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Deciding whether to metaphylacticly treat a pen of cattle should be based on several factors. Knowing when to metaphylacticly treat a pen of cattle can be a difficult decision. Metaphylaxis can be expensive, but so can losing 10 percent of the pen. Dr. Bob Smith of Oklahoma State University believes in mass treating "when it's a challenge to find a healthy one," he jokes. All kidding aside, metaphylaxis, sometimes called mass treating, has a serious role in managing the health of cattle. "When disease is incubating in cattle on arrival, metaphylaxis is your best bet," he says. With disease already present, the vaccinations to prevent such disease won't help an immediate outbreak. Smith says to consider the history of the cattle when making a decision on metaphylaxis. "If the calves have been exposed to other animals outside their natural herd and co-mingled with other -- possibly sick -- cattle, metaphylaxis may be a viable option. However if the calves have not been exposed to other cattle, chances are they are not incubating disease. Unless they look sick or pull rates are high, it is probably not economically feasible to treat metaphylacticly." " Notice their sickness patterns," he says. "If you pull 10 percent or more in one day, and 10 percent the next, then it's probably time to treat metaphylaticly." Typically, cattle do not show clinical signs of illness until lung tissue damage has already taken place. When you've pulled 20 percent of the pen, you're likely looking at a lot of damaged lungs. If you expect a morbidity rate of over 25 percent based on the way the cattle look, their history, size, etc., metaphylaxis is probably a good choice. "In stocker cattle 90 to 95 percent of sickness is due to respiratory disease. In fact, 88 percent of deaths are due to BRD," Smith says. "Preventing them from ever getting sick by mass treating may be the best low-cost scenario." Also consider feed consumption and body temperature. "If you temp cattle on arrival or as they're processed, those with a temp of 104 or higher are probably getting sick." But you have to consider other factors with body temperature, like the outside temperature, if the cattle were just sorted or off-loaded from the truck, etc. "Factors other than illness can make the temperature rise." Metaphylaxis typically reduces the pull rates on a pen of cattle, Smith says. "If they are likely to get sick, but you head it off with an antibiotic, you will probably improve the performance on that pen of cattle." He also says metaphylaxis can overcome personal inexperience of the pen riders or doctors, if they are pulling cattle too late. "Also decide if you have room in the hospital to house a large number from one pen. Can we manage all these cattle if they get sick?" He warns that metaphylaxis does not eliminate all medical problems, and he's not sure its future. "With the scare of producing resistant bacteria in humans, the government may ultimately limit the use of mass medication," he warns. However, until that time, consider a variety of factors -- including cost -- when determining if metaphylaxis is a viable option. |
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