A disease that has been around for generations. A disease that some cattle producers say it’s getting tougher to deal with, is Bovine Respiratory Disease or BRD. Bayer Animal Health Senior Technical Services Veterinarian Dr. Larry Hawkins said this is the toughest ongoing challenge producers deal with.
"Over 65 percent of the treatments given in the cattle industry are because of respiratory disease in cattle," Hawkins said.
BRD is a complex disease that combines virus’, bacteria and stress . Hawkins said it’s the number one disease for the cattle industry that causes a lot of economic losses and emotional impact to cattlemen.
"They do, it’s their livelihood, it’s their business, they’re animal caretakers," Hawkins said. "They take it as a personal attack when their cattle get sick. They think they’ve done the best they can possibly do as far as vaccines, as far as purchasing the best cattle that they came up in many cases. Then those animals get sick, they want to provide for them in the best manner. So they treat them, they use the best antibiotics and still sometimes they are not as successful as they would like to be. Again, bovine respiratory disease is the number one killer of calves today in the beef industry."
Dr. Hawkins said it’s important that cattle producers understand that prevention of BRD begins with good cattle management. He said good nutrition plays a big role in helping cattle recover from long hauls.
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