Stress and calves

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Zoe Vogels

What happens when something stresses a calf? At a physiological level, it sets off a chain of chemical reactions in response to the stressful event. The calf’s brain tells the adrenal glands to make the hormone cortisol. Cortisol increases the blood pressure, makes the heart beat more strongly, diverts blood to the vital organs and increases blood sugar levels – making the calf ready for the “fight or flight” response. In effect, cortisol heightens an animal’s survival mechanism.

However, there is a trade-off. Cortisol also decreases white blood cell movement to infection sites and decreases their ability to fight pathogens. It also decreases the production of antibodies. It means that in times of stress, in order to deal with the problem at hand, the body turns down or turns off the immune system. While this increases short-term survival (say if the calf was running away from a lion!), it also means the calf may succumb to a disease that they would otherwise have been able to fight off, had there not been a stressful event.

Sources of stress for calves include things outside the normal daily routine, such as weaning, transport, vaccination, environmental extremes (hot or cold) and painful procedures, such as ear tagging and disbudding.

Each stressful event can suppress the immune system, but if you combine them and the stress is greater disease is even more likely to result. To minimise the risk of disease in calves, stagger husbandry procedures by several days and if possible, don’t perform husbandry procedures at times of environmental stress.

Reduce the effect of stressful situations through calm and quiet handling, adequate handling facilities for husbandry procedures such as vaccination, mitigating environmental extremes (such as using blankets in cold weather) and providing pain relief at disbudding.

The Vet Group’s CalfWise Disbudding service uses a combination of sedation, local anaesthetic and long-acting anti-inflammatories prior to hot-iron cautery to remove the horn buds. This combination of sedation and pain relief has been shown to minimise cortisol levels in the blood and reduce the risk of a disease setback following the procedure of disbudding.

Linda Whiting, who with her husband Andrew rear around 150 calves per year, has been disbudding with sedation and pain relief since 2015. “When The Vet Group started offering the service, we thought it would be worth trying because it seemed a better alternative for the health and welfare of our animals,” Linda says.

“It is so much calmer; especially using our locking headbails, there is no chasing animals around a pen and the sedation means there is no rush or upsetting the calves”. Linda says the biggest benefit has been the way animals recover from the procedure. “Using long acting anti-inflammatory has had such an impact. The calves are noticeably brighter in the days following disbudding, and don’t have the same obvious soreness that we used to see. Also, we find that the wound is cleaner and heals much quicker.”

Veterinary disbudding using sedation, anaesthetic and pain relief should be performed when calves are 2 to 8 weeks of age. For more information or to make a booking, call Farm Services on 1300 838 700 or talk to your veterinarian.

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Sedate calves to recumbancy

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Area around buds clipped

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Local anaesthetic administered

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Hot iron cautery

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Horn bud removed

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Topical antibiotic applied

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Calf in recovery position

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The Vet Group Value Proposition

The Vet Group will offer a proactive full-service model that is built around preventative based medicine delivered through a consultative advice approach, which includes education & training to ensure we deliver the best in class veterinary services & the supply of product that requires a high level of technical advice, welfare & stewardship so that we can meet the individual needs of our clients & their animals.

Mission statement

The Vet Group works to be the most trusted & respected veterinary care provider in our community by administering the best possible medical & emotional care & giving outstanding customer service to every patient & client at every visit.

To deliver a high level of integrated professional expertise in animal health, production, business, & strategic management.
To be a provider & partner in delivering innovative & proven solutions to our clients that add value, are practical, cutting edge & sustainable.
To be consistent in our service delivery through excellent customer service & an internal culture of support, sharing of knowledge & never-ending improvement.
To provide a workplace that challenges people to be their best, provides training & career paths, flexibility & challenges as well as being a great place to work.

Our Values

Our company values define us as a business. They underpin all of what we do & guide us in our day-to-day activities. We acknowledge that our team is made up of individuals who have different responsibilities, strengths & weaknesses. We embrace these differences & stand by one another knowing our core values & goals are the same. As a team we can achieve much more together than we can as individuals. The values that define us are as follows:

Science & Value

We base our service delivery to clients on the foundation of veterinary science. Proven solutions that work for our clients & that add value. This is a core philosophy of our entire team. Every service & product we provide is approached in this manner coupled with a commercial focus to ensure the success of our clients.

Respect

Every workplace is unique, & employers & employees can show respect in different ways. There are some universal ways to show respect in the workplace & improve the levels respect within your team:

listen to what everyone has to say
pay attention to non-verbal communication
practice transparency
recognise the strengths & accomplishments of others
value the time & workloads of others
delegate meaningful work
practice common courtesy & politeness
prevent bias (even implicit bias)
include everyone in meetings, discussions, & celebrations
consider how others view you & your actions
help your peers

Enjoy & Be Part of the Community

We aim to make The Vet Group a professional & enjoyable place to work for our staff. We see ourselves as part of the local community & encourage all our staff to share this sentiment. As such, we regularly support a broad range of events, clubs, & community initiatives. It’s our way of giving back to the community that provides us with so much support.

Do it Once

We do not take short cuts – we do things the right way, the best way, first time round producing better outcomes for our clients & their animals. At times this might mean we take a little longer, or we use different equipment, or even we tackle those tough challenges as a team rather than individuals. In the long run, doing it once & doing it right is our approach which we are proud of

No Barriers: Find Solutions

Veterinary science is about solving complex problems & we never rest until we have done everything within our means to help deliver quality outcomes for clients & their animals.