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Monitoring Cattle Behavior for Illness

Cattle are prey animals and hide sickness as long as they can. The rancher who knows what normal looks like is the one who notices the first small change.

Know what normal looks like

Before you can spot abnormal behavior, you have to know the baseline for your herd. A healthy animal is alert, moves with the group, comes to feed, chews cud when resting, and shows interest in what is going on around it.

Spend time in the pasture without a job to do. Watch how cattle move, lie down, graze and drink at different times of day. Heat, cold, wind and new feed all change behavior a little, so learn the pattern for each season.

Behavior changes worth a closer look

Illness often shows up as a change in routine before any obvious sign. An animal that hangs back at the feed bunk, lags behind on the walk to a new pasture or stands apart from the herd deserves a second look.

Other changes to watch for are listed below. None of them name a cause, but each is a reason to examine the animal.

• Standing alone or lagging behind the group
• Head carried low, ears drooping, dull or sunken eyes
• Not coming to feed, or eating slowly
• Not chewing cud while resting
• Stiff walk, reluctance to move or lameness
• Coughing, labored or open-mouth breathing
• Straining, loose manure or no manure
• Unusual aggression, circling, stumbling or staring

Build a routine walk-through

Make observation part of every feeding and every pasture check. Slow down and look at faces, flanks and legs. Check at the same times each day when you can, because animals that do not rise when you arrive are easier to spot when the herd is expected to be up.

Early morning and late evening are often the best times. Calves nursing, cows grazing and bulls moving with the herd tell you a lot if you take the time to watch. Walk the water source, since water problems show up as behavior changes in many animals at once.

Write it down and compare

Keep a short notebook of animals you pulled for observation, the date and what you saw. A note like quiet at the bunk, ears down, nose runny gives your vet more to work with than a call saying that cow looks bad.

Over time, patterns appear. Several animals acting dull in the same pen, at the same time, after the same change such as new feed or shipping, suggests a group problem rather than an individual one.

What to do when you see a change

Separate the animal calmly if it is safe and practical, and give it easy access to feed and clean water. Watch it for further signs, and call your veterinarian when you are unsure. Handle any sick animal with the same safety care you would use for a healthy one, since a sick cow can still kick, charge or go down in the chute.

Never give medications without veterinary direction. Any treated animal needs a recorded meat withdrawal time that follows the label or vet instructions exactly.

Group health and the bigger picture

Behavior watching works for groups as well as individuals. If a whole pen is quieter than usual, eating less or bunching up in a corner, think about what changed: weather, water, feed, handling or new cattle. A change that affects many animals at once is often easier to fix than an illness in one.

Share what you see with everyone who works the cattle. A hired hand or a family member who knows what to look for is another set of eyes, and a short morning chat about which animals looked off can catch a problem a day sooner.

Common mistakes and what to ask your vet

The biggest mistake is waiting. Many ranchers say a sick animal was fine yesterday when it was actually showing small signs for days. Another is only watching animals from a truck or a distance, which hides problems like loose manure or eye changes.

Ask your veterinarian which signs matter most for your herd and season, when you should call right away and how to arrange a plan for after-hours problems.

• Waiting too long to look closely
• Watching only from the truck
• Overlooking group patterns
• Treating without a vet plan

More in Herd Health & Cattle Care

• Early Detection of Sick Cattle
• Isolation Pen Management
• Treating Dehydration in Calves
• Electrolytes for Scouring Calves
• Colostrum Management in Beef Calves
• Calf Respiratory Health at Weaning