Calf pneumonia is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in preweaned dairy calves, causing significant suffering and economic loss. Prevention through colostrum management, housing design, and vaccination is far more effective than treatment.
Pneumonia causes genuine suffering in calves: fever, laboured breathing, reduced appetite, and weakness that impairs normal behaviour for days to weeks. Sub-clinical disease, which causes no obvious signs but detectable lung lesions at slaughter, indicates that visible cases are the tip of the welfare iceberg. Prevention requires treating colostrum management, housing ventilation, and stocking density as welfare priorities rather than optional quality investments. Welfare-conscious dairy farms monitor colostrum quality with refractometers, house calves in adequately ventilated individual or group structures, and implement vaccination protocols that reduce pathogen load. Early detection and treatment within 24 hours of first signs dramatically shortens the duration of suffering.