 16: good weaning protocols
Few bits of advice will have the impact that this will have on weanling health. Talking to Adam when making this series, he had some great tips around stress-free weaning (or as close as we can get to it). My mind drifted back to the cow welfare scheme that ended in 2012. When this was in place those buying weanlings often remarked about the good health of purchased weanlings.
Some of the tips here:
Meal feeding coming up to weaning four weeks before and two weeks after. This helps the rumen develop, meaning when they transition off milk they continue to thrive and grow.Meal feeding allows for more human interaction and is also a great time to observe animals for pneumonia.Weaning in batches, either removing groups of calves or cows gradually over two-to-three weeks. Watch the video as Adam explains how this protocol has worked so well in the Tullamore farm.Weaning paddles can also prove useful by allowing calves to stay with cows while not allowing them to suckle. A recent trial showed this approach can reduce stress and help with weaning.Avoiding other big stressors at weaning time like castration or dehorning is really essential. Also, not bringing animals to sale for two weeks after weaning is key.If you are housing and weaning at the same time please take time to assess our shed assessment worksheet.It is worth also weaning around a time of consistent weather. Remember, weather changes are triggers for stress in weanlings. For example, if you plan to wean but see a change in weather that day are you better to hold off? Read more
Watch: vaccination and ventilation are key factors in tackling pneumonia
Tackling pneumonia: treatments and best practice when purchasing weanlings
Watch: what pneumonia is, what it costs you, how you spot it and what causes it
We talk so much about stress in animals. So, what is stress and how does it play a role in weanling pneumonia? Stress in broad terms can be exposure to something that is not normal for the animal in its daily routine. Usually a challenge in management, weather or feeding that upsets normal daily affairs.
This stress, if prolonged, releases cortisol, which can have a very negative impact on animal health. Cortisol is the fight or flight hormone that in the wild will help remove an animal from danger. It is a biological response for short-term survival.
However, when stress is prolonged it can have a very negative effect on the animal’s performance. So by minimising stress we can really support good health and good immunity.
From earlier articles in this series, you will remember we are always battling between immunity (good) v infection (bad). In theory, everything could be a stressor on cattle but in weanlings there are a few key areas we would like to focus on.
The feeding of meal pre-weaning is fantastic on so many levels but it also allows human interaction
The weaning process itself is the number one stressor contributing to pneumonia – transportation of animals, nutrition, adequate water, other tasks like castration etc.
Remember cattle are herd animals and are sensitive to change and noise, so quiet handling is essential.
The feeding of meal pre-weaning is fantastic on so many levels but it also allows human interaction. We can never underestimate the impact stress has on welfare and profitability on farm.
The weather is often blamed for a farm’s pneumonia problem. So, how does the weather affect your weanlings’ risk of pneumonia? It’s changing weather that can be the risk. Remember changing conditions can cause stress. Viruses and bacteria will particularly multiply more rapidly in the cold. This is why draughts or cold winds blowing on cattle is bad.
However, the big risk is still days (calm and humid conditions, particularly indoors) with poor airflow in poorly ventilated sheds. This will potentially lead to build up of viruses and bacteria in the house due to increased risk of humidity.
It would be nice to blame the weather but to be honest a healthy immune system and a well-ventilated shed is pretty robust when it comes to weather changes.
We can’t control the weather but we can look at risks like poor ventilation and sheltering animals at times of severe adverse weather conditions.
This does mean we need to be extra vigilant when weather changes are due to occur.
Weaning is often a time of animal transport, within farm and between farms. After weaning, most weanlings will be heading for sale. Just remember weanlings should not ideally go for sale until two weeks after weaning. From a field of grass to a trailer can be a big shock. So quiet handling and a well-bedded box can help. Always stock the trailer one less than the required amount. Drive easy and allow good airflow to the animals.
This may seem like its simple advice and being over the top.
However, there can be no doubt that quiet animal handling will have a huge impact on reducing the risk of pneumonia.
One huge issue for the last month or so on many Irish farms has been lungworm. This is a long white worm that makes its home in the airways of cattle by the name of dictycaulus viviparous. Beef calves that suckle for most of the summer are at minimal risk while consuming their mothers’ milk. This is because the parasites make their home in grass and grazing greatly increases the risk. With the drought, you definitely saw calves picking more at grass earlier than normal. This of course increases the risk of these lungworm larvae (early stages) being ingested, going to the lungs from the gut and growing into egg-producing adults, building pasture pressure all the time.
The symptoms of lungworm can occur quite quickly. Most often this is coughing, particularly when moving. The animal drawing air into the lungs when being moved with lungworm will lead to more coughing from irritation.
Is it a problem?
Lungworm on its own can cause death through severe oxygen deficits and almost blocking the airways. Most commonly, though, it gets a partner in a virus or bacteria to cause more devastating effects. These lungworms often open the door to the viruses and bacteria.
How does this happen?
A lot of the bacteria that cause pneumonia are in the tonsils of cattle and a lot of the viruses can be circulating in the herd. So when lungworm causes irritation to the airways these viruses can invade the lungs causing more severe damage.
It is so important especially at weaning time (a time of stress) that we minimise lungworm infections.
It is a tricky parasite as a diagnosis can often require a lung wash by your vet as it doesn’t always show up in faeces. This is a parasite we need to risk monitor carefully.
So be extremely vigilant now for the symptoms of coughing and act fast. There are no resistance issues with lungworm. However, be careful if cattle have heavy burdens as the dosing strategy becomes important. Ivermectin can be very effective so if animals are badly infected with lungworm, dosing can kill huge numbers of worms that have to be coughed up and sometimes cause an aspiration pneumonia.
My top tip is to react fast and definitely get some advice regarding symptoms and the best dose for your animals.
Video 16: good weaning protocols
Few bits of advice will have the impact that this will have on weanling health. Talking to Adam when making this series, he had some great tips around stress-free weaning (or as close as we can get to it). My mind drifted back to the cow welfare scheme that ended in 2012. When this was in place those buying weanlings often remarked about the good health of purchased weanlings.
Some of the tips here:
Meal feeding coming up to weaning four weeks before and two weeks after. This helps the rumen develop, meaning when they transition off milk they continue to thrive and grow.Meal feeding allows for more human interaction and is also a great time to observe animals for pneumonia.Weaning in batches, either removing groups of calves or cows gradually over two-to-three weeks. Watch the video as Adam explains how this protocol has worked so well in the Tullamore farm.Weaning paddles can also prove useful by allowing calves to stay with cows while not allowing them to suckle. A recent trial showed this approach can reduce stress and help with weaning.Avoiding other big stressors at weaning time like castration or dehorning is really essential. Also, not bringing animals to sale for two weeks after weaning is key.If you are housing and weaning at the same time please take time to assess our shed assessment worksheet.It is worth also weaning around a time of consistent weather. Remember, weather changes are triggers for stress in weanlings. For example, if you plan to wean but see a change in weather that day are you better to hold off? Read more
Watch: vaccination and ventilation are key factors in tackling pneumonia
Tackling pneumonia: treatments and best practice when purchasing weanlings
Watch: what pneumonia is, what it costs you, how you spot it and what causes it
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