Transporting calves

Transportation of recently weaned calves to grazing blocks can be a highly stressful event and provides a favorable environment for the spread of disease between animals. Both Yersinia and coccidia are diseases that take advantage of the stress provoked by transportation.

Yersinia is a bacteria that is normally present in the gut of healthy cattle, and coccidia is a parasite that resides in the small intestine after being ingested from the environment. Coccidia causes clinical disease when large numbers of the parasite are consumed from contaminated pasture or after episodes of stress, while Yersinia’s clinical symptoms are predominantly stress related. Both diseases are most common in recently weaned calves and cause diarrhoea, weight loss, and growth checks.

Yersinia and coccidia outbreaks create an unwanted business expense through the accumulating treatment costs, growth checks and mortality. Preventing stress where possible during transportation is important.

Ways to mitigate stress during calf transportation include:

• Avoid transporting unwell animals
• Avoid transporting animals during times of extreme weather (heat waves or rainstorms)
• Enable adequate space per animal during transportation
• Keep yard time to a minimum and provide shade/water.
   

If calves become off-feed and develop diarrhoea post-transport, consider a vet visit on farm, or collect a faecal sample from the affected animals and take it to one of our Franklin vet clinics for further evaluation.

Dr Melissa Veltman, Farm Vet at Paeroa