Many beef farmers across the country will be looking to start housing cattle in the coming days – if they haven’t started doing so already.

While grass is still plentiful in most places, heavy falls of rain are leaving grazing conditions difficult in many regions and farmers are resorting to housing heavier-type cattle.

Furthermore, at this time of the year and further on into the close of the year, grass quality begins to deteriorate, resulting in a drop in its feed value.

As the focus turns to winter housing of cattle, farmers should be vigilant of the measures that should be taken to minimise health issues.

A recent reminder from the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) noted that increased levels of stress in cattle, together with the housed environment, allows pathogens to live and multiply more easily.

A good example of this is the increased prevalence of pneumonia in cattle as they are housed.

With the current mild, damp conditions expected to last for the coming days, farmers are being reminded to be vigilant on the effect these conditions can have on airflow in their cattle housing.

Good ventilation is key to minimising pneumonia as it allows the replacement of stale, warm air containing pathogens with fresh, cooler air.

According to DAERA, as a rule of thumb, calves and adult cattle require 0.04 m2 and 0.1 m2 of outlet space respectively per head and at least double this amount as inlet air space.

A smoke pellet can be used to determine if a shed has sufficient ventilation.

According to DAERA “the smoke pellet can be used while the cattle are in the shed, as it is the cattle that creates the ‘stack’ effect in a cattle shed for airflow”. Smoke pellets can be purchased from most hardware and plumbing stores.

Weaned calves are particularly susceptible to pneumonia, especially if housing and weaning occurs at the same time as it induces additional stress.

Where facilities and weather conditions allow, wean calves at grass and let them stay there for three weeks post-weaning.

Alternatively, farmers could delay weaning until after the calves have been in the house for a period of time to give them a chance to adjust to their new environment and silage-based diet.

Another stress-inducing factor to consider is the grouping of cattle in the house. There will be less stress at housing on animals that were grazed together compared to those mixed with different cattle at housing.

Treatments for lungworm and a pneumonia vaccination before housing will reduce the incidence of pneumonia.