What is that coughing calf telling you?

摘要

Pneumonia represents an economically damaging problem for anyone raising calves; losses are seen both at the time of an outbreak with the direct costs of dead animals, labour involved with the treatment, veterinary involvement and medicines. The long-term impact can be as equally damaging. The fibrosis and loss of functional lung capacity in animals that recover from pneumonia has a negative impact on daily live-weight gains. For the beef producer, this means a longer finishing time, while for thoserearing dairy replacements, this means an increase in the age at first calving and the subsequent negative effects this has on production and reproductive performance. Estimation of the costs of outbreaks of bovine respiratory disease (BRD) varies between ￡43 and ￡84 per affected calf, with costs rising to ￡104 per affected animal when retreatments are required. Each individual farm is unique in its infectious-disease risks, farm-management practices and environment; consequently, there is no 'one-size-fits-all' plan that can be implemented on every farm you visit.