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Turkish Journal of Veterinary & Animal Sciences

DOI

10.3906/vet-1603-9

Abstract

Bovine respiratory disease (BRD) is the main reason for economic loss in feedlots. A cross-sectional study was conducted in order to detect the pathogens involved in BRD. A total of 88 animals with respiratory signs were sampled for diagnosis using PCR. The detected pathogens were bovine respiratory syncytial virus (80.6%), Mannheimia haemolytica (79.5%), Pasteurella multocida (68.1%), parainfluenza 3 virus (23.8%), bovine herpes virus-1 (20.4%), and bovine viral diarrhea virus (11.3%). The average number of treatments applied per animal was 1.3 with an estimated treatment cost of 16 USD per treatment/animal. Animals receiving more than one treatment averaged costs exceeding 38 USD per animal. In total, 77% of all animals received the first treatment during the first 3 weeks after arrival. We found a relationship between shrink percentage and the distance traveled by the livestock from its origin to the feedlot (P = 0.049). BRD represents a costly condition for feedlot operations. It is imperative that cattleman and veterinary practitioners recognize the necessity to apply additional preventive medicine strategies to reduce the impact of BRD. Preconditioning and a more systematic use of methaphylaxis may improve our ability to accurately identify the most effective strategies to reduce the impact of BRD.

Keywords

Bovine respiratory disease, feedlot cattle, diagnosis, shrink, treatments, costs

First Page

294

Last Page

301

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