By Holly Dodd

With winter fast approaching, get ahead of the weather by having your cattle clipped out and freeze branded.

Warm humid winters can cause problems in housed cattle, especially beef animals which struggle with heat regulation due to their extra thick hair and high muscle mass.

Removing the thick winter coat along the back before housing allows excess heat to evaporate from the body, helping with thermoregulation and reducing heat stress. When cattle are hot and bothered they waste energy trying to keep cool, so less energy gets diverted to weight gain and growth.

Hot cattle try to lower their body temperatures by panting and sweating, both further raise the humidity of the shed, increasing the chance of pneumonia. Shorter coats can also help reduce the ability of external parasites like lice and mites to cause problems.

For dairy stock, animals will also benefit from having their tails clipped – helping improve udder cleanliness and reducing the risk of mastitis and udder cleft dermatitis.

As young stock are housed, many farmers will also be thinking about freeze branding. Winter is a good time to catch up on this task, as the brands will show up quicker as the winter coat begins to grow through the recently branded skin. Branding is a permanent way of easily identifying your cow – visible at a distance and unlike collars or eartags the brands can’t fall off or be ripped out!

Clipping the hair over brands is another worthwhile ‘rainy day job’ to keep brands visible during the housing period.

If you’re needing a hand with any of these tasks, our friendly vet tech team can help out by clipping or branding your animals this winter. Please give us a call to chat about how we can help or to book us in!