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Stocker Cattle Health Management •
Time to Tighten the Belt
Stocker Cattle Health Management
Jeremy Powell, DVM
Proper health management is a vital part of any successful
stocker operation. The investment in disease prevention is always
less than the subsequent cost of disease treatment. Management of newly received or weaned calves during the first three to four
weeks may very well determine the profit or loss of a stocker cattle
enterprise.
When receiving stocker cattle, have all calves delivered to the
farm during a short period of time (between one day to a few days).
Handle the calves as one group from that point. Do not mix new
calves with calves that have been settled. If new calves are
purchased, keep them separate and handle them as a different group.
Assume that all incoming calves need complete processing.
Calves should be placed in a large, clean pen or in a small
pasture directly off the truck and be given free access to good
quality grass hay and fresh, clean water. Provide ample feed trough
space for each animal. Eighteen inches of feed bunk space per calf
is adequate. Process calves within a few hours of their arrival to
your operation; however, if the cattle have traveled a great
distance, a good rule of thumb is to wait one hour for every hour
they were on the truck before processing. This waiting period allows
the cattle to rest and settle down before undergoing processing.
Vaccination
You typically will not know the vaccination history for most
cattle you purchase; therefore, it is reasonable to assume that the
calves have not received any previous vaccinations. Vaccinations
should include a 5-way viral vaccine that includes Infectious Bovine
Rhinotracheitis (IBR), Bovine Viral Diarrhea (BVD) type I and II,
Parainfluenza3 (PI3) and Bovine Respiratory Syncytial Virus (BRSV).
Calves should also receive a 7-way clostridial vaccine (“Blackleg”).
Cattle should receive booster injections of both vaccines
approximately 14 days following the initial injections.
Management of newly received or weaned calves during the
first three to four weeks may very well determine the profit or loss of a stocker
cattle enterprise.
Other vaccines for bacterial causes of bovine respiratory disease
(BRD) are commercially available. These vaccines include
Mannheimia haemolytica Pasteurella multocida, Haemophilus somnus and
Mycoplasma bovis. Many producers and veterinarians have
differing opinions on how effective these bacterial vaccines are for
a stocker cattle operation. Since situations vary from farm to farm,
consult with your veterinarian about the vaccination requirements
for your particular operation.
Additional processing should include providing each calf with a
unique ear tag, castrating all intact males, administering a
dewormer and dehorning or tipping the horns of any horned calves in
the group. If scales are available, you should also take an
individual weight on each calf during processing. Record keeping is
an important part of receiving management. Keep an accurate record
about the details of vaccinating and processing each group of
calves.
Mass Medication
Metaphylatic antibiotic therapy – mass medication of an entire
group of animals to minimize an anticipated disease outbreak –
should be considered for some “high-risk” groups of cattle.
Generally, it is worthwhile to mass medicate an entire group if 25
percent or more of the group is expected to get sick with
respiratory disease. The number of animals that exhibit illness can
be affected by many risk factors, including weather, vaccination
history, size/age of cattle, time of year, commingling and weaning
status.
Respiratory Disease
By far, the most common disease issue in stocker cattle is bovine
respiratory disease (aka pneumonia or shipping fever). Clinical
signs for this disease can include decreased activity or depression,
lowered head, increased respiratory rate, runny nose, poor appetite,
separation from the herd, soft coughing and gaunt appearance. Early
detection and treatment of respiratory disease is essential. If
treatment is delayed, this will only increase the number of deaths
or chronically infected animals in the herd. As the disease
progresses, severe lung damage occurs. Typically, the damage that
takes place with this disease is irreversible. That is why early
detection and early treatment is important.
Calves should be observed each morning for signs of respiratory
disease or other ailments, and a clinical score should be assigned
to the calves exhibiting signs of illness (see Table 1). Calves
determined to be examined should have their temperature taken.
Normal temperature for cattle is 101.5 degrees Fahrenheit, and
cattle should receive appropriate antibiotics if their body
temperature exceeds 104 degrees Fahrenheit. Cattle will exhibit a
somewhat fluctuating body temperature based on diurnal patterns and
ambient temperature. Therefore, it is best to check cattle in the
morning hours when those factors are least likely to affect the body
temperature. All calves showing a rectal temperature of greater than
104 degrees Fahrenheit or exhibiting a clinical illness score of
greater than 2 (regardless of rectal temperature) should undergo
treatment.
Records should be kept for each calf that is pulled and treated.
For each sick calf, a treatment card should be prepared that
includes the date, calf number, a clinical illness score and the
name of the antibiotic treatment administered. Record keeping allows
you to track treatment expenses and allows you to abide by proper
drug withdrawal periods. Consult with your veterinarian to obtain
assistance with establishing an antibiotic treatment program for
sick cattle. Table 2 gives an example of a treatment schedule that
could be implemented for a stocker cattle operation.
Table 1. Clinical Illness Scores (CIS) for Calves
| Score
|
Description
|
Appearance |
| 1 |
Slightly ill |
Mild
depression, gaunt, +/- ocular/nasal discharge |
| 2 |
Moderately ill |
Ocular/nasal
discharge, gaunt, lags behind other animals in the group,
coughing, labored breathing, moderate depression, +/- rough hair coat, weight loss |
| 3 |
Severely ill |
Severe
depression, labored breathing, purulent ocular/nasal
discharge, not responsive to human approach |
| 4 |
Moribund |
Near death |
Table 2. Example Treatment Schedule for Bovine Respiratory
Disease (BRD)
Therapy 1: Drug X ( _cc/100 lbs)
After administering
Therapy 1, recheck calf in 48-72 hours. If clinical illness
score is greater than the initial score OR if rectal
temperature is still ≥ 104 degrees Fahrenheit, then
treatment failure has occurred and go to Therapy 2.
Otherwise, consider this treatment a success.
Therapy 2: Drug Y ( _cc/100 lbs)
After administering
Therapy 2, recheck calf in 48-72 hours. If clinical illness
score is greater than the initial score OR if rectal
temperature is still ≥ 104 degrees Fahrenheit, then
treatment failure has occurred and go to Therapy 3.
Otherwise, consider this treatment a success.
Also use Therapy 2
for calves that responded to Therapy 1 but relapsed less
than 21 days since receiving Therapy 1.
Therapy 3: Drug Z ( _cc/100 lbs)
After administering
Therapy 3, recheck calf in 48-72 hours. If clinical illness
score is greater than the initial score OR if rectal
temperature is still ≥ 104 degrees Fahrenheit, then
treatment failure has occurred and the calf is identified as
a “Chronic.” Otherwise, consider the treatment a success.
Also use Therapy 3
for calves that responded to Therapy 2 but relapsed less
than 21 days after receiving Therapy 2.
(If clinical signs reoccur more than 21 days after administering
any previous therapy, then this is considered a new episode and you
should begin with Therapy 1.)
Table 3 demonstrates a general schedule to follow for processing
and caring for stocker cattle on your operation. For more
information about stocker cattle management, visit your county
Extension office. (This article has been adapted from the University
of Arkansas Cooperative Extension publication MP 379.
Table 3. Calf Health Schedule
| Day
|
Major
Activities |
Comments |
|
0-1 |
Calves arrive.
Place calves in pasture/pens near working facility. |
Provide good
quality grass hay and fresh water. |
| Process calves
Vaccinations:
IBR-BVD-PI3-BRSV
7-way Clostridial |
Process calves
within a few hours of arrival. Consult your veterinarian
for total health program. |
| Parasite
control |
Treat all
calves for intestinal parasites. Use fly control during
summer months as needed.
Treat for lice and grubs as needed. |
| Further
processing: Ear tag each calf
Implant
Castrate intact males
Weigh each calf
Dehorn (if needed)
Abort pregnant heifers
Mass medicate (if needed) |
Record
processing information about group using copies of
Addendum 1. Record arrival weights to track gain. |
| Each day |
Observe calves
for illness each morning. Treat calves exhibiting signs of
respiratory disease. |
Signs include
nasal discharge, gaunt, decreased activity, coughing,
labored breathing, rough hair coat. Calves exhibiting signs of illness and a body temperature
greater than 104° F should be treated. |
| - 14 |
Repeat
vaccinations. |
Follow label
instructions or check with your consulting veterinarian
for vaccines that should be boostered. |
| 65-100 |
Re-implant
calves (if needed). |
Follow label
instructions and check withdrawal periods for implanting. |
Notes:
a. Keep epinephrine on hand when vaccinating calves to treat for
anaphylactic shock which may occur on rare occasions.
b. Always read and follow all label instructions, precautions and
withdrawal times on pharmaceutical products that are used on calves.
Time to Tighten the Belt
Brett Barham, Ph.D.
Every producer needs to look at his or her operation
under a microscope to determine areas of inefficiencies and
to work on addressing those problems.
Every day, the news seems to be dominated by the rising costs of
fuel and food. I doubt this is anything new for cattle producers,
with the increasing costs of inputs on the farm. If you have not
started to think about how this is going to affect your management,
you’d better. Producers who adjust their management to meet the
current conditions are much more likely to remain in business. Every
producer needs to look at his or her operation under a microscope to
determine areas of inefficiencies and to work on addressing those
problems. Most producers will come to one of two solutions: 1) Keep
outputs the same and reduce input costs, or 2) Keep input costs the
same and increase outputs. Either of those options represent ways of
increasing production efficiency. One thing is certain, detailed
records to track expenses and income are important in either of
those scenarios. Each producer can take those records and determine
fairly quickly if there are expenses that seem out of line. This is
where your local county agents can be of assistance. They can
compare your budgets and production levels to records that have been
collected on different projects across the state.
Once you have done all you can to control costs, the only thing
left to work on is the income side. To increase income, you must
increase the pounds of calves sold and/or the value of the calves
sold. In a Cattlemen’s College presentation at the Beef Industry
Annual Convention, Cattle-Fax analysts listed key value-added
attributes, which they called the “stair steps to profitability.”
- Performance history from the feedlot and packer adds $2 to $5
per hundredweight.
- Certification of preconditioning and weaning programs adds $4
to $8 per hundredweight.
- Source and age verification adds $10 to $25 per hundredweight.
- Verification of production practices that qualify for natural
or premium programs adds $3 to $7 per hundredweight.
Cattle-Fax analysts also listed the “11 habits of high-return
producers” in their Cattlemen’s College presentation. These are:
1. Below-average annual cow costs.
2. Lower-than-average calf breakeven levels.
3. Lower feed costs.
4. Lower interest expense, less debt.
5. Lower general operating expenses.
6. Higher average weaning weights.
7. Higher conception rates.
8. More pounds weaned per cow exposed.
9. More high-quality bulls with good genetics.
10. Preventative herd-health programs.
11. High-quality pastures to maintain nutritional requirements of
the cow.
How many of these “good habits” do you have? As you can see, the
first five items in this list deal with controlling costs. In most
cases, controlling costs may be easier to accomplish than increasing
income. Sometimes increasing revenue requires spending money in some
areas. Increasing expenditures can actually lower costs if you look
at it in terms of cost per unit of production, such as per pound of
weaned calf. If a $20 expense results in 40 additional pounds of
weaned calf, you come out ahead. Examples that would fall in this
category include expenses for implants, preconditioning or better
genetics.
The management changes needed to be successful in the current
market and economy will be different for each individual producer.
The one certainty will be that those who fail to change and optimize
production will continue to face financial difficulties. This would
be a great time to gather some records and spend some time with your
local county agent and develop a plan that will help you to become
more efficient.
Jeremy Powell, DVM Assistant Professor - Veterinarian
Brett Barham, Ph.D. Assistant Professor - Breeding and Genetics
The information given herein is for educational purposes only.
Reference to commercial products or trade names is made with the
understanding that no discrimination is intended and no endorsement
by the Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service is implied.
Printed by the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension
Service Printing Services.
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