10 steps to healthier cattle at housing

Winter is a period when any underlying health problems in your herd will come to the fore. When cattle are brought together in close proximity, like they are at housing, the risk of a disease outbreak occurring is greatly increased. The change in environment, the change in diet, the mixing of different cattle groups and bringing animals into a tighter stocking density in sheds can all contribute towards a herd health break down. Following this step by step guide will help you to reduce the disease risks associated with housing cattle for the winter.

Plan ahead

Farmers who plan ahead are rarely caught by surprise, whether this relates to breeding, feeding or animal health. Respiratory diseases such as pneumonia are consistently a problem at housing on numerous farms. Prevention is better than cure, so this year plan ahead to prevent the same problems from occurring again. Some considerations for cattle health pre-housing are:

Shed alterations and repairs

Is ventilation in sheds adequate or do you need to make changes? It is easy to put housing alterations to one side after cattle are turned out to grass as other management tasks take priority.

But housing time is quickly approaching, so make your changes to sheds now.

Carrying out a smoke test will give you an idea of how good the ventilation is in a shed.

Use a smoke bomb or light a small quantity of straw and monitor smoke movement.

If the smoke has not cleared within five minutes after extinguishing the fire, you will need to take action to improve the airflow in the shed.

Stale air and poor airflow will greatly increase the risk of pneumonia at housing.

Clean housing

Make sure you have cattle housing properly cleaned out and washed with a power hose. Even better, wash sheds out with a steam cleaner. Once dry, you can disinfect walls and floors thoroughly.

Disinfectant is most effective when sheds are properly washed as soiled, organic matter will reduce the strength of the chemicals in the solution. Make sure you have removed cobwebs from space boarding, roof tin and timbers. Dusting the shed with hydrated lime before housing cattle is also a good idea. For autumn-calving herds, it is essential you keep on top of hygiene by cleaning out calf creeps and calving pens regularly.

Wean in advance

If possible, weaning spring-born calves outdoors before they are housed may be a better option to reduce the risk of pneumonia. Gradually remove cows from the cow and calf group so that you leave the calf in a field with familiar surroundings in terms of water and the creep feeder. Once cows are removed, they can be housed to dry off. Depending when this is carried out, cows can remain housed for the winter.

Worm in advance

Following a proper worming routine will ensure calves have healthy lungs ahead of the winter housing period. If calves have a worm burden, the stress of housing will trigger pneumonia problems. If lungs are damaged from worms, the calf will be under severe breathing pressure, which adds to the severity of a pneumonia problem. Pneumonia is the biggest cause of death in young weanlings.

If you are vaccinating calves for respiratory problems, make sure you give the second booster shot at least two weeks ahead of the planned housing date.

Clip cattle

Clipping the backs of cattle can help to prevent animals from over-heating when penned in sheds for winter, especially if housing ventilation is poor. It can also help to reduce problems with lice. Simply clip a strip about 4in to 6in wide on each side of the animal’s spine.

Buy store cattle ahead of housing

If you normally buy in cattle for fattening or to store over winter, if possible, buying these animals two to three weeks ahead of housing can be a big benefit. This gives you an opportunity to vaccinate and return these animals to grass, as well as letting them acclimatise to their new environment. Where possible, keep these animals separate from any homebred animals during this period. The risk of disease spread from bought-in cattle will be greatest during the first two weeks after arriving on to their new holding.

Quarantine bought-in cattle

If buying in cattle ahead of housing is not an option, it is advisable to quarantine bought-in animals coming straight from the mart before they join the herd in the shed. Allow bought-in cattle to settle for a few days in an airy shed with straw bedding to help recovery from the stress of the mart. You can give these animals a respiratory vaccine for respiratory diseases like IBR during this time. Offer cattle some meal along with high-dry matter silage or some hay during this period. When cattle are settled and have shown no signs of respiratory problems, they can be moved to different housing to join the main herd.

House on a dry day and in stages

This is easier said than done as we do not control the weather. But as mentioned in point one, plan ahead for housing and target a date to start bringing animals indoors.

Many farmers get caught by trying to keep every animal at grass for as long as possible every autumn. Then, when the weather breaks, they are in a panic to bring cattle indoors. Often, this means housing all cattle on the same day and animals are often wet coming into sheds. This is a recipe for disaster in terms of animal health.

This year, pick a date to start housing select cattle groups, regardless of the weather in late autumn (eg, target cattle for finishing and dry cows to house first). Finishing cattle are better off housed early rather than holding outdoors until November, as the feed value in grass is low at this point.

Once these animals are housed and settled, you can focus on managing younger calves outside. When young cattle come inside, you will be better prepared. There will also be less of a risk from infectious diseases such as IBR transmitted from older cattle, as they are already settled in the shed and less likely to be shedding the virus.

Fluke and wormer

Once cattle are all housed, they will no longer be picking up any new infestation of worms or liver fluke. Therefore, you can treat cattle for liver fluke and worms again after housing.

How quickly you can dose and how effective the treatment is will depend on the product you use. The longer you leave the period from housing until dosing, the more mature these parasites are, so make sure you choose the right product to use.

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Focus: Winter animal health