Livestock health monitoring is critical even if you’re lucky enough to have a fabulous veterinarian who treats the myriad critters you have on hand. However, even if your vet’s incredible, learning to recognize that an animal is ill or unwell will go a long way to ensuring you’re not the owner who cries wolf and monopolizes your vet’s time with issues that aren’t actually issues.
Learning how to take an animal’s temperature, pulse and respiration rates can give you insider information as to whether an animal is well. Comparing the numbers you gather while livestock health monitoring with values deemed normal for farmyard friends can tell you immediately if a call to the vet is crucial.
While the information provided in this article offers ranges of values considered average by species, it’s helpful to take the pulse, respiration and temperature of each animal you own a few times over the course of a few weeks so you can determine what is normal for your herd. Some individuals run hotter or colder than average or their heart may beat slower or faster than what the guidelines deem as normal. This in and of itself isn’t cause for concern; if you consistently replicate the same or similar values, those numbers are just what makes your animal a unique individual.
When referring to what’s deemed typical, consider other parameters as well, such as the animal’s age and phase of life. For example, how old an animal is and its size may affect how often it breathes or how fast its heart beats. Newborn animals will have higher heart and respiration rates than adult animals, and larger livestock tend to have slower heart rates than those that are smaller in stature.
LIVESTOCK HEALTH MONITORING
TEMPERATURE
An elevated temperature is often the first indication that something is amiss with an animal’s well-being. However, things such as season, time of day, weather conditions and exercise may influence an animal’s body temperature.
Livestock owners should use a digital thermometer to take their animal’s temperature; though it can be tempting to use the no-contact thermometer, these tools have proven inaccurate on animals (most likely because of the fur, feather, fiber or hair covering most of the animal’s body). The end of the thermometer must be placed inside the animal’s rectum to get an accurate reading of the critter’s core body temperature.
Placing a thin layer of lubricant such as petroleum jelly on the end of the thermometer will make taking the animal’s temperature more comfortable. It’s vitally important that the person doing the temperature-taking not stand directly behind the patient to avoid getting kicked. Most animals do better when someone who isn’t the temperature-taker is restraining their head.
To take the temperature of a four-legged animal, grasp the tail at its base and gently shift it to the side, the slide the thermometer into the rectum, ensuring no force is used. Once the thermometer has beeped that a temperature has been determined, remove the thermometer.
PULSE
Locating an animal’s pulse can be a bit trickier than taking its temperature, and finding the heart rate of larger livestock can sometimes be easier than locating it on smaller animals. To take an animal’s pulse, find a large blood vessel close to its skin. Pressing hard enough that you can feel the rhythm of blood in the animal’s artery, count the beats for 15 seconds and multiply by four. A heartbeat has two distinct sounds:a “lub” and then a “dub,” but the two together (“lub-dub”) is one heartbeat.
There are multiple places you can check your horse, donkey, mule or cow’s heart rate, including under the jaw, beneath the tail bone or on the fetlock. If you have a stethoscope, find the animal’s pulse behind the point of the left elbow. No matter where you find the animal’s pulse, count the beats for 15 seconds, then multiply by four.
An elevated pulse (or respiration rate) doesn’t always indicate illness; it could be simply that the animal is fearful or excited.
RESPIRATION
Respiration is the act of inhaling oxygen and exhaling carbon dioxide. To get an accurate respiratory rate, the animal should be quiet; it shouldn’t be taken immediately after the animal has exerted himself.
Often an accurate respiration rate can be obtained by simply observing the animal, counting the number of times his nostrils flare or his ribs expand. If you’re struggling to see either of these, you can also place a hand in front of the animal’s nose to feel him exhale. Determine how many times this happens in a 15-second period, then multiply by four.
Respiration rate should never exceed the pulse rate.
LIVESTOCK HEALTH MONITORING: ANIMAL AVERAGES
The accepted average ranges for temperature, pulse and respiration rates for common hobby-farm livestock follow.
HORSE
Temperature: 99 to 101°F
Pulse: 28 to 44 beats per minute
Respiration: 8 to 14 breaths per minute (at rest)
The easiest way to take an equid’s pulse is to place your fingers under the jawbone and press lightly toward the cheek, like where you would find the pulse in your neck. The artery will feel like a piece of thin rope; you’ll feel the blood flowing through the vein by applying gentle pressure.
MULE
Temperature: 99 to 100°F
Pulse: 29 to 36 bpm
Respiration: 11 to 24 breaths per minute (at rest)
While mules are not a species (they’re a hybrid of a horse and a donkey), information on clinical parameters such as temperature, pulse and respiration in mules is incredibly scarce. When looking at recent studies, heart rate in mules appears slower than in other equine, but respiration rate appears to be comparable to those reported in horses.
DONKEY
Temperature: 97.2 to 100°F
Pulse: 36 to 68 bpm
Respiration: 12 to 44 breaths per minute (at rest)
If you’re handling an animal that is unfamiliar with having its temperature taken, assess its pulse and respiration rates before taking its temperature. This will eliminate the possibility of these rates being falsely elevated by stress from the introduction of a new procedure.
PIG
Temperature: 101.5 to 103.5°F
Pulse: 55 to 86 bpm
Respiration: 8 to 18 breaths per minute (at rest)
An arterial pulse cannot be found on a pig; his heart must be felt directly to check his pulse. It’s worthwhile to train your pig to lie on his back so that when you need to feel his chest for his heart rate, the position won’t be completely foreign.
DAIRY CATTLE
Temperature: 101 to 103°F
Pulse: 48 to 84 bpm
Respiration: 18 to 28 breaths per minute (at rest) Respiration rate in cattle is often taken by counting flank movements more than the flaring of nostrils. Start timing on an exhale.
BEEF CATTLE
Temperature: 100 to 102.5°F
Pulse: 50 to 70 bpm
Respiration: 10 to 30 breaths per minute (at rest)
A cow’s pulse can be taken by feeling the artery along the lower edge of the mandible or by feeling the coccygeal artery near the base of the tail. It can also be taken by placing a stethoscope on the left-hand side of the cow, behind his elbow.
SHEEP
Temperature: 101 to 104°F
Pulse: 70 to 80 bpm
Respiration: 12 to 20 breaths per minute (at rest)
The pulse of sheep and goats is often most accessible by feeling the saphenous artery, which runs down the inside of the hind leg. A sheep’s heartrate may increase by more than 50 percent if handling causes him stress, but it will return to near-normal in 5 to 10 minutes.
GOAT
Temperature: 101 to 103.5°F
Pulse: 60 to 90 bpm
Respiration: 12 to 20 breaths per minute (at rest)
Goats and sheep should have noses that are cool and dry; healthy animals will frequently lick their noses with their tongues. A goat that sneezes occasionally is nothing to worry about; goats sneeze when they sense danger to alert other herd members; young goats may sneeze while playing.
LLAMA & ALPACA
Temperature: 99.5 to 102°F
Pulse: 60 to 90 bpm
Respiration: 10 to 30 breaths per minute (at rest)
When checking for the respiration rate of any animal, determine if the animal is struggling to get air into or out of its lungs. Begin by looking at its nostrils and note if they’re flaring (indicating the animal is breathing hard) and if there is any discharge. Is he coughing or sneezing?
Work your visual assessment backward, to the abdomen: Does the animal appear to be struggling to either get air in or expel it from his lungs? Does the animal make any noise while he’s breathing? Any wheezing, snuffling, rattling or groaning is a sign something is amiss; normal breathing is silent unless the animal is exerting itself.
CHICKEN
Temperature: 105 to 107°F
Pulse: 250 to 300 bpm
Respiration: 12 to 37 breaths per minute (at rest)
Like a dog, chickens don’t sweat, so if a hen is breathing through her mouth, she’s likely trying to regulate her body temperature. However, this can also be a sign of stress or illness.
A chicken’s temperature is often more easily taken when there are two handlers: one who can restrain the chicken and one to insert a digital thermometer about an inch into the chicken’s vent.
Livestock health monitoring is relatively easy and few tools are needed other than a keen eye and a watch with a second hand or timer. However, it’s important to know what “average” is for the animals you have. Additionally, as individuals can have their own “normal” that is unique to them, knowing each individual animal’s routine pulse, respiration rate and temperature is key to ensuring you know when something is amiss.
This article about livestock health monitoring was written for Hobby Farms magazine. Click here to subscribe.
