It’s a familiar feeling for most of us – fever, fatigue, muscle aches and that unshakable sense of discomfort. When the flu hits, our natural instinct is to slow down, stay home, drink plenty of fluids and let our bodies recover. Now, imagine if instead of us, it’s your dairy cows facing a similar challenge.
Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), otherwise known as bird flu, has recently impacted dairy herds in certain regions. While this isn’t the typical scenario dairy producers are accustomed to, it offers us an important opportunity to revisit the fundamental care principles we extend to our cattle – principles not so different from what we seek when we’re down with the flu ourselves.
Cows, just like people, need time to recover when illness strikes. Stress and poor hydration can make a bad situation worse. While HPAI in dairy cows isn’t a human flu, the analogy helps us simplify what’s needed most: rest, support and fluids.
When we catch the flu, our bodies compel us to lie down and take it easy. For cows battling something like HPAI, the same applies. Their immune systems are working overtime to fight off the flu. Any added stress – such as locking cows up too long for treatment – can tip the balance away from recovery.
The main goals of treatment should be to support the cow’s normal systemic functions and fever reduction while the animal is sick to make them feel better so that they go back to eating, ruminating and ultimately return to normal milking, says Maxwell Beal in an article on the practical treatment of HPAI outbreaks in dairy herds.
“The biggest thing the cow needs is rest,” Beal says. “I asked all my clients, ‘What do you do when you have the flu?’ Most of the time when we are sick and have a fever, we want to sit in bed, relax, rest and maybe drink some water. The cows want rest too and don’t want to be locked up for two hours. Locking them up that long is only going to make things worse.”
Remember the classic advice your doctor gives when you’re sick? Drink lots of fluids. Hydration helps regulate body temperature, maintain organ function and flush out toxins. The same advice applies to your dairy herd, and any illness – especially one that induces fever – can result in significant fluid loss.
In an article on a new cow monitoring system, dairy producer Stephen Mast talks about how his herd health monitoring system made a big difference in identifying sick cows when HPAI affected his herd this past December. Drenching the cows took time, but Mast felt because of the monitoring system, he was able to treat cows efficiently.
“We knew which ones to treat, and what was really cool was we'd see the response from a treatment,” Mast says. “It was like if I had the flu and took Advil, Tylenol or a decongestant, and all of a sudden I would feel good for a couple hours, but then feel bad again. We could see that kind of response to the treatments.”
At the end of the day, our cows are not so different from us. When they’re under the weather, they need basic care done well. So next time you reach for a glass of water and pull up a blanket when you catch a cold, let it be a reminder of how essential rest and hydration are for your herd, too. Your cows will thank you – not with words, but with faster recovery and normal milk production.
