As the weather gets cooler, a veterinarian says it’s time to prepare for identifying and treating respiratory problems in livestock.
Curt Vlietstra from Boehringer Ingelheim tells Brownfield the massive temperature swings with warm days and cool nights makes it difficult to prevent respiratory illnesses in cattle. “There’s quite often some heavy fogs and a lot of humidity in the air and that’s perfect conditions . The big swings will stress the animals and that moisture in the environment is great to harbor bacteria and help them be transmitted animal to animal.”
Vlietstra says calves that are slow to drink, not eating as much, or older animals that are not as aggressively eating could have respiratory problems and might need examination by a veterinarian. “It’s getting to be a little bit more common for producers to be working with their veterinarians to actually ultrasound the the calf’s lungs and find those subclinical animals before they get really sick.”
Vlietstra says some farms ramp up their vaccination programs at this time of year to help prevent respiratory illnesses.
Vlietstra spoke to Brownfield during World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wisconsin
