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Preventing Summer Pneumonia

Good nutrition, management and well-timed vaccinations mean fewer outbreaks.

Every summer the signs are there — calves with an increased respiratory rate, gaunt calves that have been off feed, lone calves that are unwilling or unable to keep up with the group, calves with an ear down. It’s summer pneumonia, and about 10% of calves are afflicted each year.1 The disease is quite costly due to treatment costs, lost weight gains and, in some cases, death loss.

However, there is good news — summer pneumonia can be prevented. Check out these tips from Travis Van Anne, professional services veterinarian for Boehringer Ingelheim, to protect your herd.

Body condition score. The best thing producers can do is have their cows in a good body condition score precalving. This helps create an environment where the calf has adequate colostrum, which will give it a good start in its environment and immune system.

Well-timed vaccinations. Timing is everything when it comes to maximizing the efficacy of vaccinations, but it’s not a one-size-fits-all application. Each ranch is an individual unit, but summer pneumonia is usually predictable. If you’ve typically seen summer pneumonia around Aug. 1, for example, consider vaccinating three weeks before the usual bovine respiratory disease (BRD) outbreak date.

Accessible water. The amount of and quality of water sources can have a big impact on calf health. Ensure your water tanks aren’t overcrowded and calves have access to clean water to prevent dehydration, which can lead to summer pneumonia.

Every healthy calf has to make up about $90 to offset the effects of summer pneumonia for the calves that got sick.1


Avoid a summertime struggle
With the right vaccine at the right time, you can minimize or eliminate the need to treat sick calves later. Van Anne recommends using a five-way modified-live virus (MLV) vaccine like Pyramid® 5 + Presponse® SQ to provide coverage against bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) Type 1, including Type 1b and Type 2; infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR); parainfluenza-3 (PI3); and bovine respiratory syncytial virus (BRSV), as well as Mannheimia haemolytica, one of the primary pathogens that can cause summer pneumonia.



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Editor’s Note: This article is from Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica Inc.

1Snowder GD, Van Vleck LD, Cundiff LV, Bennett GL. Influence of breed, heterozygosity and disease incidence on estimates of variance components of respiratory disease in preweaned beef calves. J Anim Sci 2005; 83(6):1247–1261.




 

 





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