What is it?

• Bovine respiratory disease (BRD) or pneumonia usually occurs in young, housed calves.
• It causes inflammation of the lung tissue and airways and can cause irreversible damage if severe. It is a common cause of death and poor performance.
• Pneumonia costs the cattle industry approximately £50 million a year.
• Cost of pneumonia varies between £43 per dairy calf and £82 per suckler calf.
• It can be caused by a variety of difference viruses (such as RSV, IBR, Pi3, BVD) and/or bacteria (such as Mannhaemia haemolytica, Pasteurella multocida, Histophilus somni, Mycoplasma bovis). Lungworm can also cause respiratory disease in cattle of all ages.
• Environmental factors (see below) and immune status of the animal also contribute to this.

Signs of Pneumonia:

• Reduction in feeding
• Dull demeanour
• Dropping of the head
• Increased respiratory rate
• Nasal discharge
• Cough
• Raised temperature
• Poorer growth rates or performance in more chronic cases
• Death

Diagnosis:

• Clinical signs
• Farm history
• Nasal swabs and/or bronchioalveolar lavage samples
• Blood samples
• Post-mortem
• (Faecal samples if suspect lungworm)

Prevention and treatment:

• Vaccination
• Environmental factors:
  • Avoid mixing calves of different ages
  • Avoid overcrowding
  • Good hygiene
  • Good ventilation
  • Good drainage where relevant
  • Reduce dust as much as possible
• Other management factors:
  • Adequate colostrum at birth (5% of the calf’s birth weight in first 4 hours but ideally in the first 20 minutes (so 2L for a 40kg calf or roughly 20mins on the dam), then another feed roughly 6 hours later, and good quality)
  • Reduce stresses especially at times of year when high risk of pneumonia (roughly a month after housing) including weaning, castration and disbudding/dehorning)
  • Clipping backs of housed calves to reduce sweating can help if relevant
  • Use calf jackets when colder weather
  • Reduce any other stresses as much as possible
• Speak to your vet about a treatment protocol appropriate for your farm