9. us cattel production current approaches to brd in us feedlots

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US cattle production –Current approaches to BRD in US feedlots

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Why the risk is so high for pneumonia in US cattle

Bovine Respiratory Disease (BRD)

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Calves on the farm

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US Beef cattle production

• Beef Cows – 32,434,500 head• Replacement Heifers – 5,646,500

head• Number of operations – 766,350 • Average herd size (cows) – 42.3

USDA. 2008 Beef 2007-08, Part III: Changes in Beef Cow-Calf Industry, 1993-2008

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US beef cattle production

• 54.1 percent of cows from herd size 100 head or more

• Calves born from Feb-April – 58.8 %• Calf average age at weaning – 207 days• Calf average weaning weight

– Bulls and steers – 559 lbs (254 kg)– Other heifers – 515 lbs (234 kg)– Replacement heifers – 532 lbs (241 kg)


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USDA NASS

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Trailer to the auction

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Through the auction

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• Marketing Methods in the US– Auction – 82.4 %– Direct-video – 1.1 %– Direct-private treaty – 11.6 %– Consignment – 1.1 %– Forward contract – 0.3 %


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Re-grouped into trucks

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• Transported to feedlots in “pots”– Pots are the common term for the type of

trailer used– A full trailer is termed a “pot load”– A pot load = 50,000 lbs (22,680 kg) of

calves– At 500 lbs a head = approximately 100

head of calves per pot load– On average – calves from at least 2 origins

on each pot load

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Into the feedlot (150K head)

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• US Feedlots – in 1995– 41,365 feedlot operations in the top 13

states marketed 23.4 million cattle– 95.3% of feedlots had less than 1000 head

one time capacity– Feedlots with 1000 head or greater one

time capacity marketed 90.2% of cattle– Number of 1000 head plus capacity –

approximately 1,800 (1999)

Managing for Today’s Cattle Market and Beyond, March 2002, CE Ward, TC Schroeder

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Managing for Today’s Cattle Market and Beyond, March 2002, CE Ward, TC Schroeder

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Animal Health Research Reviews 10(2); 101-103, 2009. DG Miles

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NASS, USDA, Agriculture Statistics Board, Cattle on Feed, December 2009

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NASS, USDA, Agriculture Statistics Board, Cattle on Feed, December 2009

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Processed at the feedlot

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USDA. 2000 Part I: Baseline Reference of Feedlot Management Practices, 1999.

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USDA. 2000 Part I: Baseline Reference of Feedlot Management Practices, 1999.

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2 points of antibiotic use

Off the truck Sick in pen

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USDA VS Info Sheet, Treatment of Respiratory Disease in US Feedlots, October 2001

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Terminology

Metaphylaxis= control = prevention

Treatment = pull & treat

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Treatment protocol

Arrival processing at feedlot

“Low risk”

No metaphylaxis

1st pull treatment“Expensive” long acting product

Re-pull treatmentCheaper product

Possible “moratorium”

Risk determination based on origin, source and history

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Canadian Veterinary Journal 2008; 49:373-378. MW Sanderson, DA Dargatz, BA Wagner

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J Anim Sci 2009.87:314-327. AH Babcock, BJ White, SS Dritz, DU Thomson, DG Renter

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• Data from Midwest feedlot collected from 1 Jan 2001 to 2 Feb 2006

• 31,131 cattle treated for respiratory disease• Diagnosis based on opinion of feedlot

personnel– Diagnosis based on– Animal appearance– Animal demeanor – Body temperature


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Conclusions

• For 5WT and 6WT cattle, the earlier in the feeding period that cattle were diagnosed with BRD and treated the more times they were treated and had a decrease in ADG

• Steers were treated an average of 1.6 times


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Key individual

Pen rider

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• Pen rider – “Cowboy”• The most important decisions

about health• Determines the need for further

evaluation and/ or treatment–Diagnosis of “buckets”

• BRD, GI, lameness, brainer, other

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• Illness determination• Almost uniformly “subjective”• Animal appearance

– Lack of rumen fill, nasal discharge, increased respiratory rate and/or effort

• Animal demeanor– Lowered head and ears, reluctance to move,

decreased response to stimuli• Rectal temperature ?

– Must be interpreted in the context of the animals other clinical signs

2007, 79th Western Veterinary Conference, Robert L Larson

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Metaphylaxis protocol

Arrival processing at feedlot

“High risk”

Metaphylaxis

Treat all animals in the group

“Expensive” long acting product

Re-pull treatmentCheaper product

Possible “moratorium”

Risk determination based on origin, source and history

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US beef cattle production -Metaphylaxis

• Definition – the mass treatment of animal populations currently experiencing any level of disease before the onset of blatant illness

• Can be considered as a prevention as well as a curative treatment

Vet Clin Food Anim 26 (2010) 285-301. JS Nickell, BJ White

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• General guidelines for metaphylactictreatment– 1. clinical appearance of cattle on arrival– 2. current (and expected) morbidity/ mortality

patterns– 3. feed consumption– 4. elevated body temperature – 5. efficacy of products labeled for the control of BRD


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• Factors to consider in predicting BRD – Lightweight cattle from multiple origins– Previous health history– Distance of travel to feedlot– Time of year– Weather– Transit conditions (weather extremes)

It may be helpful to plot BRD cases to predict disease incidence using epidemic curves


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Questions?

9. us cattel production current approaches to brd in us feedlots

Health & Medicine

us beef cattle production

us beef cattle production

cattle number

wt cattle

us auction

todays cattle market

beef cowcalf industry

head of calves