BRD Prevention and Treatement for Ranchers and Feeders
BRD impacts multiple segments of the beef industry, but prevention and management starts at the ranch level. “Whether you sell your calves after weaning or you maintain ownership, someone has to deal with those calves later on,” shares Paige Schmidt-Rios, DVM. Rios comes from a cow-calf and backgrounding operation in North Dakota but currently works independently with various feedlots and backgrounding yards in Kansas.
What is BRD?
An understanding of what BRD truly is matters when determining the best treatment and prevention protocols for ranches. BRD stands for bovine respiratory disease.
“That term can change, whether you're in a different sector or you're in a different region of the country,” says Rios. “Some people will just call it straight pneumonia or shipping fever is another term used for BRD.”
BRD can be caused by eight or nine different pathogens either bacteria or viruses that live in the upper respiratory tract of most animals. Stressful events and environmental factors are often the catalyst that cause these pathogens to take over.
She explains, “That compromise can be traveling across the country, traveling to the next pasture, weaning, working those cattle, processing them, causing stress, or environmental factors like heat, mud or blizzards.”
BRD impacts calves of all ages, but weaning is a common event that brings on BRD in herds across the country.
“About 75% of the disease we see in calves post weaning is due to some sort of pneumonia, and that can be maintained throughout a stalker operation, a background operation, or a feedlot,” shares Rios.
BRD Treatment
Knowing the basics of BRD plays an impactful role in treating the disease fast and effectively.
Rios says, “Where viruses become important is they compromise the immune system and allow those commensal bacteria to set into the lungs and to actually cause a bacterial infection, which is pneumonia.”
While there are five classes of antibiotics available for use, options are limited. When possible, Rios recommends testing affected animals to narrow down the best possible treatment.
“Taking some samples of either tissues, nasal swabs or we can do some diagnostics with your veterinarian to better understand what type of pneumonia helps best utilize those few options that we actually have,” explains Rios.
For example, Schmidt explains that antibiotics like beta-lactams attack the cell wall, but bacteria like Mycoplasma do not have a cell wall. Knowing how to appropriately treat animals improves animal well-being while reducing treatment costs.
The viral component of BRD is handled differently.
“Viruses are hard to treat. We don't have any FDA-approved antivirals,” shares Rios. “So, we use supplemental treatments like steroids or antihistamines or sometimes NSAIDs to treat viruses.”
BRD Prevention Opportunities
Ranchers can take a variety of preventative measures to reduce instances of BRD and improve animal well-being, performance and profitability across the operation and greater supply chain.
Rios explains, “Prevention is hard work and when I think about prevention, I think about one, the cow and two, I think about the environment first and foremost.”
Cows pass antibodies to calves via colostrum not the placenta, which is why they must consume colostrum within 12 to 24 hours of birth.
“If cows have been vaccinated throughout their life, they're going to have antibodies to various viruses and bacteria that they can pass onto their calf,” explains Rios. “So that's why it's so important to get those calves started off right.”
Starting off with a clean environment also makes a big difference in overall calf health and stress in the early days. Providing access to clean water, good nutrition and avoiding muddy areas as best as possible are critical.
Another step in the prevention process is having a good VCPR to implement a vaccine protocol.
“One thing I don't know if everyone understands is vaccines aren't going to prevent disease a hundred percent,” explains Rios. “Researchers and immunologists will say it'll protect about 80% of the herd.”
Knowing this statistic makes proper vaccine handling even more important.
Rios says, “Say you mixed up all your modified live vaccines and then you went to go get the cows in and they jumped the fence and then all the vaccines are sitting on the dash of the pickup. Likely those vaccines aren't going to be as efficacious.”
BRD prevention truly takes a multi-faceted approach to be effective but protects rancher reputation and profit in the long run. Listen to the full conversation on the Casual Cattle Conversations podcast.
