The hidden cost of poor health management

The most damaging livestock losses are often the ones farmers do not immediately see. Veterinarian Dr Dave Midgley explained to Glenneis Kriel how good health management protects productivity, fertility, and long-term farm performance. Prevention, planning and veterinary partnerships go a long way towards safeguarding production and profit.

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On a livestock farm, the biggest losses rarely arrive with drama. They creep in quietly — a ewe that eats less, a calf that lags, a ram that never quite fires. These small signs are often dismissed as part of farming, yet Dr Dave Midgley, CEO of the Ruminant Veterinary Association of South Africa, warns that they mark the start of real costs.

“Healthy animals are supposed to stay healthy. If they’re getting sick, the system has already failed,” he says.

It is not said as criticism, but as diagnosis of the system, not the farmer. And it sets the tone for how he sees livestock production; not as a series of individual treatments, but as a continuous effort to prevent breakdown.

“I don’t see my role as a veterinarian as being to doctor sick animals, but to keep healthy animals healthy because healthy animals produce and reproduce much better than sick animals.”

THE ANIMAL THAT LOOKS FINE

An animal that dies on the farm is a clear and costly loss. But animals that are subclinically ill, or only partially recover, can be just as damaging by quietly eroding profitability over time. The impact is often seen first in production.

According to Midgley, disease and the stress associated with it can reduce both the quantity and quality of output.

In wool sheep, illness can result in lower wool yields and increased wool break. In meat-producing animals, it can slow growth rates, increase finishing times, and reduce carcass weight and meat quality. Dairy cows and reproductive females (ewes and beef cows) may produce less, and lower-quality milk.

The longer-term effects are often less visible. Midgley explains that a cow may appear healthy after recovering from a reproductive infection, yet fail to conceive consistently thereafter.