One of the most important aspects of cattle health management is sanitation. The primary roles of sanitation to limit diseases spread by contact with manure; reduce fly populations; diminish exposure to mice, rats and other rodents; eliminate injection site lesions and contaminated wounds; and reduce the spread of blood-borne disease agents are well-established but often underappreciated. 

Sanitation of housing — whether pasture, drylot or barn — must be emphasized to prevent disease-causing germs found in manure from spreading between animals in calving and nursery pastures, in feeding areas, and by means of feed-handling equipment (front-end loaders, feed wagons, etc.). The germs that cause diarrhea diseases (scours) can be passed in manure from one animal to another. Therefore, it is important young calves are born and housed in the cleanest situation possible. 

Improving sanitation

Strategies to improve sanitation for young calves include avoiding calving in the same pasture where cows were fed all winter and selecting calving pastures that are large enough for cows to spread apart and not in a low or mud-prone area. If hay is being fed in pastures with young calves, I prefer moving the feeding location as often as possible. The Sandhills Calving System was designed to keep young calves from being exposed to sufficient dose-load or exposure duration to scours-causing germs by physically separating animals and minimizing the amount of time a pasture is used for calving.

Stable flies are blood-suckers that mainly feed on the front legs of cattle. These flies have a very painful bite, and even a small population can cause a great deal of discomfort. Stable fly eggs are deposited in rotting plant matter mixed with moist manure or soil such as around hay feeding sites, the edges of feeding aprons and around haystacks. 

Sanitation and cleanup of wasted feed around hay rings, feedbunks and fencerows is an important nonchemical method of stable fly control. Similarly, rodents can carry several diseases to cattle, and keeping cattle confinement and feed storage areas clean to remove shelter and food sources for these pests is critical. 

Animal health equipment such as syringes, injection needles, castration knives, tattoo pliers, baling guns and stomach tubes must be kept clean to prevent injection site lesions and wound contamination. In addition, bovine leukemia virus and anaplasmosis are two important cattle diseases that are spread when blood of an infected animal is transferred to a susceptible animal. 

Single-use disposable equipment may be practical for many situations, but when reusable equipment is used to administer cattle health products, syringes, balling guns, stomach tubes and other dosing equipment should be clean and disinfected with appropriate chemicals to avoid transmitting disease agents from one animal to another through shared blood, saliva or other body fluids.  

Cattlemen should practice good hygiene and sanitation, especially when moving between cattle herds. A habit of frequent and timely cleaning of vehicles, clothing, footwear, and hands and other exposed skin helps decrease the risk of disease entry or spread within a herd. 

Veterinarians should be especially aware of the need to wear protective overalls that can be easily exchanged and to disinfect or change footwear after contact with sick cattle. 

Editor’s note: Robert L. Larson is a professor of production medicine and executive director of Veterinary Medicine Continuing Education at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kan.