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By giving good care and paying close
attention to cattle, you can make sure they stay healthy. You can
detect any problems such as injuries or signs of illness early on
and can deal with those before they become serious.
Keep cattle comfortable and avoid
stress. To prevent many types of illness, try to avoid stress and
feed cattle properly. Make sure they have shelter from cold and
windy weather and shade during hot weather. Stress from weather
extremes or from inadequate feed or water may lower the animals
resistance to disease.
Cattle suffer as much stress in
hot weather as in cold weather. A heat wave, with high humidity,
can cause heat stroke and death in cattle. During very hot weather
you might have to install a fan in a barn stall, for calves or
dairy cows, or hose cattle down with a misty wet spray from your
garden hose if they are confined in a pen without access to shade.
Sanitation is important. A clean
environment is always beneficial. It is easier to try to prevent
infectious diseases than to treat them.
If there are several calves in a
pen or barn, or if there have been cattle there before, there may
be bacteria and viruses lurking. You can help prevent diseases and
infections by thoroughly cleaning and disinfecting facilities
between calves (especially when raising young dairy calves) or
between groups of calves. Get rid of all old bedding and scrub the
walls and the floor, if there is one, of each shelter with a good
disinfectant. Your veterinarian, extension agent, or a dairyman
can recommend an appropriate product. Even in a large pen or
pasture, cleanliness is important. Cattle need clean areas to eat
and to lie down, even if it means putting out straw for bedding
and using feed racks during muddy times of the year. |
