The full swing of summer will bring high temperatures, high humidity and high chances of heat stress.

“Foot-and-mouth disease [FMD] is going to be a bigger disaster when it comes to market disruption than what we faced with COVID-19,” said Danelle Bickett-Weddle, associate director for the Center for Food Security and Public Health at Iowa State University.

Pinkeye can erode profits due to treatment costs and production losses. Although vaccine efficacy has not been verified by field research studies, a case study in Alabama indicates good control with custom-made vaccines.

Summer is typically a highly anticipated season. School is out, vacations are planned and the long, sunny days are enjoyed. But for cattle producers, there is one summertime occurrence that is not looked forward to – pinkeye within the cattle herd.

Mycoplasma bovis is a devastating and often overlooked pathogen that affects cattle and bison.

Animals can experience stress in all aspects of beef cattle management. Some stressful events are in a producer’s control, and some are not. But in any case, producers should do what they can to minimize stress that can compromise immune systems and make cattle more susceptible to disease.

As weather begins to warm, it is easy to think you’re out of the woods from the health risks spurred by the cold, winter months – but not so fast there, friends.

Temperatures have cooled off, days are shortening and many producers are in the throes of weaning and preparing to ship this year’s calf crop, marking it officially fall.