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Topics of Interest

Beef Cow Efficiency

Perhaps the greatest single factor affecting your profitability as a beef producer.


Body Condition Scoring

Use body condition scores (BCS) to improve herd nutrition and efficiency.

 

Feeding & Feedstuffs

Maximize pasture utilization and optimize feeding of harvested forages and supplements to efficiently meet the nutritional needs
of your herd.

 


 


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February 22 2010


HEALTH & NUTRITION...

spring parasite control

Control Parasites this Spring
to Head off Pasture Buildup

Fewer parasites mean fewer production losses for producers.

Spring parasite control — while ultimately helping to protect herd health and performance — is more about reducing levels of pasture contamination than curing sick animals.1

"Only 5% to 10% of parasites in the total system are actually in cattle at any given time,"1 explains Frank Hurtig, director, Merial Veterinary Services. "A single cow can pass millions of parasite eggs during the grazing season, which is how the remaining 90% to 95% of parasites end up on pastures — set to infect grazing cattle."

Targeting parasites in the spring hits parasites at a key stage in their life cycle and helps keep cattle from becoming parasite factories,2 he explains. This reduces the number of parasites on pastures and helps producers proactively avoid losses or reduced productivity. Read more.


Effect of Disease on Carcass Traits

In the February 2010 issue of Beef Cattle Browsing, a newsletter by Texas AgriLife Extension, Stephen Hammack, professor and Extension beef cattle specialist emeritus, summarized a study conducted by the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center at Clay Center, Neb.

The effects of bovine respiratory disease (BRD) and overall incidence of pathogenic diseases (IPD) on carcass traits were investigated. Two groups were studied. The first (GP1) included 642 crossbred steers involving seven British and Continental breeds. The second (GP2) included 621 crossbred steers involving tropically adapted Bos taurus and Bos indicus-influenced breeds, as well as British breeds.

Treatment incidence for BRD was 20% in GP1 and 24% in GP2. In both groups, cattle treated for BRD or IPD had significantly lower fat cover and numerical Yield Grade. There was a tendency for treatment in GP1 to lower percent Choice. Mechanical estimate of tenderness was significantly lower in GP2 treated for BRD, but not in GP1. These results agree with most previous research that respiratory and other sickness results in adverse effects on carcass merit.

A peer-reviewed article describing the study was published in the February 2010 issue of the Journal of Animal Science (88:491).


Equine Piroplasmosis Update

Texas Animal Health Commission provides update on the equine piroplasmosis disease investigation.

The Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC) continues to investigate the spread of equine piroplasmosis from a South Texas ranch, which was first detected in October 2009. Equine piroplasmosis is a tick-borne protozoal infection of horses. At least one species of tick, Amblyomma cajennense has proven capable of transmitting the blood parasite. This species of tick is endemic to South Texas and several other southern states. Further research is under way to determine if there are other tick species capable of transmitting the parasite. The disease may also be spread between horses by unsafe animal husbandry practices such as sharing needles or equipment that is contaminated with blood. Read more.


Rick Rasby

Rick Rasby

Ridin’ Herd

Should I creep-feed my calves?

This is a question that is commonly asked as producers try to line up spring and summer management considerations, budgets and calf-marketing options. The primary objective of this management practice is to put additional weight on the calf before weaning without making the calves fleshy, especially if sold at weaning. Fleshy calves are discounted in market price. To creep or not to creep really boils down to whether it can it be accomplished economically to increase the profit potential for the cow-calf enterprise. Read more.


Vet Link

Foot rot in beef cattle.

Foot rot is a common disease of cattle that can cause severe lameness and decreased weight gain. Other common names for the disease are sore foot and foul foot. Technically the disease is called interdigital necrobacilosis, meaning a bacterial disease creating dead tissue between the toes, the interdigital area of the foot. The incidence is usually sporadic, but with outbreaks in high-intensity operations, it may be 25% or higher. It is estimated that foot rot accounts for 75% of all lameness diagnosed in beef cattle.

Foot rot is economically important to producers because of decreased weight gain and treatment costs. In a three-year study, affected steers gained 0.45 pounds (lb.) less per day than noninfected steers. Additionally, lame bulls will not breed and, occasionally, animals with severe disease may need to be culled from the herd. Prevention and early treatment will help minimize the economic impact of this disease. Read more.


Coffee, CCT Can Give Newborns a Start

Rancher Heather Thomas offers tips for emergency food sources for chilled newborn calves.

If you find a chilled newborn calf, the first thing to do is warm and dry it as quickly as possible, then get some energy into it. To provide energy, the best thing is fresh colostrum. If this is impossible, the next best thing is thawed and warmed frozen colostrum or a commercial colostrum product. If these options are unavailable, substitute milk replacer or regular milk to get some energy into the calf so it can start generating body heat.

If you don't have any kind of milk available, an old ranchers' recipe using ingredients usually found at a cow camp calls for mixing Karo syrup into a cup of warm coffee.

"It won't replace colostrum, but it will help warm the calf," says Dick Fredrickson of Grandview, Idaho. "Caffeine in the coffee will stimulate his circulatory system, and the Karo syrup will provide some instant energy."

If eggs are available, Fredrickson says mixing a couple raw eggs into the mix will provide additional energy and protein. The emergency mixture has saved a number of calves in years past.

"Today some people use powdered colostrum, but there are differences in quality," the Simplot ranches and feedlots veterinarian says. Calf Choice Total (CCT), made in Canada, is actual cow colostrum and contains more absorbable antibodies than products made from blood, he says. "CCT is made from collected colostrum that's gone through a screening test to check for diseases such as Johne's and other infections that might be passed through the cow into her colostrum," he says. It is an all-natural product, with nothing synthetic added. He recommends it when selecting a commercial colostrum product.



cow-calf pair

Cow Diet Affects Calf Health

Calves shortchanged on colostrum do poorly throughout their growing period.

Dick Fredrickson, veterinarian at Simplot ranches and feedlots of Grandview, Idaho, says protein deficiency in cows can be a big factor in whether or not their calves do well. If cows don't have adequate protein, they cannot produce adequate colostrum.

"This is the key to a healthy calf all the way through. Inadequate passive immunity from colostrum increases risk for sickness and death in calves and decreases average gain in the nursing calf. This follows on through into the feedlot, with higher risk of sickness, respiratory disease and death and decreases in average daily gain," Fredrickson says.

These deprived calves never got their immune system off to a good start and never quite make up for it during their growing period. A calf with poor or no passive transfer of immunity is 9.5 times more likely to get sick before it is weaned and three times more likely to get sick in the feedlot, Frederickson says.

"University of Nebraska did some research on quality grade for steers whose mothers were supplemented. These cows were running on cornstalks. This study looked at cows that were supplemented with protein versus cows that were not. Calves from dams that received protein supplementation graded 86% Choice. Those from dams that had no protein supplement graded 64% Choice," he says.

Colostrum is crucial to the future of the calf. Thus it is important to make sure cows have proper nutrition so they can produce adequate high-quality colostrum, and secondly it is important to make sure each newborn calf consumes enough colostrum soon after birth.



Forage Plant Wards off Ruminant
Gastrointestinal Nematode

Kent Andersen

An ARS scientist has helped develop patented formulations of Chinese bush clover (Sericea lespedeza) that can be feed to ruminants to control gastrointestinal nematodes.

A common pasture plant could help foraging ruminants ward off damaging gastrointestinal nematodes that can cause illness and death, Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists report.

Animal scientist Joan Burke at the ARS Dale Bumpers Small Farms Research Center in Booneville, Ark., along with colleagues at several universities, has patented formulations of Sericea lespedeza, commonly referred to as Chinese bush clover. The plant was introduced in the United States in the 1930s to minimize soil erosion.

Adding the patented dry hay and pelleted forms of this plant to animal feed thwarts the reproductive cycles of gastrointestinal nematodes that are in the digestive tracts of goats and sheep. It is particularly effective in controlling the barber pole worm (Haemonchus contortus), a nematode that attaches to the animals' abomasal (true stomach) wall and feeds on their blood. Female worms can produce more than 5,000 eggs per day that are shed in the animal's manure.

After hatching outside the animal, H. contortus larvae molt several times, resulting in a more developed and infectious larval form on grass leaves that animals consume during grazing. Once the infectious larvae are inside the animal, they suck the animal's blood, potentially leading to anemia, weakness and even death.

Burke, Jorge Mosjidis at Auburn University in Alabama, Thomas Terrill at Fort Valley State University in Georgia, and James Miller at Louisiana State University are co-inventors on the patent awarded in November 2009.

 


Cattle Diseases: Common Conditions/Terms

Click here for a list of common conditions and terms related to beef cattle diseases, such as anaplasmosis, brucellosis, BVD, E. coli, IBR and others.

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