Advancements in Managing Weaning Stress

Producers are deploying pheromone analogues to mitigate stress and avoid losses.

Reducing weaning stress is a perennial goal of the cattle industry. Advancements in handling protocols, vaccines and treatments all helped reduce morbidity and mortality associated with this transition. Today, the industry has more tools to fight back against weaning stress than ever before.

Activating the prey response

The stress from weaning coincides with other major events, including processing, transportation and comingling with new cattle. Together, these stressors can divert energy from the immune system and allow diseases to take root. It’s one of the reasons bovine respiratory disease (BRD) remains a major cause of losses for U.S. cattle.

“Calves come straight off the momma cows, go to a sale barn and experience compounding stressors,” explained Rodrigo C. Bicalho, DVM, Ph.D., chief executive officer, Fera Diagnostics and Biologicals Corp. “As prey animals, they recognize these changes as signs of predation – even the processing experience tells their mind ‘I’ve been caught by a predator!’ The animal then goes into survival mode, which translates into physiological changes. All of that is incredibly wasteful from an energy perspective and results in an animal that is not going to convert feed into gain.”

Battling weaning stress for 50 years

For decades, the cattle industry sought to offset the stressors of this period. First, preconditioning programs attempted to spread out the stressors of weaning, processing and transportation. In fact, organized efforts to encourage standardized management of calves at weaning began as far back as 1967.1

Improved vaccinations, disease treatment and processing techniques all contribute to overcome the immune response during this period. Management practices at weaning are still far from standard and heavily dependent on the specific operation’s time, labor, equipment and processing facilities.

“If we could make the stress disappear, we would make animals more productive and healthier, which would improve the mortality rates and all the other problems we see begin when animals leave the ranch,” Bicalho said. “Weaning cattle at the ranch is one of the most important things that can be done. The reality of this industry is that 60% of the calves in the country are not going to be weaned at the ranch. The operators don’t have good fences to keep cows apart from calves.”

Mitigating stress

Cows naturally produce a pheromone while nursing that relaxes the calf. An analogue to this pheromone – maternal bovine appeasing substance (MBAS) – is now being commercially produced using a combination of fatty acids under the brand name FerAppease Bovine.

It is one of the first advancements in reducing weaning stress in years. Launched in 2022, it has since sold more than 16 million doses.

“This helps desensitize the part of the brain responsible for threat perception,” Bicalho explained. “We find levels of cortisol are going to be reduced dramatically, between 40% to 60%, depending on the study.”

A 2023 study showed dairy calves administered MBAS experienced less diarrhea, reduced risk of mortality and greater body weight compared to control calves.2 Another study published in the Journal of Animal Science demonstrated feedlot receiving MBAS had 83% reduced mortality compared to controls.3

The combination of fatty acids used in MBAS are all generally recognized as safe (GRAS), which means the product does not require a prescription and does not require a withdrawal time. A topically applied dose can last for about 14 days, and a change in their behavior can be seen immediately.

“Literally almost as soon as I get them FerAppease, the bawling is diminished extensively,” said Jennifer Poindexter-Runge, DVM, a veterinarian and a rancher in Ree Heights, S.D. “Some of my real flighty cattle tend to be a lot quieter. Instead of walking fences, they will go straight to the paved feeder, go drink water or even lay down.”

Most calves in the area are not familiar with the feed bunk at weaning, making food and water intake a priority for Poindexter-Runge. Calming down the calves enough to accept the new food and water locations makes all the difference for her clients, and more are adopting MBAS as word of mouth spreads.

“It changed everything,” she said. “I do think we saw decreased morbidity. I have producers buying calves from sales barns, and the first thing they did was order FerAppease. It’s so easy. We just vaccinate, apply FerAppease, give them macrolide and turn them out.”

References:

1 Lalman D, Mourer G. Effects of preconditioning on health, performance and prices of weaned calves. Oklahoma State University Extension. March 2017. extension.okstate.edu/fact-sheets/effects-of-preconditioning-on-health-performance-and-prices-of-weaned-calves.html.

2 Bringhenti L, Colombo E, Rodrigues MX, Cooke, RF. Effect of maternal bovine appeasing substance on health and performance of preweaned dairy calves. Bovine Pract. 2023;57(2):1-4.

3 Pickett AT, Cooke RF, de Souza IS, Mackey SJ. Administering the maternal bovine appeasing substance improves overall productivity and health in high-risk cattle during a 60-d feedlot receiving period. J Anim Sci. 2024;102:skae221. doi:10.1093/jas/skae221.

Key Points

• Stress from weaning, processing, transportation and comingling can leave calves vulnerable to disease.
• Preconditioning practices spread out these stressors over time.
• Newer techniques to managing stress include applying an analogue to a naturally produced pheromone that helps relax and calm calves.

Photo credit: istockphoto.com/emholk, istockphoto.com/ahavelaar