Herd Health

Fall-weaned calves are once again filling the feedlots, bringing with them their stresses, susceptibilities and weakened immune systems.

Beef cattle diseases and illnesses can be spread directly, from an infected animal to a susceptible animal, or indirectly, from an infected animal to an object and then to a susceptible animal.

Nutritional inadequacies and digestive disorders in beef cattle can result in poor animal health, lowered production and even animal losses.

Rabies occurs in all warm-blooded animals and is almost always fatal. This viral disease affects the nervous system, transmitted by saliva of an infected animal – usually with a bite or by saliva coming into contact with mucus membranes (such as the eye) or opening in the skin.

What’s the right thing when it comes to raising beef? After all, ultimately we are raising food a person will eat, not just raising the cow that produces it. With that responsibility then, what does doing the right thing look like in raising beef?

For the vast majority of cow-calf producers, this time of year is scored with the chorus of freshly weaned calves. The majority of our focus right now is directed toward weaning strategies, alleviating stress, vaccination protocols, nutrient management and marketing of the 2020 calf crop – and rightfully so.