Pneumonia the most common cause of death in cattle

Pneumonia continues to be the most common cause of death in cattle, according to a recently released report from the Department of Agriculture and its Northern Ireland counterparts.

The All-Island Disease Surveillance Report 2024 found that bovine respiratory disease (BRD), commonly known as pneumonia, was found in between 30% and 40% of cattle aged one month to one year submitted to laboratories for postmortem examinations.

Author of the report’s BRD section Maresa Sheehan of Kilkenny regional veterinary laboratory outlined that a total of 14% of both newborn calves (aged up to one month) and adult cattle had respiratory diseases recorded as their diagnosis at postmortem.

Sheehan stated that BRD can have both high mortality, high disease rates and have serious consequences on herd health.

“It can also exert longer term effects and in unresolved or partially resolved cases of BRD, the lifetime production of animals can be negatively impacted.

“This also has potentially serious consequences or impacts on the usage of anti-microbials or anthelmintics on the affected animals and environmental consequences due to extended times to slaughter and reduced productivity,” she added.

Outbreak

Looking at the impact a pneumonia outbreak can have in a herd, Sheehan said colostral immunity, environment and management critically affect the outcome of pneumonia in a herd.

“Stress, shared air spaces, mixing age groups in the same air space and lack of hospital pens, serve to exacerbate pneumonia problems in herds.

“Veterinary involvement should be aimed at effective management in the face of an outbreak, coupled with investigations to enable long-term strategies to prevent future outbreaks.”

The report was compiled by the Department of Agriculture, Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute, Northern Ireland and Animal Health Ireland.