Agricultural News
Vigilance, Proper Medication Crucial For Successful BRD Treatment
Tue, 04 Sep 2012 12:38:03 CDT
The late summer and early fall is a prime time for Bovine Respiratory Disease to show up in beef calves. Beef veterinarian Larry Hollis talks Radio Oklahoma Network Farm Director Ron Hays in the latest Beef Buzz about how producers should manage B-R-D in their herds. He stresses the importance of producers being able to identify the disease in its early stages.
"The whole secret to success is the person watching the cattle. Pneumonia can slip up on you if you're not paying attention and watching for it. And a calf may be so far gone, his lungs so permanently damaged that it doesn't matter what antibiotic you use, you're not going to be able to bring that calf back. The caretaker, the person looking after these calves, is really the critical element for success."
Hollis says early detection, effective antibiotics, and persistent treatment are the keys to successfully treating BRD. He says that it is imperative that producers work with their veterinarians in developing a B-R-D control plan.
"Nearly all of the modern products out there are prescription products rather than something you can buy over the counter down at the feed store. And so you need to be in contact with your veterinarian to see, Number 1, what they think would be the appropriate product based upon what bugs they think you may be dealing with. So that's always the critical starting point. And because these are prescription products, you have to have the veterinarian involved. You have to have what is called a veterinarian-client-patient relationship before the veterinarian can even write a script for these drugs or provide these drugs to you."
There are a number of new products for BRD that requires only one treatment. Dr. Hollis talks about the main advantages of a single treatment versus multi-treatment medications.
"We've really got some wonderful new products that give us multiple days of activity from a single injection. Or, on the feed additive side, we've got some really good feed additive products that work as well. Looking at the injectible products that's where I really see a lot of advancement here in the last several years. But, it all goes back again to if you don't find the animal and determine that they're sick, then it doesn't matter which one of these that you use, it may be too little, too late."
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Network- but is also a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the LISTEN BAR below for today's show- and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
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