The national animal health monitoring system for Colorado beef herds: Management practices and their association with disease rates

Abstract

A questionnaire was designed to collect pertinent information on the basic characteristics and management practices of Colorado cow-calf operations that were included in the National Animal Health Monitoring System. Topics covered in the questionnaire were divided into the following management activities: calving, branding, weaning, breeding, and other. Thirty-nine herds were included in this survey. Four annual disease rates were calculated for each herd studied: cumulative incidence rate, case fatality rate, culling rate, and mortality rate. Disease rates were presented for overall morbidity, and for five disease categories: reproductive, respiratory, enteric, sudden death/clostridial diseases, and miscellaneous diseases. Herds where neonatal calves were handled had a significantly ( P < 0.05) lower case fatality rate in the reproductive disease class than did herds where there was no contact with neonatal calves. However, the incidence rates of reproductive disease between these two classifications of herds were not significantly different. Herds where there was neonatal calf contact also had a significantly ( P < 0.05) higher incidence, case fatality, and mortality rates of enteric disease than did herds in which there was no contact with calves at birth. Statistically significant associations obtained from this study should be interpreted carefully. The association does not imply a cause-effect relationship of the management variables and the disease rates.