Limiting stressors on cattle can make a positive impact on reproduction
Stress takes its toll on cattle in many ways. One of the consequences of stress in cattle herds is its negative impact on reproduction. Stress in cattle is always caused by an external factor. Some factors producers can control, while others they cannot.
“Of course, we can’t control weather stress, but we can control nutrition stress, handling stress, disease stress and more,” Chloe Collins, extension specialist with the University of Missouri Extension, said. “By being proactive and reducing those stressors we then reduce the strain on the cow, which can help her be more reproductively efficient.”
Lessening Stress
Currently, many operations are dealing with weather stress. While producers would no doubt hope to control Mother Nature, the best they can do is to work to manage the negative impact of weather stressors on their animals.
While producers do what they can to manage weather related issues in their herds, they also may want to consider taking action to reduce stress in areas they can control.
“Another form of stress that we sometimes don’t consider but one that has a huge impact is handling stress,” Collins explained.
The way producers handle their interactions with their herds can increase or decrease the animals’ stress levels.
“Cattle are prey animals, so they have what we call a “flight zone.” Knowing where that flight zone is on your animals and knowing how to use it to your benefit can help to reduce that stress,” Collins added.
Additionally, livestock extension specialists encourage producers to be cautious in regard to their noise level when handling cattle. “By being a bit more patient with them, not shouting and using their flight zone you can greatly reduce that stress and in turn that will lessen the impact that stress has on them when trying to breed back,” Collins shared.
Duration of Stress
Livestock extension specialists point out it is important to remember short-term and long-term stressors have different levels of impact on cattle. How long a cow is exposed to the stressful situation is tied directly to the negative physical repercussions.
The length of the stressful situation affects cattle differently. “For example, a short-term stressor like hauling, sorting and even vaccinating can cause sharp increases in cattle’s cortisol levels. However, if that exposure is short those cortisol levels will return to normal, usually within a 24-hour window,” Collins explained.
However, when long-term stressors are present, such as inadequate nutrition, they can cause chronic stress. “Chronic stress is where those cortisol levels stay elevated and can then lead to systemic inflammation,” Collins added. “That cascade then causes those economically damaging events like going off feed, decrease or a stop in milk production, not cycling and even abortion.”
Though stress can wreak havoc when it is present over a sustained period of time, the good news is there are many stressors producers can control and remove from their operations. In the end, a less stressed cow is a more reproductively efficient cow and that will benefit the bottom line.
