Honing in on health

On Tuesday, participants of the Teagasc/Irish Farmers Journal BETTER Farm beef challenge, along with their local B&T Teagasc advisers, travelled to Teagasc Grange in Co Meath for a BETTER farm technical day.

Technical days are a regular feature of the beef challenge where attendees have the opportunity to visit a range of commercial farms, demonstration farms and industry sites for discussion group-type events and to further their technical knowledge.

Tuesday’s visit to Grange consisted of two parts – a morning session focused on herd health with Animal Health Ireland (AHI) vets Maria Guelbenzu and Natascha Meunier and Journal vet Tommy Heffernan.

In the afternoon, attendees got a rundown on progress from the Derrypatrick suckler herd by Michael McManus, while Nicky Byrne and Donal Fahey gave an update on the farm’s dairy calf-to-beef trial.

Here are some of the key questions and messages from the morning health session.

IBR is a highly infectious respiratory disease of cattle. However, contrary to what many farmers think, it is not the most common cause of weanling pneumonia.

RSV, Pi3 and mycroplasma are the biggest culprits here, triggered by poor housing facilities and/or animal stress.

That said, the control and ideally the eradication of IBR in a herd should be in every farmer’s interests.

Why? Well, animal and financial performance is the big one. Infection with IBR can result in a drop in milk yield, conception failure or abortion, permanent lung damage and an all-round drop in thrive.

Needless to say, all of these factors will hit your back pocket, not to mention the cost associated with treatment.

On top of this, once an animal is infected, even if they recover, they will remain life-long carriers of the virus which may lead to shedding of the virus in later years if that animal is subject to stress.

Also, bulls containing IBR antibodies are not allowed enter AI stations and, more significantly, there is a growing number of EU countries (currently seven) which possess an IBR-free status and access for live cattle to these markets is limited.

A strive for IBR freedom in Ireland may not be far away. All participants are engaged in an IBR pilot programme.

What are the signs?

Clinical signs of IBR include high temperature, watery discharge from the nose and eyes and a red, crusty nose. As was mentioned, not all infected animals will show clinical signs of infection – some can be latent carriers.

What puts my farm at greatest risk?

Those buying-in cattle or showing cattle are at greater risk of bringing IBR into their herd. Biosecurity through personnel and vehicles is also a concern.

The IBR virus is very hardy and, in the right conditions, can survive for up to a month – including on overalls or boots.

If buying in stock, it is best to quarantine the animal for four weeks and in the meantime carry out a blood sample test to determine the animal’s IBR status.

Is vaccination an option?

Vaccines are very good at preventing clinical signs of IBR and preventing the amount of virus shedding following infection.

That said, farmers must be aware that the vaccine alone will not prevent all infection so good management is also required.

When annual vaccination against IBR takes place as part of a control strategy, the percentage of infected cattle in the herd should decrease over a period of time – older, positive cattle are displaced by younger, uninfected stock.

For this control strategy to be effective, all breeding animals must be included in the vaccination plan to limit the risk posed by latent carriers.

A final decision on which strategy and product to use should be made with your vet.

Beef Health Check has been running since 2016, yet many farmers have never even heard of the facility.

In all of the main beef factories, once an animal is sent for slaughter, the health of their liver and lungs are scored by Department factory vets.

This data is available to all farmers through the Beef Health Check facility on ICBF. The results are displayed on an individual basis but can also be shown on trend graphs and historical comparison.

This can be a huge benefit because you can determine what treatments and parasite control strategies are and are not working on your farm.

In a time where wormer resistance is becoming a very real concern, information like this is vital. It is recommended that you share and discuss your results with your farm vet.

What do the scores mean?

Table 1 outlines what the colour-coded scores mean for both lungs and livers.

How can I access my Beef Health Check database?

1 – Log in to your ICBF online account.

2 – Access the AHI portal at the ‘services’ dropdown tab.

3 – Select Beef Health Check.

4 – View and analyse your Beef Health Check data.

5 – Share your Beef Health Check data with your vet by selecting ‘Change data permission’ in the ‘Admin’ dropdown.

Adviser comment Martina Harrington, Teagasc

Performance is key for every animal on your farm but there are many parasites, bacteria and viruses out there that can hamper that performance.

While in the past antibiotics were the go-to solution, their availability in the future is uncertain due to the increasing incidence of resistance.

We now need to shift our focus to prevention by reducing stress on animals, improving ventilation in sheds and using robust vaccination/dosing plans etc.