In this episode Dr. Phillip Lancaster and Dr. Brad White are talking about methane emissions. Dr. Lancaster also brings an article out of Australia which looks at adjusting grazing systems to reduce the methane in the cow-calf sector. Thank you for listening and enjoy the show!
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Welcome to BCI Cattle Chat! On this episode we have a very special guest, Dr. Marshall Stewart, the Executive Vice President for External Engagement and Chief of Staff here at K-State. Dr. Larson begins our episode by asking the experts about the importance of outreach and extension. Next they answer a listener question concerning senior cows. Finally, Dr. Stewart and the experts give some advice on those wanting to get into ranching and where to begin. Thanks for tuning in and enjoy the episode!
2:12 Outreach with Marshall Stewart
10:06 Listener Question: Senior Cows
14:24 Starting a Ranch
For more on BCI Cattle Chat, follow us on X at @ksubci, Facebook, 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!
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In order to gain some weight 16 cows are put in a dry lot on feed, one morning the producer sees they haven’t eaten and the next morning 8 of them are dead. Dr. Scott Fritz and Dr. Brad White get to the bottom of this case in this edition of Tox Talk: a Bovine Science with BCI podcast. Thanks for tuning in and enjoy the show!
The toxicology website and Bovine Sciences with BCI podcasts have been sponsored in part through a veterinary services grant that Dr. Scott Fritz, Dr. Steve Ensley and Dr. Bob Larson have received to share more toxicology information and examples for people to understand what to submit and how to submit. Another part of that grant has been working with people and producer in the field.
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| Bob Larson, DVM, PhD Reproductive physiologist and Epidemiologist Beef Cattle Institute Kansas State University RLarson@vet.k-state.edu |
An old pest recently made news in November when the U.S. suspended Mexican cattle imports because a case of New World screwworm was identified in the southern part of Mexico. This pest used to be common in the southern U.S. but starting in the 1950s, the USDA, with the support of various cattlemen’s associations, worked to eradicate the fly from the U.S.; and then with partnerships with other countries, to push south through Mexico, Central America, and finally to Panama. The screwworm fly is still widespread in tropical areas of the Caribbean and South America.
A fly goes through four life stages: an adult fly lays hundreds of eggs, the eggs hatch into larvae (commonly called maggots), then they enter the pupa stage (cocoon-like form) where they grow into adult flies. For most flies, the adults lay eggs in fresh manure, decaying manure, decaying plant material, or occasionally decaying animal flesh (such as a wound with dead tissue). The screwworm is different in that the fly will lay eggs in any opening in otherwise healthy skin (such as the navel of newborn calves or a scratch or fresh wound), and the larvae (or maggots) will feed on the healthy tissue – causing severe damage or even death.
Before the fly was eradicated from the U.S., it caused millions of dollars of losses – and the damage extended beyond cattle and other livestock to any warm-blooded animal including wildlife, pets, and even people. The eradication of this parasite is an impressive success story that required years of effort and investment by the USDA and other federal agencies as well as cooperation with Mexico and other Central American and Caribbean countries. But, in order for the work and investment involved in the eradication effort to pay-off, a unique weakness in the screwworm fly lifecycle had to be exploited. Unlike other flies, a screwworm female only mates once. If she mates with a sterile male, she will never produce live offspring. Scientists at USDA used this information to begin looking for a method to sterilize male screwworms and found that a specific dose of radiation at a specific time in the pupa stage would sterilize the males while still allowing them to be able to mate.
By raising and sterilizing many millions of screwworm flies and then releasing them across the southern U.S. starting in the late 1950s, the screwworm was eradicated by 1966. However, keeping the screwworm fly out of the U.S. is a constant battle and several isolated outbreaks have occurred – most recently in 2016 in the Florida Keys. In order to reduce the likelihood of re-exposure, the U.S. has worked with Mexico and into Central America to use sterile flies to eradicate Screwworm flies all the way to a biologic barrier established in Panama.
Although the strategy to keep screwworms south of Panama has been mostly successful, the effort requires: continual release of sterile flies, restriction of animal movement, and rigorous monitoring for signs of screwworm infestation. The only current screwworm sterilization facility is in Panama and it produces about 20 million pupae per week. Because of the recent discovery of screwworms as far north as southern Mexico, the USDA and other agencies are working with Mexico and other countries in the area to re-establish an effective barrier in Panama.
Welcome to BCI Cattle Chat! On this episode our experts along with guest host Dr. Todd Gunderson answer a listener question about fall calving on a cover crop. Next they answer a listener question about changing needles and how often it should be done. Finally Dr. Pendell discusses planning ahead for the next year. Thanks for tuning in and enjoy the episode!
4:31 Listener Question: Fall Calving on Cover Crops
11:05 Listener Question: Changing Needles
16:19 Forward Planning
For more on BCI Cattle Chat, follow us on X at @ksubci, Facebook, 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!
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This episode of Herd Health a Bovine Science podcast with BCI our hosts discuss research on bull fertility. Dr. Bob Larson and Dr. Brad White dive into a paper from Assumpção and Hamilton. This research evaluates bull sperm to analyze what amount of bulls pass the BSE but end up being infertile.
Article Discused: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anireprosci.2024.107656
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Welcome to BCI Cattle Chat! On this episode our experts along with guest host Dr. Todd Gunderson discuss the New World Screwworm or Cochliomyia hominivorax. Next they answer a listener question about water belly or urolithiasis. Finally Dr. Dustin Pendell is back with some tips on book keeping in cold weather. Thanks for tuning in and enjoy the episode!
3:00 New World Screwworm
8:58 Listener Question: Water belly
14:22 Cold Weather Tips
For more on BCI Cattle Chat, follow us on X at @ksubci, Facebook, 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!
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Sustainability has been a large buzz word over the last 2 decades, and beef sustainability has gotten a lot of attention based on the amount of enteric methane produced from rumen fermentation of feeds. In more recent years, grazing management and soil carbon has received a lot of attention in the beef industry focusing on the potential of grazing methods to increase carbon sequestration in the soil.
Producers get some information from different media outlets, but most likely focus on information coming from industry sources tied to research on beef production and sustainability. Consumers get information on beef sustainability from a wide range of media outlets and do not have a consistent ‘industry’ source. Additionally, the lack of direct ties to beef production by consumers may allow misinformation to influence their understanding of beef production.
Recent surveys have investigated the ideas and perceptions of producers and consumers about beef sustainability. Producers generally associate sustainable beef production with conserving land and water resources (47%) and economic viability of the ranch (43%) more than animal welfare (18%) and greenhouse gas emissions (2%). However, consumers generally associate sustainable beef production with animal welfare (55%) most and think about conserving land and water resources (32%), economic viability of the ranch (25%) and greenhouse gas emissions (24%) less.
Overall, there appears to be a large disconnect between the importance of animal welfare to sustainability between consumers and producers, which may be due to the lack of direct knowledge of beef production practices by consumers. Consumers also rank no antibiotics and hormones very high on the list of important attributes of sustainably raised beef (57% of consumers). A much smaller percentage of producers (18%) that associated beef sustainability with animal welfare mentioned raising cattle with hormones and antibiotics.
Additionally, there is a large disconnect between producers and consumers on the importance of greenhouse gas emission in sustainable beef production. Only 2% of producers mentioned climate, greenhouse gas emissions, carbon emissions, etc. when asked about components of sustainable beef production. However, 24% of consumers indicated greenhouse gas emissions were important. Although, greenhouse gas emissions seem to be the least important factor for most consumers. In a recent willingness to pay study at Kansas State University, consumers indicated that they were willing to pay $0.81 more per pound of ‘low carbon’ beef, whereas they were willing to pay $5.04 more per pound of ‘antibiotic free’ beef.
There is a disconnect between producers and consumers around perceptions of the components of sustainable beef production. Consumer education could be a means to reducing the disconnect between producers and consumers, but also producers need to understand that consumers generally think differently about sustainable beef production, which may help to ultimately producer beef in higher demand by consumers.
In this episode of After the Abstract Dr. Brian Lubbers and Dr. Brad White go over a case report to see how practitioners are diagnosing neurologic disease. The experts will examine the article to see what they found and what this could mean for bovine practitioners. Thanks for listening and enjoy the episode!
Link to Article: https://doi.org/10.21423/bovine-vol57no1p1-9
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Welcome to BCI Cattle Chat! On this episode our experts congratulate former student Jacob Klaudt on winning the national Livestock Judging Competition as well as congratulate the K-State meats judging team on a national championship. Next Dr. Lancaster answers a listener question pertaining to finishing steers at home and how to feed them. Finally we bring back guest host Dr. Todd Gunderson to answer some rapid fire questions from Dr. Brad White. Thanks for tuning in and enjoy the episode!
2:30 Youth Judging Teams
6:15 Listener Question: Finishing Cattle
11:26 Quick Questions with Dr. Todd Gunderson
For more on BCI Cattle Chat, follow us on X at @ksubci, Facebook, 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!
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| Bob Larson, DVM, PhD Reproductive physiologist and Epidemiologist Beef Cattle Institute Kansas State University RLarson@vet.k-state.edu |
Every businessperson must keep his/her customers in mind in all management decisions. The cow/calf producer has two customers to please: 1) the owner of the calves once they leave the ranch and 2) the beef-eating consumer.
Once calves leave the ranch, ideally they should adapt quickly to the new environment and ration so that health problems are kept to a minimum and growth and efficiency are enhanced. Supplying calves that have been properly immunized and adapted to concentrate rations will fulfill the needs of the feeder. Lingering health problems, over-conditioning, drug or physical adulteration that will carry through to the beef-eating consumer, or injection blemishes that carry through the feeding period are concerns of your feedlot customers.
The beef-eating consumer wants a product that is safe, free from drug residues, free of injection blemishes or abscesses, and flavorful. It is every producer’s job to ensure that every steak, hamburger and roast that comes out of his farm or lot can meet the customers’ demands. Avoiding violative drug residues starts with a plan and record keeping system that emphasizes the proper treatment of disease and identification of treated animals. Proper treatment for any disease begins with using the correct drug at the correct dosage for the proper length of time. In order to ensure that you are meeting these requirements, a close working relationship with a veterinarian is essential. A commitment to keeping animals with drug residues off the consumer’s plate means identifying and delaying marketing of animals treated with a drug until such a time as they have been untreated for the minimum number of days stated on the label if the drug was used exactly as specified on the label; or for an extended period of time, as determined by your veterinarian, if the product was used in any extra-label fashion.
In addition to being assured that the beef they purchase is free of residues, consumers have every right to expect their meat to be free of injection blemishes. By following simple standards of sanitation and animal handling, the incidence of injection site blemishes should be extremely small. Animals should be properly restrained and the syringes and other dosing equipment should be clean and functioning properly. Needles should be changed every 10 head or more frequently, and no more than 10 cc should be administered in any one sight. Any product that is labeled for subcutaneous administration should be given by that route, and any products labeled for intramuscular administration only should be given into non-prime cuts, such as the neck muscles.
Cattlemen, their employees, veterinarian, nutritionist, and any others involved with the ranch must each examine what could go wrong from their prospective in the delivery of a safe, wholesome and desirable product to the consumer. Once potential problems are identified, strategies or production practices are put into place to avoid those problems from ever occurring. Methods of record-keeping, employee training, and daily practices are instituted to check and verify (and document) that you are accomplishing what you intended to do. A well-planned BQA program is designed so that everyday management activities act to eliminate potential problems.
A good place to start when planning your herds program is with the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s BQA guidelines. http://www.bqa.org/
In this episode of Diving into Diets a Bovine Science Podcast Dr. White and Dr. Lancaster look at a research paper about the guidelines for supplementing vitamin A. This research answers some questions about vitamin A in cattle but also raises some new ones for our hosts. Thanks for listening!
Link to Article: https://www.appliedanimalscience.org/article/S2590-2865(24)00094-6/fulltext
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