Cattle Nutrition is Vital to the Immune System

How cultivating immunity via nutrition in utero can influence lifelong health.

by Lynsey McAnally, associate editor

As a cattle producer, we understand a great deal of your time is spent pondering overall herd well-being. Time spent preventing disease could lead to less time and money spent treating illnesses, but where do you even begin?

In the April 13, 2022, episode of Angus at Work, Miranda Reiman visited with Ron Scott, research and technical services lead at Purina Animal Nutrition, to discuss how cultivating immunity via nutrition can potentially make everyday life a little easier for cattlemen.

With more than 30 years of experience working in animal nutrition, Scott is invested in helping the beef industry succeed. He and his team are tasked with maintaining products, but also developing products that can help solve industry-wide dilemmas.

“Many years ago, we didn't really make a good connection between nutrition and health or immunity. We knew — and everybody knows — that if cattle are mistreated, mismanaged or for whatever reason something happens where they're behind on nutrition, then oh my goodness, the calf can get sick,” says Scott in the podcast episode. “Everybody knew that, but today we know so much more. The reason why is that there’s a lot of information that has come out, particularly the past 10 years, relative to some functioning of the gut and how that influences the whole immune process.”

It is a little-known fact that the gut is the largest immune organ in the body. You might think, well, how on earth can that be? The importance of that, according to Scott, is that the bovine gut prevents pathogens from getting into the body. If cattle eat something indigestible, that item doesn't enter the body. Instead, the item would pass through the animal and be expelled. But what happens when cattle absorb something that does get into their body? Unfortunately, this is where real damage can be done.

“It's called a leaky gut. When that occurs, then pathogens, toxins, etc., enter the bloodstream. They're absorbed and then your body has a reaction to it. It's the same with people. Same with cattle when you have this reaction, so you've got a leaky gut,” says Scott. “The first line of defense is what's called the innate immune system, but you'll have an inflammation response. Some cattle have a leaky gut constantly, which means there are perforations throughout. It’s tough for them because they've got constant inflammation.”

If cattle are constantly under stress, their nutrients are going towards maintenance instead of growth and production, says Scott. That's why cultivating immunity through nutrition is important.

As producers, we want to make sure our cattle are healthy and have the opportunity and resources to thrive. We don't want them to get sick and, obviously, we don't want a mortality. So, what is the key to promoting a better gut? That is a complicated answer, says Scott.

“It really starts shortly after conception, right? There's something we've talked about for many years called fetal programming. We used to call it an idea. It's not an idea; this is what happens. When an animal — whether it be a person or cattle — when they're in utero, there's a whole cascade of events that occur,” says Scott. “You’ve got the different trimesters, and each trimester is important. But the first trimester is the one where you see the beginning of what's called our innate immune system, which is how we respond to an infection when it first comes in. It's our first line of defense. That's literally created there in that first trimester.”

A whole cascade of events continues through the entire gestation period. Any compromising stress on the cow during that time could compromise the health and well-being of her calf at birth and throughout its entire life.

The information above is summarized from the April 13, 2022, episode of Angus at Work. To access the full episode — including information on how nutrition can support the lifelong immunity of your herd and what feed additives might help you achieve that goal — check out Angus at Work on Apple Podcasts or use the QR code to save time.

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