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Outbreaks of nursing calf BRD, also called summer pneumonia, do occur, writes Brent Meyer DVM, MS. He shares a list of factors that can lead to BRD in nursing calves. Most all are well known and routinely covered in the media. Yet, producers still have deaf ears and often maintain elevated expectations of dams’ natural abilities. Note the risk factors cascade from cow health. Here are Meyer’s top five of 10:
- Inadequate colostrum intake or failure of passive transfer of immunity
- Mineral or vitamin deficiency
- Internal parasites
- Dam body condition score
- Fetal programming (dam nutrition and environment during gestation)
Source: Hereford World, March 2022, page 86. Link.
While the maternal interference dogma is no longer believed to be true for all pathogens in all calves all of the time, it is still true for most pathogens most of the time making this is a good topic to discuss with herd veterinarians.” Brent Meyer DVM, MS
INSIGHTS: A veterinarian I knew would stop for coffee at the local café or convenience store at least once a day. He related how he always took an article or two inside to review while chatting and listening to the local gossip. Chuckling, he shared he often left the articles behind only to get a phone call at day or two later about a topic one of them. While a crude form of word of mouth, it worked for him. Maybe it is time to stop to say hello instead of roaring by the next time and leave something behind.
*Brent Meyer, DVM, MS, is a technical services veterinarian at Merck Animal Health.