Our motivations
Bovine Respiratory Disease (BRD) or
calf pneumonia as it is more commonly
known, is a considerable cost to the beef
industry. It can range from full blown
clinical disease with the subsequent
losses and reduced performance
to underlying, sometimes unseen
respiratory problems which may be less
evident but can be just as costly.
The loss of calves to pneumonia can be devastating and put a serious
dent in the profitability of a herd. But it’s not just the obvious
pneumonia cases that can be very costly. Many farmers see low grade
respiratory problems as a fact of life. However, although the disease
may be mild or even not show at all, underlying damage to the
respiratory tract can limit growth rates.
Read the full Zoetis report here
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Read about our latest findings
How Temperature Affects Calf Activity
There is a connection between daily peaks in activity and spikes in temperature- if we focus in on the period of October, there is an obvious and close link between changes in daily group activity and changes in average temperature. Potential reasons for this are: Warmer temperatures normally indicates more sunshine, which encourages more activity Read more about How Temperature Affects Calf Activity[…]
Impact of heat stress on calves (part 2)
Inside the calf hutch Back in the summer heatwave, outside temperature reached well over 30°C in some parts of the UK. In our trial, the temperature reached a maximum of 25°C, but this was still enough to cause some dramatic changes inside calf hutches. One of the hottest days of the year here was August Read more about Impact of heat stress on calves (part 2)[…]
Impact of Cold Stress
[pl_row] [pl_col col=12] [pl_text] What’s happening inside your buildings? Ventilation and temperature in housed environments are important to keeping youngstock in optimum conditions. On one farm, Smartbell™ found a considerable difference in temperature within a building, reducing growth rates as calves required extra energy for warmth. Events in the first few months of life have Read more about Impact of Cold Stress[…]
Impact of Heat Stress on Calves
Extreme Weather This summer has seen some of the hottest ever temperatures that the UK has ever seen- many places had over 30°C for several days running. These heatwaves are becoming more common and it could well soon be the case that we expect them every year before long. The effect of heat stress on Read more about Impact of Heat Stress on Calves[…]