34 CALF News • April | May 2022 • www.calfnews.net By Patti Wilson Contributing Editor A “BRD Battle Plan” is the current platform that Boehringer Ingelheim is teaching in educational seminars this year. It is a continuation of the holistic, preventative approach the company embraces to minimize bovine respiratory disease (BRD) outbreaks in calves and aid in their recuperation from pneumonia. As humans have sorely learned in the past couple years, vaccines don’t always work (think COVID), but they often do. They are not easily measurable in the minimization of sickness once it has set in, but we do know they reduce pathogen load and enhance a better reaction to antibiotics. Dr. Joe Gillespie, professional services veterinarian with Boehringer IngelheimAnimal Health, says you can increase vaccine effectiveness by working calves that are rested, hydrated and on an increasing plane of nutrition. Stress-inducing days that include weaning, trucking or auction markets sap healthy calves of the ability to boost their immune systems. He recommends giving the new arrivals a break for three to seven days after receiving. Stress levels will decrease and immune response soar. Gillespie recommends Pyramid 5 and Presponse 3 vaccines to manage risk, and Zactran to treat BRD-related illness. Animal Health Spotlight Boehringer Ingelheim's 'BRD Battle Plan' Elanco Maintains Vigilance for Parasite Resistance By Patti Wilson Contributing Editor Parasites are never a pleasant topic to tackle while discussing veterinary medicine. It is, however, one of the most important. The continuous battle involving a large variety of pests provides challenges for research science, veterinarians and livestock producers. Elanco Animal Health continues to forge ahead with the study of paraciticides, their proper application and parasite resistance. Continuing education of livestock producers is part of their program. Lice are, literally, as predictable as the weather. They go dormant during warm seasons and are better targets for elimination during winter, when they become active. Exiting their summer habitats, lice emerge from dormancy in the winter, migrating from armpits, flanks and inner ears to either suck blood or chew skin. This is when we see livestock itch. According to Dr. ThachWinslow, Elanco Animal Health, it’s imperative to use your pour-ons at the proper time and apply it correctly; your insecticide must have direct contact with the vermin. Most important, he recommends using a nozzle sprayer, not the showerhead type, to dispense product. Insecticide must reach from head to tail along the topline. He suggests a half-dose applied from head to midback, the other half from tail to mid-back to ensure uniform distribution with a focus on not underdosing the head and tail areas. Place your nozzle on the hide to make sure it is depositing product in the right place. Treating all animals within a group the same day can help to ensure there is no contamination of treated cows by those untreated. The untreated will reinfest the entire group. Both biting and chewing lice respond well to pour-ons. However, only sucking lice will be killed by injectable paraciticides. A presence of active lice always indicates there are eggs and nymphs, also. It is often necessary to pour cattle a second time for elimination of all stages of lifecycles. The recommendation is a two-week interval between pourings to kill newly hatched eggs. Elanco Animal Health offers the first one-dose lice treatment product, Clean-Up ll Pour-on Insecticide, which has two active ingredients, one that kills adults and the other that kills eggs for control of both sucking and biting lice. Winslow emphasizes the importance of timing in elimination of lice, a factor that is doubly important to remember during our current drought conditions. Cows coming off grass early are often poured during preg checks, when they are conveniently caught in a chute. Many times, the weather is simply too warm and lice are dormant. Be mindful of life cycles and don’t waste your money. For more information, visit www.elanco.us. Other stressors to avoid are mixing of calf groups and unfavorable cattle handling techniques. He said, statistically, almost 50 percent of calves in this country remain unvaccinated for respiratory viruses prior to marketing. Studies indicate that herds of up to 200 head may not bother preconditioning calves before the stressful weaning and marketing period. These arrivals remain particularly vulnerable to BRD, leading to antibiotcs being the only element or “tool in the box” to their wellbeing until proper vaccination. Gillespie strongly recommends a means of control for coccidiosis, preferably a prophylactic treatment in the water or feed. Rumensin and Bovatec are fundamentally helpful. The current drought plaguing our western United States is causing additional health concerns, according to the veterinarian. His first concern is a low nutritional plane for pregnant cows, leading to inadequate fetal programming of their calves. The nutritional base of the cow herd will follow these youngsters the rest of their lives. New challenges this year may include additional feed costs for remaining cows, greater importance of immunization due to dust and simply more risk of pneumonia in all classes of cattle. Parasite control and mineral supplementation will also become more critical to offset stressors. Boehringer Ingelheim’s 2022 symposiums will cover all facets of the cattle industry. To learn more, visit BICattleFirst. com to see the BRD Battle Plan.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTMxNTA5