Guidelines for choosing the appropriate disease management practice
Consider whether any of the more common diseases or trace element deficiencies are likely to occur in your beef enterprise by assessing:
• Grazing and husbandry practices;
• Age groups and classes of cattle;
• Disease status of introduced cattle;
• The locality of your enterprise.
Conditions for the development of common cattle diseases provides a list of common production and reproduction diseases and conditions for their likely occurrence. These diseases of cattle can lead to significant economic loss when left untreated or treatment is delayed.
The diseases discussed in this procedure include:
• Gastrointestinal parasites
• Liver fluke
• Grass tetany (hypomagnesemia)
• Milk fever (hypocalcaemia)
• Bloat
• Mineral deficiencies (copper, cobalt, selenium, phosphorus)
• Ketosis/pregnancy toxaemia
Important reproductive diseases include:
• Vibriosis
• Trichomoniasis
• Leptospirosis
• Bovine pestivirus or mucosal disease
Consult with neighbours, producers with similar production systems, local veterinary practitioners, state departments of agriculture and their animal health websites to assist with a thorough assessment of the disease status of your herd.
Trace elements and mineral deficiencies for southern Australia presents a map showing where trace element deficiencies (selenium and cobalt) are most likely to occur in southern Australia.
Check that your herd is free of diseases by using Diagnostic tool for common diseases on beef Cattle, an aid to diagnosing a number of common cattle diseases. Misdiagnosing a disease may result in substantial losses so consult with a veterinarian to confirm a diagnosis.
Once you have identified the risk from any particular animal health issue, decide whether to:
• Take immediate action for prevention; or
• Monitor the herd when disease symptoms are likely to occur in the production cycle, and act only when diseases appear.
To help decide whether prevention of some of the more common recurring diseases (eg bloat, grass tetany and clostridial diseases) is cost-effective, a spreadsheet calculator can be used to do a simple partial budget.
To decide whether to take action, know how severe a disease needs to become before it has an impact on production. Appropriate management strategies and/or corrective treatments for specific diseases are outlined in Management strategies to prevent disease.
An example of monitoring is the use of faecal egg counts for internal parasites in young cattle (up to 12 months) to determine the need for drenching (see faecal egg counts box below).
Use of faecal egg counts (FEC) to monitor internal parasites in cattle
In cattle production, internal parasites are an important management issue, particularly in stock up to 12 months of age and in more intensive management systems. Cattle younger than 12 months are best monitored by faecal egg counts. Cattle up to two years and older are also affected by gastrointestinal parasites, particularly under stress situations.
The recommended approach is to implement an integrated parasite treatment and prevention program based on monitoring the faecal egg counts of young stock in conjunction with other key indicators such as growth rates and liveweight at first joining (Management strategies to prevent disease). The use of faecal egg counts in older cattle is unreliable.
Timing of strategic drenching to prevent gastrointestinal parasites will vary slightly between regions and local conditions. MLA has developed The cattle parasite atlas: a regional guide to cattle parasite control in Australia, which presents an integrated approach to internal and external parasite control in various regions. It also contains basic information on the more important internal and external cattle parasites.
Information on the role of faecal egg counts is also available from local veterinary practitioners, state departments of agriculture and their animal health websites.
What to measure and when
Individual diseases have different requirements as far as what to measure and when. For more information on the following measurement aids:
• Indicators of the conditions likely to lead to the development of common diseases of cattle (Conditions that exist for the development of common cattle diseases);
• Diagnostic tools to detect the presence of common diseases (Diagnostic tool for common diseases);
• An understanding of the likely impact of a disease and how severe it needs to become to affect production;
• Potential economic loss relative to cost of management and preventive treatment;
• Market information on commodity prices to calculate cost–benefit budgets.
