Death Linked to Strep Zoo Attributed to Stress

Feb 03, 2020

The Manager of the Canada West Swine Health Intelligence Network suggests the stress of long transit, mixing, and long waits at assembly yards or slaughter plants may be among the aggravating factors that have led to sudden death linked to Sreptecoccus zooepidemicus.

Streptococcus zooepidemicus, or Strep zoo, is a bacterial infection that has recently been linked to the sudden deaths of sows. The affected age groups on farms have primarily been gilts or sows but there have also been increased numbers of abortions in affected barns and impacts on 35 day pregnancy rates.

Canada West Swine Health Intelligence Network Manager Dr. Jette Christensen notes the infection has been seen in slaughter plants in the U.S. Midwest, on a couple of assembly yards in Manitoba and on four farms in Manitoba.

Clip-Dr. Jette Christensen-Canada West Swine Health Intelligence Network:

What is causing more discussion right now is the sudden deaths that we've seen in assembly yards and abattoirs. When we've had, particularly sows, not finishers but sows, shipped to slaughter, they go sometimes through multiple points before they reach slaughter.

They can be underway from the farm to the final slaughter plant for a couple of days and that's when we see the sudden death. It's been up to ten percent over a three to five day period and even higher if you look at batches over longer time periods.

It's been suggested that long transit, mixing and long wait times in holding pens at slaughter houses or assembly yards contribute to this high mortality that has been linked to Strep zoo.

Source : Farmscape

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.