The current article describes select nutritional metabolic disorders that can impact the health and well-being of beef and dairy cattle. These include: Subclinical or clinical acidosis that can lead to rumen, hind gut, or systemic acidosis. Acidosis can disrupt epithelial barrier function in the rumen and hindgut, enabling bacteria to enter the portal vein and form liver abscesses. If rumen acidosis is severe, rumen contractions can be inhibited, or objects may block the esophagus, leading to free-gas bloat. Frothy bloat can occur in cattle fed high grain or legume diets, where froth in the cardia region prevents eructation and the rumen expands to the point that the lungs cannot inflate. Reduced blood Ca levels as a result of milk fever can also impair rumen contractions and is often mistakenly identified as bloat. Reductions in intake as a result of acidosis can lead to an energetic deficit in dairy cows, with heightened metabolism of fatty acids leading to ketosis. Water quality can also impact animal health and welfare, where elevated levels of sulfate in the water can induce polioencephalomalacia as a result of the production of H2S or thiaminases leading to thiamine deficiency. These conditions can occur currently or precipitate a number of other metabolic disorders including lameness, dystocia, uterine prolapse, retained placentas, metritis, abomasal displacement, and mastitis. Ensuring that the nutrient requirements of the host are satisfied and that diets are fed appropriately in an optimally processed form, with high quality water being readily available, are key to avoiding most of the nutritionally linked health and welfare issues in feedlot and dairy cattle.
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Animal health, well-being, and productivity are directly impacted by environmental extremes. The outdoor environment in which minimal excess energy requirements are used to maintain body temperature is often referred to as the thermoneutral zone. The following will highlight monitoring environmental conditions to access animal comfort, followed by recommended management practices to reduce environmental stressors and improve comfort during environmental extremes. It is often recommended to implement several of these management strategies in tandem to maximize the comfort and productivity of animals.
Even under optimal conditions, the transportation of livestock can be a stressful experience for the animals, with the potential to affect their welfare. Veterinarians play a key role in working with producers to ensure best practices are followed throughout the process. Fitness for transport is crucial, and veterinarians can advise producers on protocols and procedures that optimize livestock welfare. There are some country-dependent regulations overseeing transport considerations for livestock, but many of the guidelines and recommendations come from industry standards. By working with producers and transporters, veterinarians can help develop processes that minimize stress and promote animal well-being during transport.
Humans bear a moral responsibility to ensure the welfare of ruminants during euthanasia, slaughter, and in animal health emergencies, which may warrant depopulation. In each of these, death comes quickly by way of an immediate loss of consciousness, which leadsss to respiratory and cardiac arrest. Coupled with compassionate care and handling in the moments leading up to euthanasia, it is possible to assure the welfare of ruminants in end-of-life situations.
Fifty years ago, the US livestock industry associations were mainly concerned about reducing economic losses from bruises and deaths during handling and transport. Today it is essential to prevent cruelty, pain, and suffering, but it is also important for a farm animal to have a positive emotional experience. In the past, the ability of animals to feel fear was questioned and today, research clearly shows that animals have emotions. Another change is that animal activists groups altered their emphasis from reforming the livestock industry to advocating against eating meat.
Steroidal implants are widely used in feedlot cattle to improve growth and feed efficiency. This article emphasizes best practices for their proper handling, storage, and application to ensure effectiveness. Key points include maintaining optimal storage conditions, correct placement in the middle third of the ear, using clean equipment, and trained personnel to prevent complications like abscesses, missed implants, or abnormalities that can reduce performance response. Routine checks are recommended to identify issues early. Proper sanitation, staff training, and monitoring of implant retention are essential for maximizing cattle growth, health, and profitability. Adhering to these practices ensures optimal results.
Bovine mastitis remains the most costly disease in the dairy industry due to its impact on milk production, milk quality, and animal welfare. Optimal immunity is essential for the mammary gland to resist infections, efficiently clear them, and limit damage to mammary tissue. This article highlights recent advancements built on previous knowledge exploring opportunities for enhancing mammary gland immune responses. Ultimately, these improvements aim to increase the resistance of the mammary gland to infections and reduce the costs associated with this disease in the dairy industry.
Southeastern stocker production takes many forms. It has many similarities to stocker production across the United States, but it also differs in a few ways. The differences in stocker production across the Southeast compared to other regions provide both opportunities and challenges. The challenges are often associated with stocker producers taking on increased health and financial risk while the opportunities often present a lower cost of gain than many other regions. It is imperative producers consider the expected margin between buying and selling cattle as they navigate production decisions.
Please note that the synopsis will appear in PubMed: This article explores the application of cattle health and production records (CHPR) in the stocker cattle segment of the beef industry. Evidence is provided to demonstrate the significant lack of data infrastructure currently plaguing the segment. The structural and non-structural basis for the lack of robust information systems regarding CHPR are discussed. Additionally, overcoming the hidden psychological and emotional frictions for adoption are presented for consideration. The article concludes by suggesting CHPR should become part of the practice model and professional ecosystem and is a needed adaptation for veterinarians practicing stocker production medicine.
Bovine congestive heart failure has become an increasing cause of mortality in cow/calf and feedlot populations. While cases have historically been associated with cattle in high altitude environments, in current management systems at low-to-moderate elevations significant numbers of cattle have been identified as affected or at risk for this syndrome. Large-scale phenotyping systems have enabled the characterization of morphologic heart changes associated with right heart dysfunction in large populations of cattle. This has led to the estimation of heritability of the condition and allowed the development of robust genetic prediction tools to identify individuals and populations at risk.
Weaning is a critical transition for young ruminants, involving nutritional, behavioral, and environmental changes that can compromise welfare. This review evaluates the effects of weaning age (earlier vs later) and milk removal method (abrupt vs gradual) on the welfare of calves, lambs, and goat kids. Later and gradual weaning generally improve stress responses and growth, though evidence remains mixed, especially in small ruminants. Practical strategies to ease weaning include supporting solid feed intake, maintaining social stability, and avoiding concurrent stressors. Veterinarians play a key role in guiding the implementation of weaning practices that improve welfare and productivity.
The stocker phase represents a critical period in beef cattle development, during which young animals exhibit heightened reactivity to handling and environmental stressors. Experiences during this stage have a lasting impact on behavior, welfare, and performance. Handler skill should be considered alongside facility design and management protocols as a key determinant of behavioral development. Acclimation involving positive human contact reduces physiologic stress indicators, improves temperament, and can positively impact performance. Veterinary practitioners can support positive welfare outcomes by evaluating handling practices during this formative stage and encouraging evidence-based strategies that promote health, reduce fear responses, and improve long-term productivity.
Clinical pharmacology is the basis of mastitis treatment regimens. Using the pharmacokinetics of a drug can assist the veterinarian in treatment decisions to best achieve therapeutic success in patients.
Growth enhancing technologies (GETs) are routinely used in finishing beef cattle production to enhance growth, feed efficiency, and sustainability. However, concerns surround the use of GETs and their impact on marbling score and eating quality. The use of GETs can impact marbling deposition, percentage of cattle grading USDA Choice, tenderness, and consumer acceptability; however, the results are variable depending on the anabolic implant type, beta-adrenergic agonist type, and combinations used during the finishing period. This review will summarize how GETs impact meat quality and offer strategies that may help to minimize their impact on marbling and tenderness.
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Stocker cattle performance in grazing systems is best understood through the lens of interactions among 3 system constraints: forage availability, forage nutritive value, and animal nutrient requirements. This review provides a framework for interpreting these interactions across common North American forage systems. Emphasis is placed on forage allowance, plant maturity, maintenance energy requirements, composition of gain, and practical supplementation strategies to offset forage nutrient limitations. The goal is to help veterinarians diagnose whether system performance is limited by forage availability, forage nutritive value, or management-driven inefficiencies, and to use that distinction to better align forage resources with cattle biology.
The stocker calf industry is critical to North American beef production. The highly dynamic and diverse nature of the stocker industry creates challenges for veterinarians to develop relevant and lasting professional relationships with stocker operations. Applying epidemiologic methods to investigate disease outbreaks and production losses is a foundational skill for practitioners engaged with stocker operations. This article focuses on overcoming common obstacles encountered in stocker medicine, reviewing field-based epidemiologic principles required to perform investigations of disease and decreased production, and integrating Systems Thinking with these epidemiologic principles to improve understanding of factors influencing stocker cattle health and production.
Themes common to beef and dairy cattle in the prevention of claw horn lesions are enhancements to comfort, flooring, and handling practices, and careful use of hoof trimming to unload pressure on the claws, without the removal of excessive amounts of horn. Infectious lesion control emphasizes the role of individuals in the herd infected with active lesions and the need for close contact and moist underfoot conditions for spread, providing a role for well-managed pen conditions and potential utilization of footbathing and disinfection practices, as well as enhancements to skin integrity and animal immunity.
Feedlot implants consistently increase growth, improve feed efficiency, and add carcass weight when aligned with genetics, dietary energy, and marketing endpoints. Across studies summarized in this article, average responses to implants are 10% to 30% greater average daily gain and 5% to 15% improved G:F, with the greatest biological response early in the payout period. Steers generally respond greater to implants than heifers; heifer responses are directionally similar but smaller. Coated (extended-release) implants lengthen payout and may reduce reimplant labor, whereas reimplant programs can capture higher peaks in gain but sometimes transiently depress dry matter intake.