Welcome to the first of three episodes of our coverage of NCBA 2024. In this episode, Carrie Veselka visits with Rob Cook, president of the National Grazing Lands Coalition, on strategies to improve grazing, Abby George discusses the impact and management of BVDV with George Perry of Texas A&M University, and Tyrell Marchant talks prenatal cattle nutrition with Ted Perry from Purina Animal Health.

Bovine viral diarrhea virus, or BVDV, is one of the most frequent diseases dealt with in cattle, in all sectors of the industry.

Most folks think summertime is typically a time to relax for cattle owners. If we’ve had sufficient rain and grass is good, we can turn cows out and not worry too much except to check water, fences and put out summer mineral. However, there are a few calf diseases that can change those plans.

Persistently infected (PI) calves continue to be a substantial threat to all segments of the cattle industry, but many producers don’t even know they are in the herd.