Pneumonia risk assessment for all Bovipast RSP stand visitors

A new cattle pneumonia risk assessment tool is being launched to farmers at Beef Expo and will be available free of charge on the Bovilis® Bovipast RSP stand.  Cattle vets will also be on-hand to work through the form and give advice accordingly.

“We organised five farmer meetings with Farmers Guardian throughout the UK between October and March, attended by over 500 beef and dairy farmers,” explains Intervet vet, Ian Anderson.  “The question and answer sessions were always very lively and showed a clear demand for a simple, easy-to-use pneumonia guide.  The risk assessment tool was developed as a result.

“It acts as a checklist for anyone with cattle – calves, youngstock, or older animals – and is based on the main areas that were discussed at the meetings.  Areas covered range from animal sourcing and housing to bedding type and health history.  Once the questions have been answered, the responses help identify areas for improvements, be they building, animal or management-related.  This is a good point from which to plan calf management and pneumonia prevention.”

In addition to the free risk assessment tool, Bovipast RSP Pneumonia Kits will also be available to all visitors to the stand.  The kits comprise smoke bombs, a guide to improving housing ventilation and a thermometer for monitoring calf health.  The box has been specifically designed to double-up as a calf passport storage box. 

“Air movement and temperature are amongst the most important factors associated with pneumonia, and accurately measure air movement by carrying out smoke bomb tests can be very revealing.  Once you understand how the air circulates within a building, improvements can be planned accordingly,” explains Mr Anderson.

The phenomenon of warm air rising is known as the stack effect.  On still days in a livestock building, the heat produced by the stock warms the air, which rises and leaves via an open ridge, if space allows.  This is then replaced by cooler fresher air entering via a lower inlet.

Smoke tests are an excellent way of demonstrating the stack effect, as they should always show a rapid exit of smoke through an open ridge.  Smoke pellets are an essential tool for ventilation work, and each pellet lasts about 60 seconds, giving off about 15m³ of smoke.

 “Checking a building’s ventilation, ambient temperature and humidity can be an invaluable exercise when planning stocking rates, and shows whether any adaptations need to be made to the building,” he adds.  “General guidelines are at least 10 cubic metres of air space per calf up to 90 kg, 13 cubic metres per head up to up to 150 kg, and at least 15 cubic metres above this.

“The Pneumonia Kit aims to assist more producers carry out simple, cost-effective measurements, such as the smoke bomb test and also accurately monitor the temperature of their calves, to manage their health,” he adds.

Ian Anderson also refers to a recent independent survey of calf buildings to stress how important an understanding of cattle housing can be.  Out of 20 recently surveyed calf buildings, only two met, or exceeded, the minimum outlet opening requirement.  Most had less than 50% of the minimum outlet required for the ‘stack effect’ ventilation.

“Feedback from the 500 or so farmers attending the meetings showed that housing and disease are the two main issues affecting production efficiency.  This is why we have developed these two tools for farmers, and anyone visiting the stand at Beef Expo will be able to either complete or take away a risk assessment form, and also collect a Bovipast RSP Pneumonia Kit,” concludes Mr Anderson.