Agricultural News
Dr. Peggy Thompson of BI Says Cattle Riding the Temperature Rollercoaster Face Extra Stress
Tue, 26 Nov 2019 07:10:18 CST
Here in Oklahoma and across the southern Plains, they say if you don't like the weather, wait 24 hours, and you'll get something different. We all know that to be very true, and while it's hard on the residents, it's also hard on livestock. Dr. Peggy Thompson, a Cattle Professional Services Veterinarian for Boehringer Ingelheim, says it's a challenge for our beef cattle, "It's very challenging when we have those weather swings. Just those weather swings in themselves can lend cattle to getting sick. It's very important for producers to consider pre-conditioning those cattle, so at least when we have those weather swings that their immune systems are up to par in case they run into any of these viral diseases that can cause respiratory disease. If we can get those cattle vaccinated before we actually wean them, then it's actually less stress on that calf certainly, and they can respond better to those vaccinations. and hopefully, combat that disease a little faster."
Thompson also believes vaccinations in the cattle industry are a hugely valuable tool for our cattle producers, but she reminds producers, it's just a tool, "It's very important to have good nutrition, it's very important on how you manage those cattle and how you manage those yards. If those cattle are standing in mud up to their bellies those vaccines are not going to help that, but certainly we do know these cattle can run into these diseases when they leave operations and go to a sale barn or go to a feedlot, so having those vaccinations on board where we can create that immune response before they go to those challenging operations would be the best bet."
One Bovine disease that cattle producers must pay attention to is BVD, "Yes, the Bovine Viral Diarrhea virus is one of those diseases that can be really silent, but it can cause you issues. A lot of the issues we see with BVD are subclinical, and what that means to a producer is that he's not going to see anything."
BVD is hard to see because it can look like other diseases that producers fight, so your typical signs of off-feed, depressed, possible coughing and discharge could be BVD, but it could also be something else. While BVD may not be on every producer's lot, Thompson says the chances are high that they could see it at their next stop, "The odds of those cattle running into it the next place they go, I would say are extremely high, so it still needs to be on a producers radar."
Click on the LISTEN BAR below to hear comments with Dr. Peggy Thompson in today's Beef Buzz with Ron Hays.
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Network and is 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.
(Picture courtesy of AgWired)
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