The Big Sandy Mountaineer -

Summer Pneumonia

in Beef Calves

Summer pneumonia in nursing beef calves is not uncommon, but occurs with low frequency. A wide variety of risk factors for summer pneumonia exist including relative success of colostrum antibody transfer, commingling of groups, weather changes, nutrition changes or deficiencies, pathogen exposure, handling stress, calving difficulty, and operation-specific risk factors like lack of labor.

The immunity a calf receives through colostrum is called passive immunity, and is the major source of immune function in the newborn. If calves receive only limited amounts...