Management Practices Associated with the Rate of Pre-Weaning Calf Respiratory Disease

Abstract

Pre-weaning bovine respiratory disease complex (BRDC) in beef cow-calf herds can negatively affect calf sale weight and can lead to pre-weaning mortalities. Reductions in weight and number of calves that cow-calf operators sell will impact herd profitability. There are no large-scale studies documenting management factors associated with pre-weaning BRDC in cow-calf herds. The US Department of Agriculture National Animal Health Monitoring System’s Beef 2007-08 study generated data on management factors and disease occurrences for US cow-calf herds. Our objective was to utilize these data to assess potential associations between cow-calf herd management practices and the rate of BRDC in pre-weaned beef calves.