What is the incidence rate of calf pneumonia in Ireland?

Over 2 million¹ calves in Ireland every year, but unfortunately far too many fail to reach adulthood because of disease. The incidence rate of bovine respiratory disease (BRD) or calf pneumonia, as it is more commonly known, is approximately 20%².

Calf pneumonia is the greatest single cause of morbidity and mortality in cattle in Ireland, responsible for 32% of deaths in this age group³. Hence, it is a cause of major economic loss for the cattle industry.

At a farm level these costs are in the region of €49 per dairy calf and €93 per suckler calf⁴. So what makes up these costs? Surprisingly, only 40% is represented by vets’ fees and medicines, the remaining 60% results primarily from mortality, reduced growth rates and reduced lifetime performance.

The Facts

• The cost of non-fatal production losses to the EU cattle industry is €576 million⁵.
• Calf pneumonia is the biggest known cause of mortality in calves aged between 1 month and 1 year of age, and is a major contributor to the losses that see an average of 14.5% of live born dairy heifers failing to reach their first lactation⁶.
• Daily liveweight gains, targeted at 0.8kg/day, can drop as low as 0.4kg/day after an episode of respiratory disease⁵. This growth check increases production costs, and can directly result in a reduction in lifetime productivity.

Our Survey

We have conducted a UK and Ireland wide survey to investigate calf pneumonia control practices on cattle farms.

To see the results of the survey click here.