2020 Spring Dairy Webinar Series - The impacts of stress on dairy cattle health and performance.
Brought to you by: OmniGen nutritional specialty product and Phibro Academy

The event was held via Zoom Webinar on 4/15/2020 3:30 pm EDT / 2:30 pm CDT.

Speaker: Dr. Robert Collier, head of the Department of Animal and Veterinary Science at the University of Idaho

Impacts of stress on dairy cattle health and performance
The heritability of milk yield is 0.25 which means that the environment the cow is in accounts for 75% of the difference in milk yield between dairy cows. Stress is a major component of the environmental effects on milk yield and always increases basal maintenance cost of dairy animals which results in decreased energy available for production. High milk production is not a stress but some examples of stress include heat and cold stress, shipping stress, poor nutrition, poor milking management, inadequate facilities and disease. Acute stress activates the adrenal gland to secrete corticoids which help the animal adjust to the stress. However, chronic stress can impair the immune system of the cow leading to increased disease. Management alterations which reduce the stress or inhibit the stress response in animals can improve animal performance and health.

What you will Learn
1) Stress always increases basal maintenance cost in domestic animals
2) High milk production is not a stress
3) The stress response involves the release of cortisol from the adrenal gland
4) Chronic stress impairs the immune system in animals