Health & Health Mistakes Impact Performance & Profitability
GERING, Neb. (Nov. 28, 2011) — Dee Griffin has spent most of his veterinary career dealing with bovine respiratory disease (BRD) in feedlot cattle. A feedlot veterinarian at the University of Nebraska Great Plains Veterinary Education Center, Griffin says there is a long list of viral infections and secondary bacterial infections that result in costly respiratory disease among newly arrived feedlot cattle. It’s costly because of the money invested in preventing disease, and later treating the calves that get sick anyway. There is also the cost of lost cattle performance, because disease negatively affects average daily gain, feed conversion and carcass merit.
Speaking Nov. 28 during the "Managing for Success" seminar hosted by Certified Angus Beef LLC in Gering, Neb., Griffin said early diagnosis and treatment of respiratory disease is a tough job. Until they are really sick, most calves do a good job of hiding it, he explained. Among cattle found to have lung lesions at harvest, up to 58% had never been identified as sick and had never received any treatment.
"One thing that is critical to having a calf remain healthy in the feedyard is being born to a healthy mother, " said Dee Griffin.Griffin reviewed important aspects of early detection and treatment of calves, but also stressed the importance of minimizing the incidence of disease. He questioned the wisdom of vaccinating calves or mass medicating them upon arrival at a feedlot, noting pre-arrival management may be the most important factor supporting calf health in the feedlot.
“One thing that is critical to having a calf remain healthy in the feedyard is being born to a healthy mother,” stated Griffin, emphasizing the importance of the dam’s nutrition and health management. He stressed the need for immunizing the breeding herd against disease associated with BRD.
“Every heifer that enters the herd should have received a series of three shots, typically given at branding, preweaning or weaning, and at prebreeding. She should get a prebreeding booster every year after that,” advised Griffin.
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