This month we’ve see n several cases of pneumonia in Animals ranging from neonatal calves right through to Finishing animals.
Whilst the costs involved in treating these animals are obvious, what isn’t always as easy to appreciate is the other costs involved:
- Reduction in daily live weight gain.
- Increase in labour.
- Reduced feed conversion efficiency.
In many outbreaks these mean that the true costs are actually 2/3 times higher than the obvious costs. With this in mind, prevention is critical and having an appropriate vaccination strategy in place can form the backbone of this. Before embarking on a vaccination programme there are several points to consider:
What age of animals are you aiming to protect?
Different vaccines are appropriate for different ages of calves, with intra-nasal vaccines being the best option for very young calves less than three months old.
What are the high risk times for your animals?
For dairy calves this is often the first 6-8 weeks of life, whilst for suckled calves it is housing and weaning. Ensuring that animals have completed their vaccination course before the high risk
period is key to success.
You can find more about Lameness in Sheep and Calf Scour, along with this article, in our October 2019 newsletter.