Abstract
Simple SummaryIn intensive fattening cattle, little attention has been focused to discuss if nutritional strategies could help reducing the incidence and severity of the most important health disease in feedlot cattle: the bovine respiratory disease (BRD). Bovine respiratory disease has a great impact on animal productivity with great morbidity and mortality rates during the first months after arrival. Metaphylactic antimicrobial programs are used to prevent and treat it, however, this strategy fails in aspects of the prudent use of antimicrobial treatments promoting the selection for resistance gene determinants and antimicrobial-resistant bacteria. The present review tries to answer the question if there are any nutritional strategies that could help to reduce the incidence and severity of BRD in dairy beef calves. Dairy beef calves are the calves born in dairy farms, around 65%, that are not going to replace the dairy cows and are fattened and slaughtered for meat production. These unweaned and unwanted calves are not a priority for the dairy sector and as a result, their postnatal care has not been a priority for them, and they are considered a by-product. Currently improving their health and welfare is a worldwide concern. In order to answer the question of whether nutritional interventions may help to reduce the incidence of respiratory disease in dairy beef calves at arrival, the present review is divided in three sections. In the first section, the nutrition of calves previous to the arrival from the origin farm to the final rearing farm is reviewed. In the second section, the possible consequences of this previous nutrition on gut health and immune status upon arrival to the rearing farm are described. The main consequences of previous nutrition and management that these unweaned calves suffer at arrival are the negative energy balance, the increased intestinal permeability, the oxidative stress, the anemia, and the recovery feed consumption. Finally, in the third section, some considerations to advance in future nutritional strategies are suggested, which are focused on the prevention of the negative consequences of previous nutrition and the recovery of the gut and immune status. Moreover, additional suggestions are formulated that will be also helpful to reduce the incidence of bovine respiratory disease (BRD) that are not directly linked to nutrition like having a control golden standard in the studies or designing risk categories in order to classify calves as suitable or not to be transported.
Highlights
In intensive cattle fattening, the major diseases related to nutrition and feeding programs are rumen acidosis and bloat [1,2], a definitive diagnosis under commercial conditions is seldom secured
bovine respiratory disease (BRD) accounts for 70% to 80% of all morbidity and from 40% to 50% of all mortality in beef cattle [7] and estimated costs to the American feedlot industry is around USD 800 million to 900 million annually [8,9]
Let us first focus on the nutrition and factors that may modify their nutritional requirements around the BRD onset
Summary
The major diseases related to nutrition and feeding programs are rumen acidosis and bloat [1,2], a definitive diagnosis under commercial conditions is seldom secured. The understanding of this possible crosstalk and the main factors altering it may help us in the future to design nutritional strategies to reduce the BRD severity and incidence improving animal welfare, antibiotic use, and beef production sustainability. To answer these questions, let us first focus on the nutrition and factors (like stress) that may modify their nutritional requirements around the BRD onset. To understand the potential of nutrition in improving the health status of dairy beef calves it is important to understand and better describe the dairy beef calf’s production system
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