acute and chronic stress in cattle 
Welcome, dear Breeder
the morning I get up very early, make myself a coffee and then I climb on my Doblo. Behind me I always bring my motorized arla. Tool fantastic job.
Every day I go to the barn, a stable customer.
Who am I? I am a veterinarian, a veterinarian buiatra and more precisely, and more precisely buiatra a podiatrist.
Pleasure, my name is Andrea. Andrea Cerrone, veterinary surgeon, and this is my blog.
I decided to open this small space to try to help young farmers to navigate names and diseases with which they have to do every day but who, against all logical odds, are a source of much confusion.
I've seen and tested many times with my own eyes. Common diseases (dare I say trivial) that have a large economic impact on businesses and that this should be known perfectly, neglected or completely ignored by the same operators. Concepts that should be obvious are unknown, should be a routine practice that are otherwise exceptional, the logic of tradition and modern interventions replaces current. Gentlemen, I'm talking to your cows and your money.
write to you just walk, because my work is this: the bovine podiatry.
I appeal to young farmers because I know for a fact that older people do not like all those internet and there is thus no possibility that I will catch up. But the rest of you, in the thirty-five perhaps, believe me: leggetemi and not regret it ever.
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Your cows are stressed?
Well, it can be ... patience. Who is not?
Wrong!
stress of your cows results in a decrease in your income. Why?
Simple: Stress lowers the immune system, increases the number of sick animals and decreases the yield in general. Less milk fat, fertility, higher costs for drugs.
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define what is stress
Stress is an adaptive response of the organism, with respect to adverse events in the long term. Complicated? Now I explain, as I can. But first I want to talk about something that is not just stress, but that is an adaptive response against adverse events. Not in the long term, however, but in the short term. I speak of this reaction because someone called the acute stress, but it would be better to call the fight-flight reaction.
acute stress or fight-flight reaction
Let's take a practical example. Let's talk about me. If as I walk around with my nice and quiet and my Doblò Arla, one day all I happen to flip the truck on the highway (such as July 2 this year) and breaking things (all: arla, cart, van), what happens, just at that moment there? It 'obvious: I am a fucking fear and anger. The blood pressure would skyrocket, and our hearts go mad for the first ten minutes I can not nemmeno a fare il numero di telefono di casa tanto mi tremano le mani. Dal punto di vista ormonale, si tratta di pura adrenalina. L'adrenalina rimane in circolo per un bel pezzo, per cui quella notte lì faccio fatica a dormire. Il giorno dopo l'adrenalina è scesa, non c'è più, e mi assale una stanchezza bestiale.
Questo fenomeno come già accennato non si chiama propriamente stress, in quanto è un fenomeno decisamente acuto, momentaneo e (vivaddio) irripetibile. Lo stress, per definizione, è una situazione di lunga durata, non di breve durata. Questa invece è una reazione adattativa dell'organismo di durata molto breve. E' una reazione che serve ad essere più pronti per la lotta o per la fuga. Il and accelerates the heart pumps blood to the muscles, reduces pain perception, blood vessels surface shaking so as to reduce the bleeding of any injuries. Our body is fantastic as you can see, very well equipped and organized.
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acute stress (fight-flight reaction), and your cows
For me, in my work, stress acute in some cases I see when I put in arla the cow. Does not always happen, but sometimes the animal entered in arms feel really in danger. And 'fast-paced, does not understand what to do and you can create situations a bit' dangerous, both for the cow, and for those around us.
course, arla in itself is neither good nor bad for a cow that has never seen. The problem is that sometimes the cow already knows and associates with a bad experience. It 's a bit for us as the fear of the dentist. We remember that time, even as children, we felt pain on that devil of a cot, and now only the smell of a dentist's waiting room makes us the cold sweats.
The worst thing is to put in arla a cow that has been sorely treated by non-experts, and even-tempered a bit 'nervous. I've come to this type of animal, only to see the equipment run into the back of the barn. In some cases these individuals put into Arla is a true delirium.
However, in this acute stress, the hormonal situation is characterized by the production of hormones such as adrenaline that make the animal in a state of alert, preparing to fight or flee. For my work, acute stress has two aspects to consider: the first is that the cow might decide to load or run away and create potentially dangerous situations. Other times, a cow in fear makes you lose a wagon of time. This is true that the cow bangs on the ground, Arla, and there is more to have it up? And there is no battery, no yelling, no pushing. No, that does not move, as if paralyzed. Then you give up after an hour to pull it out with the tractor. Get the tractor, pull it out of the car, put it together with the other and that ... as if nothing really gets up and walks away. Here, sometimes it happens that, in the acute stress of a cow.
I once saw a documentary on Africa. I was impressed. There was a large wild cattle, a kind of buffalo that had been attacked by lions. Now had no chance to save the lions because they had thrown to the ground e circondato. Beh, quel povero animale veniva divorato vivo e non faceva più nulla per difendersi. Immobile, con lo sguardo vitreo, la testa sollevata, assolutamente ancora vivo, si lasciava sbranare i quarti posteriori senza fare niente. I grossi erbivori a volte hanno questo comportamento.
Il secondo aspetto dello stress acuto in arla riguarda la gravidanza. Non mi è mai successo che un animale gravido abbia abortito dopo un intervento di podologia, ma per non sbagliare, io una vacca vicina al parto in arla non ce la metto. Non si sa mai.
Stress propriamente detto
Ok. Andiamo avanti. Parliamo di un personaggio di fantasia, che si chiama Pino. Pino per andare al lavoro every day, is forced to take a very long road, very busy, full of traffic lights, bastards, those that will surely make him deliver a fine week. Then in the workplace is always a delusion, an effort, a difficulty. And Pino does not earn even too well. Finally, however
Pino comes home, it is evening.
How nice ... home. But ... Unfortunately, even at home is not good. Why
Pino's wife has a problem, it is always angry, the kitchen is cold and the house in disarray and children are crying and tantrums are one thousand to eleven at night.
What do you call such a life? It 'clear that Pine can not go on like this. But no, Pino goes on for quite a while.
But how does he not die after three days?
Because his body adapts to the chronically uncomfortable situation, through the stress.
Stress is how he feels Pino.
A little 'depressed, often tired, nervous and not very productive. But on the other hand is not dead: it manages to survive his harsh life. Stress, in fact, is a chronic phenomenon that allows us to survive the difficult situations in the long term.
the very short term (such as a car accident or go on roller coasters) and shoot adrenaline skyrocketing. In the long term (such as the tragic life Pino) \u200b\u200bour body produces cortisol and tons of us get by. Stress is our body's adaptation to a difficult situation that never seems to end.
Stress is carry on regardless. Stress is: I bend not break.
Chronic stress (stress proper) and your cows
We have said that stress is a condition that is about people who find themselves in uncomfortable situations chronically . But stress is not only people but also affects animals. In fact, any animal can be forced into una vita piena di difficoltà (proprio come quella di Pino), senza via di uscita, alla quale piegarsi e adattarsi. Mi piego per non spezzarmi.
Lo stress è una condizione che anche negli animali modifica il comportamento e l'assetto ormonale di chi ne è colpito, proprio come accade nelle persone. Gli animali sono stanchi, nervosi, si ammalano più facilmente e dal punto di vista produttivo rendono meno.
Perché le mucche vengono colpite dallo stress?
Caro Allevatore, io lo so che tu lo sai. Pensaci un po'.
Le tue mucche si devono adattare passivamente a molte situazioni difficili: sovraffollamento, pochi posti comodi dove riposare, cuccette inadeguate, pavimenti duri e bagnati who are sick feet (ah, the soft grass pastures), and if your feet are sick cow has to live with the pain, always. And what about when people are bad ways to use the barn and the cows are afraid of men? They are herbivores, animals accustomed to think like the prey and able to feel acutely the danger and fear, but did not get away from that environment thorny. Then there are the climate changes and the heat of the Po Valley and insects ... In short, there's just saying that sometimes the cows in the herd do not make a great life.
When cows have to live with other stressors, such as when there are many adverse environmental conditions their welfare, they begin to produce the stress hormone: cortisol. Cortisol is like cortisone and is produced by a pair of glands located near the kidneys, the adrenal glands.
Cortisol allows the cows to get into a state of resistance, a sort of formal economy, in which all the activities not strictly necessary for the animal are more or less decreased. What I'm talking about? To mark the heat, produce milk, meat, start or complete a pregnancy. If a cow has to think more than anything else to survive, it is clear that giving birth to a calf is definitely secondary, let alone if it can produce 60 liters of milk!
It 's a bit like when a company enters a period of crisis. You try to save money, lay off, pull the strap, survive and wait and see what the future holds. It is in every case of a loss of revenue, at best. At worst it is a loss. This
, returning to our cows, regards the lack of yield. In company with stress determines primarily a decrease in productivity. But not only that, unfortunately. In fact, cortisol, in addition to "put on the cheap" the cow, in the long run makes it weaker and less resistant to disease, damaging the immune system.
The immune system is the set of functions that allows us to heal from such a cold and not catch pneumonia every time we take a little 'cold.
An animal is stressed, but more exposed to any biological attacks and could take any of the thousands of junk found in the environment: bacteria, viruses, parasites ... Junk in a barn there may be very many, especially on the ground, where the cow walks on. The beautiful feet trimmed and healthy but are struggling to get sick ...
Back then the nails of our cows.
A source of great stress such as a cow is to have sore feet, which is quite an easy task given the many pavement stalls. Have hurt your feet means making it hard to eat and having to endure constant pain. The feet are really a sick example of stressful conditions. Often, however, the fix is \u200b\u200bto call your podiatrist every 8 months and let him make a nice pass draws. This will prevent a lot of foot lesions and eliminates a large share of problems. You save money in drugs and gains in production!
