Coughing cattle can be a common occurrence in the week's post housing.
There are a number of potential causes for this.
An 80kg human has around 6 litres of lung capacity - acting as an engine, fuelling the body's muscles and organs with oxygen.
A 750kg cow only has around 12-13 litres of lung capacity, so her lungs are under constant strain.
When the respiratory system gets stressed, we can have coughing and because of this cattle are prone to the symptom.
Change
Often the change in environment from outdoor pastures to a confined shed, sharing airspace and oxygen with dozens of other cattle, can be enough to trigger a cough. This will depend on factors such as shed design (how well is it ventilated), stocking density in the building and external weather conditions.
When feeding animals concentrate rations at restricted rates, they will typically rush to eat as much as possible once it is fed out. Particles entering the windpipe can cause irritation and trigger some coughing.
Wormers
Where a clear wormer, for example ivermectin, is used as a housing dose, worms are killed quickly in situ (in the lungs). These begin to decay in the days and weeks after and this can trigger an allergic reaction, which leads to a cough. The severity of this will depend on the amount of worm material in the lungs at time of treatment. With clear wormers coughing post-dosing is not uncommon as it is the way in which worms are expelled from the animal and large amounts of decaying material add to this cough.
Yellow wormers, (levamisoles) paralyse the worms in the animal and they're expelled without the above decaying process. They are often the choice where a decent burden of lungworm is suspected to avoid high levels of coughing and subsequent stress. However, they are never for use in dry, or lactating dairy cattle, or dairy heifers.
Some coughing is not a big issue, the problem is that excessive coughing can stress the animals and its respiratory system and trigger further complications.
Any coughing cattle should be monitored closely for behavioural changes. Ensure they continue to eat, ruminate and appear bright and healthy.
Where cattle are not vaccinated against pneumonia, extra vigilance is required - particularly in young stock. In such cases veterinary assistance should be sought ASAP if behaviour changes or sickness is suspected.
Coughing cattle can be a common occurrence in the week's post housing.
There are a number of potential causes for this.
An 80kg human has around 6 litres of lung capacity - acting as an engine, fuelling the body's muscles and organs with oxygen.
A 750kg cow only has around 12-13 litres of lung capacity, so her lungs are under constant strain.
When the respiratory system gets stressed, we can have coughing and because of this cattle are prone to the symptom.
Change
Often the change in environment from outdoor pastures to a confined shed, sharing airspace and oxygen with dozens of other cattle, can be enough to trigger a cough. This will depend on factors such as shed design (how well is it ventilated), stocking density in the building and external weather conditions.
When feeding animals concentrate rations at restricted rates, they will typically rush to eat as much as possible once it is fed out. Particles entering the windpipe can cause irritation and trigger some coughing.
Wormers
Where a clear wormer, for example ivermectin, is used as a housing dose, worms are killed quickly in situ (in the lungs). These begin to decay in the days and weeks after and this can trigger an allergic reaction, which leads to a cough. The severity of this will depend on the amount of worm material in the lungs at time of treatment. With clear wormers coughing post-dosing is not uncommon as it is the way in which worms are expelled from the animal and large amounts of decaying material add to this cough.
Yellow wormers, (levamisoles) paralyse the worms in the animal and they're expelled without the above decaying process. They are often the choice where a decent burden of lungworm is suspected to avoid high levels of coughing and subsequent stress. However, they are never for use in dry, or lactating dairy cattle, or dairy heifers.
Some coughing is not a big issue, the problem is that excessive coughing can stress the animals and its respiratory system and trigger further complications.
Any coughing cattle should be monitored closely for behavioural changes. Ensure they continue to eat, ruminate and appear bright and healthy.
Where cattle are not vaccinated against pneumonia, extra vigilance is required - particularly in young stock. In such cases veterinary assistance should be sought ASAP if behaviour changes or sickness is suspected.