Impact of Pinkeye (Infectious Bovine Kerato-Conjunctivitis) on Weaning and Postweaning Performance of Hereford Calves

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Abstract
Data were collected on 158 purebred Hereford calves born in a single herd during the spring of 1971. During the last week of July, all calves were evaluated subjectively for the presence or absence of pinkeye. The calves were weaned during the first week of October at an average age of 205 days, and all of the bulls and heifers were placed on their respective 160-day postweaning performance test. For 205-day weight, there was a 36 and 40 lb (17 and 18 kg) advantage for bulls and heifers, respectively, that had no pinkeye compared to those that had pinkeye during the preweaning period. For the postweaning data, bulls that had no pinkeye during the preweaning period had a greater postweaning average daily gain, weight per day of age, final weight and 365-day weight. With the exception of postweaning average daily gain, a similar trend was evident for the heifers although the differences were not significant. It would appear, that especially for bulls, the pinkeye condition contracted during the preweaning period does have some carry-over effect into the postweaning period. There was a 15% higher incidence of pinkeye in bulls than in heifers, and apparently a genetic factor is associated with the pinkeye condition since the percent incidence by sire group varied from 0% to 62%. Copyright © 1974. American Society of Animal Science . Copyright 1974 by American Society of Animal Science.

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