Happy herds are healthy herds
Despite producers’ best intentions and management practices animals in their care will be subjected to stressors throughout their lifetime. “Stress is the natural reaction of an organ-ism to changes or challenges. For example, stress can result from animal exposure to high temperature, incidence of parasitic diseases, bad feed quality, social interaction, improper handling techniques, lack of consistent routine, etc.,” Thiago Martins, D.V.M., Ph.D., University of Missouri State Extension Beef Reproduction Specialist, said.
Impact of Stress: When animals endure a stressful situation or health condition, their body’s ability to pour energy into weight gain and reproduction decreases. Stress can lead to sickness, reduced growth and weight loss. The impact to overall health is even greater when animals are ex-posed to long-term stressors. “The long-term and repeated exposure to continued stressors over time takes a harsher toll on the overall physiology of the animals, negatively impacting productivity. Specifically, producers can notice increased incidence of disease, reduced reproductive performance and animal development,” Martin explained.
Producers looking to improve their cow herd’s performance in health, reproduction and growth can do so by implementing animal handling and welfare best practices. The reduction of stressors can result in better overall animal health. “For example, calm and quiet an-imal handling practices minimize reproductive failures due to artificial inseminations, favor response to vaccination and reduce injuries to the animals,” Martin added.
Best Practices: Livestock specialists encourage producers to follow the recommendations outlined in the Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) program. The BQA program provides specific management strategies producers can implement to help reduce stressors on their cow herd. The BQA contains a standard set of guidelines that helps teach producers best cattle management techniques.
One practical example of a best practice that works to reduce stress on animals is preparng them for weaning. “Vaccinations can be given three to four weeks prior to weaning and de-worming can be done after weaning. This not only lessens the stress at weaning, but also improves immune response to the vaccines and anthelmintics,” Martin said.
Martin also recommends producers brand, castrate, and dehorn calves well in advance of weaning. Additionally, prior to weaning, make sure calves are used to eating the intended post-weaning diet. “Collectively, managing cattle using best practices that lower stressors is beneficial and improves productive performance,” Martin said.
Managing Other Stressors: A stressor in some herds that producers may not think about is keeping cattle with excitable temperaments in the operation. “Besides being moderately heritable in beef cattle populations, studies demonstrated that cows with excitable temperaments presented up to 21 percent reduced pregnancy due to artificial insemination when compared with cows with adequate and calm temperament,” Martin explained. “Thus, by not identifying and culling cows with excitable temperaments, producers may be perpetuating the problem in the herd and dampening reproductive performance.”
Environmental challenges create stressful situations for cow herds but are far more difficult to control or mitigate. Examples of environmental stressors include temperature, humidity and wind. “Mitigating these stressors can require protecting against extreme environmental conditions, which is challenging. Heat stress, for example, has been associated with lower pregnancy rate and changes in estrus behavior (fewer mounts per cycle and a longer interval between mounts),” Martin explained.
