How do I Prevent Pregnancy Loss, Culling Decisions at Preg Checking, Infertility vs. Pre-Loss

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.

3:25 How Do I Prevent Pregnancy Loss 

12:14 Culling Decisions at Preg Checking 

18:08 Infertility vs. Pre-Loss: How Would I Know

Guest: Ky Pohler, Associate Professor at Texas A&M
Podcast Sponsored by: Estrotect Breeding Indicator

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!

Herd Health: Adding Value to Pregnancy Diagnosis

To hear more about adding value to pregnancy testing listen in with Dr. Bob Larson and Dr. Brad White to learn more.

View the discussed links visit here:
Evaluating Information Obtained from Diagnosis of Pregnancy Status of Beef Herds
Pregnancy Analytics App 
Spreadsheet

Cattle Chat Live at the Kansas State Fair

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If you missed Cattle Chat live at the Kansas State Fair don’t worry you can listen to it here. You can also watch it on our YouTube channel.

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: Pinkeye

Join Dr. Brian Lubbers and Dr. Brad White as they discuss a paper looking at a randomized clinical trial evaluating a farm-of-origin autogenous Moraxella bovis vaccine to control infectious pinkeye in beef cattle.

View the full paper here

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. 

Research – Heat Impacts, Goals with Pregnancy Checking, How to Best Handle Heat Stress?

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3:54 Research: Shade and Limit Feeding – Heat Impacts

11:14 Goals with Pregnancy Checking

16:35 Listener Question: How to Best Handle Heat Stress?

Guest: A.J. Tarpoff, K-State Beef Extension Veterinarian

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!

Methane from Manure Storage may be Greater than from Enteric Fermentation 

Climate change and greenhouse gas emissions receive a lot of attention in the media and with consumer-facing businesses. A lot of attention has focused on sources of greenhouse gases, especially related to fuel sources we use and food sources we eat. When it comes to food sources, ruminant animals, particularly cattle, receive a lot of attention for the large amount of methane produced. Methane is greenhouse gas with a global warming potential approximately 28 times greater than carbon dioxide, making it a relatively potent greenhouse gas, but not the most potent. 

Methane is produced during anaerobic (i.e., without oxygen) fermentation of organic material such as the digestion of feed in the rumen or degradation of manure in liquid storage facilities. Methane produced in the rumen of cattle and sheep has long been an area of study as it is a loss of energy from the feed that the animal does not get to use for growth, which is why it has been the target for development of interventions. Our understanding of this process is quite in depth and development of methods to reduce methane production in the rumen of cattle is an ongoing area of research. Many feed additives have been tested for their ability to reduce methane production and many are commercially available. 

Compared to other greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide, methane is relatively short-lived in the atmosphere – approximately 12 years compared with 100+ years. From the standpoint of combating climate change, reduction in methane emissions could have the most immediate impact because of the short life of methane in the atmosphere. Thus, methane has become a focus for reducing overall greenhouse gas emissions. 

Methane is part of the biogenic carbon cycle where plants containing carbohydrates are consumed and digested by cattle, which produce and eructate, or belch, methane into the atmosphere. Methane in the atmosphere is converted to carbon dioxide over a 12-year period, and the carbon dioxide is assimilated by plants into carbohydrates. With a steady herd size, cows grazing pasture do not increase the amount of methane in the atmosphere, but when we increase the number of cows, then the amount of methane in the atmosphere increases. Vice versa, when we decrease the number of cows the amount of methane in the atmosphere decreases.  

The original method to compute global warming impact of greenhouse gas emissions did not account for the shorter life span of methane in the atmosphere and did not consider the trend in methane emissions with increasing or decrease herd size. A new method of calculation now accounts for the shorter life of methane in the atmosphere and the trend in herd size, which results in lower methane emissions overall (Figure 1). 

As mentioned above, methane is produced from manure. Storage of dry manure allows for aerobic (i.e., with oxygen) degradation of organic material such that little methane is produced. In contrast, storage of liquid manure creates an anaerobic degradation of organic material resulting in substantially more methane production. It does not matter whether the manure came from a ruminant animal or not as to the methane produced from manure – it primarily determined by the manure storage type. In current livestock production systems, beef cattle and poultry manure are stored primarily as dry manure, whereas dairy cattle and swine manure are stored primarily as liquid manure.  

Storage of manure in the dry form produces very little methane regardless of calculation method as can be seen with beef cattle and poultry in Figure 2. However, storage of manure in the liquid form produces a significant amount of methane as can be seen with dairy cattle and swine. The population of beef cattle decreased, and the population of dairy cattle was relatively constant from 2010 to 2020 resulting in the new method estimating lower enteric methane emissions than the old method (Figure 1). However, the amount of manure stored in liquid form has been increasing in dairy cattle operations resulting in increased manure methane emissions using the new compared with old method (Figures 1 and 2). 

Thus, of the total methane emissions from 2010 to 2020, enteric methane accounted for the most emissions at 75% using the old method, whereas manure methane accounted for the most emissions at 65% using the new method. With the new method likely the most accurate, addressing manure methane emissions may have the greatest immediate impact on total greenhouse gas emissions because a readily available and feasible technology in manure digesters already exists. The leading roadblock to implementation of this technology is cost, but public policy and consumer facing business could make substantial headway with financial incentives for dairies and swine operations to install manure digesters. 

Figure 1. Estimated cumulative emissions for enteric and manure methane production of the U.S. livestock industry from 2010 to 2020 using the old and new methods of calculation. MMT = million metric tons. Adapted from Beck et al. (2023; https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2023.1209541

Tox Talk: 1 Dead and Several Gaunt

50 cow/calf pairs were turned into a new pasture midway through the summer. The next day every cow looked gaunt and one was dead. What happened? Tune into Dr. Brad White and Dr. Scott Fritz to find out what happened.

Replacement Heifers, Feeding Soybean Hay, What is Compounding?

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3:00 Replacement Heifers

9:19 Listener Question: Feeding Soybean Hay

17:14 What is Compounding?

Guest: Scott Fritz, K-State Clinical Assistant Professor of Toxicology

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!

Diving into Diets: Replacement Heifer Development

In this episode of Bovine Science with BCI, we are talking about replacement heifer development. Join Dr. Philip Lancaster and Dr. Brad White as they discuss nutrition and what their targets are for replacement heifers.

Listener Question, Economic Questions, Seedstock Producers: What are diseases/challenges?

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2:22 Listener Question: Starting Calves on Ground Hay or Bales?

10:28 Economic Questions

18:10 Seedstock Producers: What are diseases/challenges?

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!

Herd Health Plan

Every cattle producer has the goal to efficiently utilize available forage, labor, management, and financial resources to produce cattle that will meet customers’ expectations and desires. Outbreaks of disease that result in sickness, reduced reproductive or growth efficiency, or death not only negatively affects animal welfare but also will drastically reduce the efficiency of saleable production from the available resources. Protecting the health of cattle herds is an important part of a successful plan to have a profitable and sustainable ranching operation. Besides a veterinarian’s value in diagnosing and treating cattle that become sick, he or she can have great value in preventing disease and ensuring optimum production in beef cattle herds.  

A complete health plan should be established between veterinarians and producers that accomplishes at least the following goals: 

  1. Establish a biosecurity plan to minimize the introduction of disease-causing germs onto your farm by developing a testing and isolation plan for new or returning cattle, a vaccination protocol, and a traffic flow and visitor restriction plan to reduce the likelihood of infectious disease.
  • New cattle (including new bulls, replacement heifers and cows, and purchased calves) should be isolated away from the herd for at least one month. During this time the new additions should be vaccinated to bring them into the same protocol as the resident herd and may be tested to determine if they are carriers for diseases of importance to the herd. If at any time during the quarantine period the incoming cattle exhibit signs of diarrhea, lameness, respiratory disease, excessive tearing or eye lesions, rough skin or hair loss, or any other sign of disease, a veterinarian should be called to examine all the animals in the group and the quarantine period extended.  
  • Every herd should have a sound vaccination protocol based on consultation with your veterinarian that is appropriate for your specific risk factors. In most herds, cattle will be vaccinated with one or more products at several times during the year. Calves are routinely vaccinated against clostridial diseases such as blackleg when they are still nursing. Vaccinations, before or at the time of weaning, are implemented to develop immunity to reduce the risk of respiratory disease. Replacement heifers and yearling bulls deserve special attention prior to the start of their first breeding season to establish strong immunity to diseases that cause reproductive loss. And vaccinations of adult cows and bulls are implemented to reduce the risk of infectious disease that can cause abortions.  
  • When implementing a vaccination protocol, it is important to handle and administer the products according to label instructions in order to ensure their greatest effectiveness and compliance with beef quality assurance guidelines. For example, if a vaccine is labeled for use Sub-Q (under the skin) administration, it must be administered under the skin in the neck region. If a label indicates that the product should be given in the muscle, it should be given in the neck muscles. Do not vaccinate into the rear leg of a calf or cow. 
  • Part of biosecurity is to minimize the spread of germs that are already on a ranch so that least amount of disease occurs. A plan to keep young calves and pregnant cows away from cattle imported from other operations (such as stocker cattle or incoming replacements) and away from fence-line contact with other herds will decrease the risk of devastating disease outbreaks. 
  1. Establish a sanitation plan to minimize the potential for spread of disease-causing germs in manure between animals in calving and nursery pastures, in feeding areas, and by means of feed handling equipment (front-end loaders, feed wagons, etc.).  
  • The germs that cause diarrhea diseases (scours) can be passed in manure from one animal to another. Therefore it is very important that young calves are born and housed in the cleanest situation possible. Strategies to improve sanitation for young calves include avoiding calving in the same pasture where cows were fed all winter and selecting calving pastures that: are large enough for cows to spread apart, have some natural or man-made shelter, and are not in a low, or mud-prone area. In addition, I prefer to avoid using bale-rings in calving and nursery pastures – spread the hay and move the feeding location daily. 
  • To prevent scours, two important goals are to avoid exposing calves less than three weeks of age to mud and to older calves. Grouping cow-calf pairs so that all the calves in a nursery pasture are as close in age as possible will greatly reduce the risk of scours. The Sandhills calving system capitalizes on this strategy to ensure sanitation and segregation from older calves so that calf health is optimized. 
  1. Establish a parasite control program to effectively use de-wormers and pasture management for internal parasite control, and establish the use of sanitation and fly and lice control products to minimize economic loss due to external parasites. Calves and yearlings have much less natural resistance to internal parasites than adult cattle, therefore cattle less than two years of age deserve special attention.  
  1. Establish a program to optimize the use of performance-promoting products such as growth-promoting implants and ionophores in growing cattle. Ionophores create an environment in the rumen that favors the growth of microbes that more efficiently convert forages and grains into energy. These products also inhibit the parasites that cause coccidiosis.  
  1. Establish a program to minimize calving difficulty in first-calf heifers by proper replacement heifer selection, nutrition, and sire selection. Replacements should be selected from heifers born in the first 40 days of the calving season to excellent dams and desirable sires. From weaning until breeding at a little older than one year of age, replacement heifers should receive high quality forages or supplements in order to ensure that they gain enough weight to reach 60-65% of their mature weight prior to the start of their first breeding season. Heifers should be bred to calve a little ahead of the mature cow herd to allow them to receive extra attention during calving and because first calf heifers take longer to resume fertile cycles after calving than mature cows. Heifers should be bred to bulls with EPDs indicating calving ease and they may need supplementation during parts of the year in order to reach a target of 85% of their mature weight at the time of calving.   
  1. Establish a method to evaluate the herd’s performance (records) in the areas of: pregnancy rates, death loss, growth (weaning weight) and nutritional needs (body condition scores). Traditionally, the herd is evaluated at the time of calf weaning to identify the number of calves weaned per cow exposed for breeding, the percentage of the cow herd that became pregnant in a controlled breeding season, and the body condition of cows that completed lactation on the available forage. This is also an ideal time to closely observe cows for problems such as cancer eye, mastitis or other udder or teat problems, foot or hoof problems, or any signs of disease.  
  1. Establish disease treatment protocols for the herd as well as proper injection sites, injection routes (sub-Q, intra-muscular, intra-venous, etc.), dosages, and any withdrawal times to be observed. The privilege and responsibility to use antibiotics, vaccines, dewormers, insecticides, estrous synchronization hormones, and other products appropriately is important to everyone in the cattle industry. To evaluate the best available products and procedures, the herd veterinarian and producer should routinely meet to update disease prevention and control strategies.  

While specific herd health plans will vary between ranches, all producers should start by ensuring that their plan meets the seven goals listed above. By working with your veterinarian to meet these goals, the costs of disease and production loss can be minimized and animal welfare enhanced.

Herd Health: New Research on BLV

An older cow. A diagnosis of leukosis. A conformation of bovine leukosis virus. What’s next? What does that mean for this herd? Dr. Bob Larson and Dr. Brad White dive into the case to figure out what happened.

View the discussed links visit here:
Cross-sectional study
No evidence for a negative association

Heifer Management, Vaccination Timing for Calves, Hidden Cost of Transportation: Shrink

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.

3:00 Heifer Management

10:10 Vaccination Timing for Calves

16:00 Hidden Cost of Transportation: Shrink

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!

Bull Breeding Injuries

A three year old Angus bull is turned out into the breeding pasture in May. During a weekly check the client notes a bull is away from the cows. With a closer examination some of the cows were in heat. Why would the bull be off by himself? He gets him up and sees a problem.

Listen to Dr. Matt Miesner and Dr. Brad White discuss this case and how it was handled.

AVC Conference Summary, Treatment Strategies for Sick Cattle on Summer Pastures, Role of a Composite Sire in a Commercial Breeding Program

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.

3:00 AVC Conference Summary, 

10:00 Role of a Composite Sire in a Commercial Breeding Program

17:00 Composite bulls

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!

Tox Talk: Head Pressing and 2 Dead

In January you moved 300 head of cow calf pairs to a new field. Before you know it, two are dead and two more are head pressing. What could be causing this? How would you react? Listen to this episode of Tox Talk with Dr. Scott Fritz and Dr. Brad White as they break down this case.

BVD Herd Prevalence, Beef Consumption in North America, Late Summer Fly Management

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3:00 BVD Herd Prevalence

10:00 Beef Consumption in North America

17:00 Late Summer Fly Management

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!

Diving into Diets: Methane

In this episode of Bovine Science with BCI, we are talking about methane. Join Dr. Phillip Lancaster and Dr. Brad White as they discuss statistics, recent research, and the role the beef industry plays in the methane cycle.

Animal Welfare 

Ensuring that your cattle are healthy, well-fed, and well cared for, especially during times of inclement weather, are the foundations for good animal welfare. Fortunately, these goals also aid in high productivity and reduced disease risk. From my viewpoint as a veterinarian, I believe that the most important management tools to protect cattle welfare are: nutrition, sanitation, parasite control, biosecurity, and vaccination.  

One of the “Five Freedoms” that is sometimes used as a gauge for animal welfare is “freedom from thirst, hunger, and malnutrition”. While details such as how long cattle can be without access to food or water without being a welfare problem are a matter of differing opinions, the concept that cattle need an adequate diet is widely accepted. Poor forage growth due to drought or inadequate forage production for the grazing pressure in the case of over-stocking can cause inadequate energy intake and poor body condition of cow herds. Diets based on dormant forages and harvested forages may need supplemental protein or energy depending on the quality of the base-forage and the production status of the cattle. Monitoring body condition of mature cattle and rate of weight gain for growing animals are good measurements to indicate whether or not cattle are receiving an adequate diet. Periods of weather stress, including storms, droughts, and catastrophes, are critical times to evaluate body condition and weight to ensure that cattle are receiving enough energy and protein in their diets to maintain good health as well as good welfare. In addition, any time that cattle are consuming dormant or harvested forages, body condition and weight should be monitored because the base forage for these diets is less likely to provide all the needed nutrients compared to diets based on green, growing forage.  

A clean environment is usually not a problem for grazing adult bulls and cows, however housing calves in pastures, as well as housing any cattle in drylots can lead to levels of mud that contribute to disease risk. Calves are most susceptible to scours the first three weeks of their lives and being exposed to mud and excessive manure during this time of their lives can lead to serious outbreaks of scours. Adults are more resistant to scours, but wet, muddy conditions can contribute to many different types of disease.  Dispersing calves over a wide area on grass rather than dirt and use of age-segregation strategies such as the Sandhills Calving System will maintain a sanitary environment for young calves.  Use of mounds, frequent scraping, concrete, rock, and bedding when appropriate based on rainfall, animal density, and other factors will allow good sanitation for cattle housed on dirt-floor pens.  

An important animal welfare role for veterinarians on cattle operations is to develop herd-specific strategies to reduce the risk of disease due to viruses, bacteria, and parasites. Your veterinarian can help you reduce the risk of importing disease agents with herd replacements or from contact with neighboring cattle herds or wildlife by using disease testing and isolation of new cattle as well as vaccinations. Although we do not have effective vaccines for all the important cattle diseases, a well-designed program to increase herd immunity at specific times of the year will greatly reduce the risk of serious disease outbreaks. In order for vaccines to be the most effective, they must be handled properly and administered at the optimum times of the production cycle. Because vaccination alone is not able to complete protect cattle from disease, these products must be part of an overall strategy to provide adequate nutrition, good sanitation, and parasite control.  

Both internal parasites (worms) and external parasites such as flies and lice can carry disease agents as well as cause weight loss, animal discomfort, and welfare concerns. It is important to work with your veterinarian to develop a strategy to use de-worming and fly-control products, pasture management, and other tools to minimize the damage that these parasites can inflict on a herd. Because parasites can become resistant to chemical tools for control, these products must be used wisely and in conjunction with other management tools. 

Nearly all ranches and feedlots provide good animal comfort and well-being in most situations, but any cattle operation can find it difficult to maintain that high level of care when cattle are exposed to extreme or prolonged weather stress. It is important that every producer have a plan to provide adequate feed, water, shelter, and disease control when situations are tough. Heavy snow, prolonged rain, drought, tornadoes, hurricanes, and other weather events can lead to reduced animal welfare to the point of seriously affecting health and life. It is the responsibility of every cattle producer to reduce the effects of these challenges as much as possible.  

Excellent animal husbandry is important to all cattle producers because ensuring good nutrition, sanitation, and health for cattle results in job satisfaction from properly caring for the animals with which we enjoy working, supports optimum production of the herd, and confirms in consumers’ minds that cattle producers are caring stewards of our livestock.   

Cattle Inventory and Selling Strategies,Grazing Management for Fall,Selecting a Weaning Date

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.

3:00 Cattle Inventory and Selling Strategies

10:00 Fall Planting for Grazing

17:00 Selecting a Weaning Date

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!

Transitioning calves to feed at weaning 

Weaning is one of the most stressful times during the calf’s life. Several factors contribute to the amount of stress endured by the calf – separation from the dam, new surroundings, new feed, and human handling. The stress negatively impacts the immune function of the calf at a time when it is needed the most. Additionally, stress reduces feed intake and the nutrients needed to mount an immune response. A weaning strategy to minimize stress is critical for the success of a preconditioning or backgrounding program, and a key part of that is transitioning the calf to new feed. 

In addition to a correctly formulated weaning diet, encouraging feed intake is a very important aspect. Palatable feedstuffs such as dried distillers grains, molasses, and cottonseed hulls can increase feed intake in young calves. These feedstuffs have good texture and smell that encourages feed intake. Also, using familiar feedstuffs can encourage calves to eat such as good quality grass hay rather than silages in the diet. Corn and grass silages have a different smell and taste that requires acclimating calves and should be avoided unless calves have exposure to these feedstuffs prior to weaning. 

One way to familiarize cattle with the weaning diet is to provide the concentrate portion of the diet as a creep feed 3-4 weeks prior to weaning. This allows the calves time to get familiar with the feed while other feedstuffs and milk are still available to provide necessary nutrients. Additionally, creep feeding allows the rumen bacteria time to acclimate to the weaning diet prior to weaning. By providing creep feed prior to weaning the transition to the weaning diet will be smoother. 

Feed intake can be hampered by poor water quality and inadequate access. One of the first signs of inadequate water availability is decreased feed intake. Water access is critical during the stressful time of weaning and should be made easy for calves to find and consume all the water necessary. Calves on pasture may have been drinking from streams or stock ponds and do not know how to drink from a fountain/waterer, especially a ball fountain. Water should be provided in open tanks in the fenceline where calves will find it while walking the fence. If calves are weaned in a large trap it may be helpful to let the water run over the tank so that calves are attracted to the sound of running water. 

Weaning in a drylot facility has convenience with being able to build tight fences and check calves daily, but weaning in a grass trap has several benefits for the calf. Calves weaned in a grass trap can spread out reducing the exposure to pathogens resulting in less morbidity than when weaned in a drylot. Additionally, calves know how to graze and even though there may only be enough forage for a few days, the grass is a familiar feedstuff for calves until they acclimate to the weaning diet. 

A properly formulated weaning diet is critical to providing the nutrients necessary for adequate immune function and growth. It is good practice to consult with your veterinarian or extension specialist on the weaning diet you plan to use. They can provide an assessment of whether the diet provides the necessary nutrients. Example diets are shown in Table 1 formulated to provide a rate of gain of 1.5 to 2.0 pounds per day for 500-lb calf.  

Table 1. Diets for growing calves to gain 2 lb/day 
Feedstuff Diet 1 Diet 2 Diet 3 
Cracked corn 51.0 30.5 22.0 
Soybean hulls 19.0 – 25.0 
Dried distillers grains – 53.0 – 
Wheat midds – – 25.0 
Cottonseed hulls 14.0 20.0 15.0 
Soybean meal 11.0 – 7.5 
Molasses 4.2 4.5 4.5 
Limestone 0.6 1.2 1.0 
Dicalcium phosphate 0.6 – – 
Vitamin/mineral mix Recommended rate Recommended rate Recommended rate 
Ionophore Recommended rate Recommended rate Recommended rate 
Chopped hay could be substituted for cottonseed hulls if delivering feed as totally mixed ration (TMR) or cottonseed hulls could be removed if free choice hay is provided to calves 

Tox Talk: 3 Head Found Dead in the Feedlot

Spring is in the air, feedlot calves are gaining steady, and everything seems perfect, until 3 head are found dead. Could this have been avoided? Find out on this episode of Tox Talk.

Listener Question: Product Disposable,What To Do With a Deceased Animal,Intensive Grazing and Impact on Sustainability 

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.

3:00 Listener Question: Product Disposable

8:50 What To Do With a Deceased Animal 

17:23 Intensive Grazing and Impact on Sustainability 

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: Longitudinal effects in calves at high risk for BRD

Join Dr. Brian Lubbers and Dr. Brad White as they discuss a paper looking at the longitudinal effects of enrofloxacin or tulathromycin use in preweaned calves at high risk of BRD.

View the full paper here:
Longitudinal effects of enrofloxacin or tulathromycin use in preweaned calves at high risk of bovine respiratory disease on the shedding of antimicrobial-resistant fecal Escherichia coli

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. 

Listener Question: EPD Overview, European Market Knowledge, Managing Breeding Pastures for Optimum Genetics

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.

3:00 Listener Question: EPD Overview

10:00 European Market Knowledge

15:00 Managing Breeding Pastures for Optimum Genetics

Guest: Dr. Megan Rolf, K-State Beef Cattle Geneticist

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!