Bovine Respiratory Disease in Cattle On-farm
Bovine Respiratory Disease (BRD) is the most common cause of illness and death in cattle triggered by a complex interaction of stress factors, viral and bacterial infections. A range of factors can predispose cattle and calves to BRD.
Stress can be caused by weaning, transport, sale yards, social restructuring, age, immunological background, dehydration and change of diet.
Viral infections include Infectious Bovine Rhinotracheitis (IBR) and Pestivirus (BVDV), whilst the bacteria Mannhaemia haemolytica is one of the most common and aggressive bugs involved in BRD.
In the early stages, BRD typically presents as inappetance with cattle appearing hunched and lethargic. As the disease progresses coughing and nasal discharge may be seen and cattle may appear depressed and withdrawn from the main herd. In many animals the disease may go unnoticed, silently impacting weight gain and meat quality.
Like people, cattle get colds. When one person gets a cold it doesn’t take long for it to spread to others. Many of us work through having a cold and cattle are much the same however they have evolved to hide their symptoms to avoid being singled out by predators.
If you see any symptoms of ‘a cold’ then it’s likely that there are many more challenged or infected cattle. During stressful times cattle are more susceptible to ‘catching a cold’. This includes periods such as weaning or where there is high density contact, like trucking or in sale yards. Disease can spread quickly and insidiously so it can be hard to notice.
Research shows that BRD infections in young cattle are responsible for production losses impacting weight gain and meat quality1.
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