Herd Health: Prebreeding Exams on Heifers

Prebreeding exams on heifers. Are they important and what should you look for? Dr. Bob Larson and Dr. Brad White discuss all of this and more on this episode of Bovine Science with BCI.

Determining potential pregnancy status differences based on a new method of yearling heifer prebreeding examination

A deterministic, dynamic systems model of cow–calf production: The effects of breeding replacement heifers before mature cows over a 10-year horizon

Beef Heifer Development

Heifer Development: Reproduction and Nutrition

Heifer calving date positively influences calf weaning weights through six parturitions

Scours, Niche Marketing, Mineral Needs

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3:33 Scours

11:03 Niche Marketing Programs

17:00 Mineral Needs

Guests: Shelby Roberts, Alltech Beef Technical Sales Support

For more on BCI Cattle Chat, follow us on Twitter at @The_BCIFacebook, and Instagram at @ksubci. Check out our website, ksubci.org. If you have any comments/questions/topic ideas, please send them to bci@ksu.edu. You can also email us to sign up for our weekly news blast! Don’t forget if you enjoy the show, please go give us a rating!

Check for adequate mineral supplementation with drought stressed forages 

Feeding cows through the winter after a drought season is always challenging, and mineral nutrition is no different. Feeding alternative forages means feeding something different than what you are used to feeding, which means alternative supplementation strategies. Forages differ in their mineral content with legumes typically having greater amounts of calcium than grasses (Table 1). Additionally, some forages have lower content of microminerals as can be seen for copper content of fescue and native prairie hay.  

The mineral content of forages is affected by several factors with soil fertility being a primary factor. Mineral content of the forage can only be as good as the mineral content of the soil and the physical and chemical properties of the soil that allow the plant to absorb the mineral into roots. Soil pH is an important chemical property affecting mineral availability to the plant where acidic soils can negatively affect absorption of calcium, phosphorus, and magnesium. However, alkaline soils negatively affect absorption of manganese, copper, and zinc. The proportions of sand, silt, and clay physically affects mineral absorption where minerals can be tightly bound to clay particles reducing the availability to plants, and high sand content reduces water holding capacity thereby reducing the availability to plants. 

With drought over much of the country last summer, the mineral content of forages, even if the same hay fields that are always used, is likely different than normal. In legume-grass mixtures, the legumes are generally more drought tolerant than grasses and so the relative production of forage is likely more legume during drought years. Additionally, the drier soil reduces availability of minerals for absorption by the plant, especially phosphorus. Phosphorus in the form of phosphate needs to be solubilized before absorption by plant roots. Thus, phosphorus is an important mineral that may be low in drought-stressed forages. 

As spring calving season gets underway, calcium and phosphorus requirements of lactating cows is greater than dry, gestating cows (Figure 1), and depends upon the amount of milk production. Higher milking cows require more calcium and phosphorus. A 1200-lb cow producing 10 lb of milk at peak lactation requires a diet with 0.25 and 0.17% calcium and phosphorus in the diet in early lactation, whereas a cow producing 20 lb of milk at peak lactation requires 0.31 and 0.21% calcium and phosphorus in the diet.  

Feeding drought-stressed forages could result in mineral imbalances unless mineral supplementation is adjusted. With increasing mineral requirements, especially for calcium and phosphorus, as cows begin to calve, the likelihood of mineral imbalances increases and could cause some health and reproductive problems. Evaluating the mineral content of your forage resources and mineral supplementation plan is an important step in a drought year. 

Figure 1. Calcium and phosphorus requirements throughout the production cycle of a 1200-lb cow producing 20 lb of milk at peak lactation. 

NCBA, Economic Questions, Starting a Podcast

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2:40 NCBA

10:22 Economic Questions

15:35 Starting a Podcast

Guests: Samantha Bennett, Agriculture Today Producer and Host 

For more on BCI Cattle Chat, follow us on Twitter at @The_BCIFacebook, and Instagram at @ksubci. Check out our website, ksubci.org. If you have any comments/questions/topic ideas, please send them to bci@ksu.edu. You can also email us to sign up for our weekly news blast! Don’t forget if you enjoy the show, please go give us a rating!

Acidosis 

Cattle are an amazing animal species for many reasons. One of the most important reasons is because they can thrive when fed a wide variety of diets and feedstuffs. Because of the rumen, cattle are able to utilize forages that are not appropriate for simple-stomach animals; in addition, cattle can eat grains, by-products of grain processing, and waste from human food production. However, it is important to know that if diets are changed without an adaptation period or if cattle have sudden access to a new feedstuff, health problems can follow.  

Changing form one roughage source to another or from a high-grain, concentrate diet to a roughage diet is usually well-tolerated; in contrast, suddenly changing from a roughage diet to a concentrate diet can be accompanied by acidosis, a serious digestive problem in grain-fed animals. In cow-calf operations, cattle are rarely intentionally fed a diet consisting primarily of grains, but sometimes growing bulls or heifers are fed a high-grain diet, and cows may have the opportunity to consume more gain than the producer intends when grain is used to supplement low-quality, dormant forage.  

Acidosis can occur following a large meal of feed rich in readily fermentable carbohydrates that causes the rate of lactic acid production in the rumen to exceed how quickly it can be used. Cereal grains such as wheat, barley, corn, sorghum (and to a lesser extent oats) as well as high sugar or starch content fruit or root crops (apples, potatoes, sugar beets etc.) are associated with acidosis. Green, unripe corn, corn or milo stubble fields, and byproduct feeds such as bakery waste, elevator fines, and some brewer’s grains are also high in starch or simple sugars making cattle eating these feeds also at risk for acidosis. Feeds that are not likely to induce acidosis are hay and fiber-type byproduct feeds. Hay does not contribute to acidosis because the energy source is mostly cellulose rather than simple sugars and the physical properties (large particle size) resist rapid fermentation. Fiber-type byproduct feeds such as soy hulls, distillers grains, or corn gluten feed are similar to hay in that the energy source is primarily cellulose with little starch or simple sugar present. Fine grinding of grain, rapid changes in the amount of grain or other high-starch feeds in the diet, or cattle that become hungry and then eat a large meal of grain are often implicated in the disease.  

Cattle that are suffering from acidosis can look a lot like cattle with respiratory disease by showing a lack of appetite, slow movement, increased heart rate and breathing rate, and elevated body temperature. In mild cases of acidosis, cattle will appear to have a full rumen, they may act uncomfortable due to a sore belly, and will probably have grey-green pasty to soupy diarrhea. In more severe cases, dehydration is severe, the animal will usually be laying down, the abdomen is markedly distended, and the animal is noticeably uncomfortable (groaning and grinding of teeth). Diarrhea is profuse and yellow-green and then progresses to watery, often foamy with a pungent odor. Death commonly follows severe cases. Cattle that recover from acidosis may develop liver abscesses, laminitis, or other secondary diseases.  

Mild cases of acidosis are commonly treated by removing the feed causing the problem and possibly administering a buffer by stomach tube. Treatment of more serious cases may include siphoning off ruminal contents with a stomach tube or surgically opening the rumen and removing the rumen contents followed by re-inoculation of fresh rumen contents from a healthy animal. In addition, large volumes of intravenous (IV) fluids are given. In this disease process, IV fluids must be used because fluids given by mouth (via stomach tube) will not be absorbed from the rumen into the rest of the body.  

Acidosis is prevented through feeding management that avoids a sudden increase in intake of grain or other readily fermentable feeds, sufficient bunk space so that aggressive eaters don’t have access to feed amounts intended for several animals, and good bunk management so that cattle are not overly hungry. In addition, inclusion of an ionophore in the ration helps to decrease the incidence and severity of acidosis. 

Colostrum, Drought Management/Planning, Buying vs. Raising Bulls

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2:09 Colostrum

9:24 Drought Management/Planning
agmanager.info

14:17 Buying Vs. Raising Bulls 

Guest: Matt Perrier, Dalebanks Angus 
Practically Ranching

For more on BCI Cattle Chat, follow us on Twitter at @The_BCIFacebook, and Instagram at @ksubci. Check out our website, ksubci.org. If you have any comments/questions/topic ideas, please send them to bci@ksu.edu. You can also email us to sign up for our weekly news blast! Don’t forget if you enjoy the show, please go give us a rating!

After the Abstract: Arrival and Treatment Programs for BRD

Dr. Brian Lubber and Dr. Brad White discuss the paper titled: Comparison of two distinct arrival and treatment programs for bovine respiratory disease in high-risk feeder cattle entering a feedlot.

After the Abstract is recorded with the goal of assisting veterinarians in the interpretation of scientific literature.  This podcast is not an endorsement of specific practices and medical decisions should only be made in consultation with your veterinarian. 

FDA Guidance for Industry 263, CAST Group, Cattle Health Care Kit

Welcome to BCI Cattle Chat!  Please click on any links below to be taken to sources mentioned in the podcast. Keep an eye out for news regarding the podcast on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

2:27 FDA Guidance for Industry 263

12:31 CAST Group 

16:07 Cattle Health Care Kit  

Guest: Julia Herman, NCBA Beef DVM

For more on BCI Cattle Chat, follow us on Twitter at @The_BCIFacebook, and Instagram at @ksubci. Check out our website, ksubci.org. If you have any comments/questions/topic ideas, please send them to bci@ksu.edu. You can also email us to sign up for our weekly news blast! Don’t forget if you enjoy the show, please go give us a rating!