It’s commonly known in the cattle industry that bovine respiratory disease (BRD) is the most costly illness affecting cattle in North America. Despite extensive research and treatment efforts over the years, it continues to lead to high rates of sickness and death among livestock.

NSAIDs are used to reduce pain, inflammation and fever and can be beneficial when used to treat cattle experiencing symptoms of BRD.

Bovine respiratory disease (BRD), or pneumonia, is the most common cause of death in cattle over 4 months old. Many different commercial vaccines are available for protection against organisms that cause BRD, but sometimes cattle get BRD even when they are vaccinated.

Moving calves from the hutches to group pens isn’t just stressful for the calves. Workers know that when a new group of calves moves into the group pen, the calves have a much greater risk of bovine respiratory disease (BRD) or pneumonia.

Vaccine protocol discussions can be energetic and entertaining amongst calf raisers, consultants and veterinarians. It ultimately leads to comparing the current vaccine protocol to a large, well-established calf raiser in the region or even nationally. There can be value in this comparison, but the real value is understanding how these successful facilities arrived at their protocol.

When calves face stress, it often threatens their respiratory health. Mitigating risk, including stress management, is a key component of a larger bovine respiratory disease (BRD) battle plan, which also includes building immunity and managing infection.

Summer can present a variety of challenges and stressors to beef cattle that can lead to bovine respiratory disease (BRD). Mitigating risk is a critical component of a larger BRD battle plan.

Since the purchase price of calves is currently high, there can be a wide price spread between the purchase price of cattle that came from a good vaccination and health program versus cattle that have not.