Environmental Management
Environmental factors play a critical role in the development of pneumonia. Ensuring proper ven- tilation, reducing overcrowding, and managing temperature and humidity are essential to prevent the onset of respiratory infections. In the UK, where winter conditions can exacerbate respiratory disease, maintaining a well - ventilated, dry environment is especially important during the colder
months. Environ- mental manage-
Vaccination
Preventive vaccination is a cornerstone of pneumonia management. Early vaccination in calves can reduce the severity of pneumonia and the overall incidence of outbreaks. We also have drugs available on the market now with a license to administer from birth. Whilst it does take a few days for the immune system to respond to this, if pathogens are on farm it is the best chance to try and prevent severe disease. Vaccines should be tailored to the specific risks and pathogens prevalent in the farm ’ s environment – meaning, if you have outbreaks or continual cases of pneu- monia, we can either sample untreated live animals or make use and post mortem any who have unfortunately not survived. Live animals can be sampled using a few different methods and post mortem samples can (and should!) be taken from any calves that unfortunately don ’ t recover. A lot of the time we are eligible to get funding for this so it is well worth doing and you get back a profile of what was found.
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