 |
||||
|
||||
|
|
||||
Recovering From BRD, Management Ideas and Suggestions Opinions of Dr. James I. Sprague, Consulting Nutritionist Early Detection, Pulling and Treating During a BOVINE RESPIRATORY DISEASE (BRD) outbreak detecting, pulling and treating sick animals is fundamental. Early detection is an art. It is easy to see an animal with the head down. In my experience, one of the very early signs is a thin runny nose with the head still up. The animal may be full. The next day the animal may be in the first stages of secondary infection of the lungs. These early symptoms remind us of the first signs of a cold that we experience. Splitting and Segregating It may pay to sort and split a pen if it is breaking with BRD. Often times the animals that are pulled are from one load or one salebarn. After the split, the cattle that are breaking with BRD can be handled in a special manner similar to the hospital pen. Hospital Pens and a Recovery Pen It is our experience with our clients that more than one hospital pen is needed. It seems logical that an animal with a digestive upset should not be placed with an animal with a respiratory problem. Once the animal has made reasonable recovery, it may not always be ready to return to the main pen. A special recovery pen is suggested as a method of looking for relapses following the original stay in the hospital pens. Hospital Pen Facilities Clean, dry, quiet, with wind protection, rain protection, and hot sun protection in the summer is just a few of the considerations. Bedding is nice but if it becomes wet then it is worse than none at all. From our experience, cattle like to lay on a manure pack with clean bedding on top. Management of the bedding can be a real headache for the hospital crew. It usually takes special attention of management to get this done properly. We like to see the feedbunk on the south side or the case side of the pen so the cattle do not face the cold north or northwest winds here on the High Plains. Sheds for protection from snow, cold rain, and wind in the wintertime are nice. We like to see sheds designed so the winter sun in December can reach the back of the shed. This makes the design high in the front and low in the back. This design also helps in the summer because heat is not trapped in the shed. Sun shaders are ideal in the summer. Sunshades may need to be removed in the winter so the pen will dry out. Hospital Ration We like to use a medium energy ration for cattle that are pulled with BRD. Not all feedlot rations are acceptable for the hospital. We prefer to limit the silage in hospital rations if possible. Some feedlots use special formulated commercial hospital rations with good success. Another excellent hospital ration is palatable horse feeds that contain oats. We also like pelleted rations that contain medium energy by-products such as wheat-mid or brewers grains as part of the pellet or part of the ration. These pelleted hospital rations often contain antibiotic as a support of the treatment program. A pelleted started ration with AS700, CTC or OTC is also used successfully. The fortification of antibiotics should be coordinated with the animal health treatment programs. We have observed many techniques for managing the feed in the feedbunk of the sick pen. One operator calls it his "cafeteria" method. Long hay is on one end, a special hospital ration in the middle and a medium energy feedlot ration on the other end. Free choice mineral and salt are often used. But loose mineral is hard to manage. We suggest plain salt blocks and a commercial mineral block with calcium, phosphorus, salt and trace minerals. The intake in the sick pens is low, so supplementing mineral and salt makes good logical sense. Top Dressing Hospital Rations with Antibiotics It is difficult to get cattle in the hospital pens to consume antibiotics through the hospital rations because their intake of feed is low and variable from animal to animal. So one of the tactics is to have the animal health crew top-dress the rations with antibiotics by using a bagged product. The level of antibiotics per pound needs to be diluted to ensure distribution between the animals in the pen. A two to four grams per pound of antibiotic is as concentrated as should be used. The one that over eats will not be damaged with this tactic. The idea is only to support the medical treatment that is given. Feeding the Recovery Pen Cattle that have been in the sick pen and are returned to their original pen will not be ready for "harvesting" with their pen mates. Oklahoma research, as well as practical experience proved this. A recovery pen has several management advantages: The recovery pen can be observed for relapses of the treatment program. Antibiotic feeding may be needed for a considerable time because many of the animals have bad lungs. The marketing of the cattle from the recovery pen, when they are finished enough for slaughter can be accomplished by sorting ear tags. Cattle from a recovery pen maybe shipped later than their pen mates. Many animals in the recovery pen must be salvaged earlier if they do not respond to the treatment and recovery program. Planning a Program, Working Together The coordination of the animal health program with sick pen management is needed. Often there are two crews working in this area; the animal health crew and the feeding crew. Further cooperation needs to be worked out with the management, the veterinarian, the nutritionist and the feed supplier to coordinate the use and level of feed additives if they are used in the hospital pens and the recovery pens. |
||||
|
|
||||
|
|
||||
|
All information is copywrited by Feed Lot magazine and cannot be printed or re-printed
without the publishers express consent. Please contact
Feed Lot Magazine for reprint and copy authorization.
|
||||