Managing Nutrition and Body Condition A successful heifer development program produces females who will conceive early, calve without difficulty, and breed back in a timely fashion. None of these are achievable if body condition is neglected. Nutrition is an essential … Continue reading
Revisiting the Value of Reproductive Tract Scores Reproductive tract scores (RTS) are a tool available to cow-calf producers and their veterinarians that can improve herd reproductive performance and efficiency. Reproductive tract scores can often be performed simultaneously with pre-breeding vaccines, … Continue reading
The Importance of Early Conception Fertility is the single most important trait in cow-calf production. The propagation of other desired characteristics (i.e. carcass traits, phenotype, longevity, etc.) is not possible if fertility is neglected. Fertility within a herd is reflected … Continue reading
Determining pregnancy status of cows has many benefits to the cow-calf producer. As discussed in the first article of this series, a primary benefit of regular pregnancy testing cows is finding open cows. In most cow-calf operations, cattle are caught … Continue reading
Benefits of Pregnancy Testing in Cow-Calf Herds | Part 1 Working with a veterinarian to pregnancy test cows is a valuable tool available to cow-calf producers. For many producers, calling the vet to schedule pregnancy testing on an annual (or … Continue reading
The most common limb abnormality in calves Contracted tendons are the most common limb abnormality seen in newborn calves. They cause the legs to be flexed in position, or knuckled over and make it difficult for the newborn calf to … Continue reading
Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtles In the weeks prior to the winter holiday break, Mississippi State College of Veterinary Medicine was contacted by the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies (IMMS) in Gulfport, to aid in the intake process of 20 cold-stunned … Continue reading
All In/ All Out Managment Systems Atrophic rhinitis is a disease in swine that developed in the US in the 1940s because of the expansion and intensification of swine production. Atrophic rhinitis is a multifactorial disease caused by toxigenic strains … Continue reading
Population characteristics: Prevalence Sometimes more than one diagnostic test is conducted to increase overall test sensitivity or specificity. For example, disease eradication programs may necessitate multiple diagnostic tests to ensure that an animal is not infected or diseased (a false-negative … Continue reading
Disease Probability Probability is the chance that some event will happen. With disease, probability can be thought of as out a group of individuals exposed to a disease, how many will become infected. Diagnostic tests do not always appropriately classify … Continue reading
Population characteristics: Prevalence Prevalence is an estimation of an individual’s risk of having a disease at a specific point in time. Apparent prevalence, or the proportion of test-positive individuals at a specific point in time, is found after performing a … Continue reading
Principles of Diagnostic Testing Series Part 2 – Test Characteristics: Infectious Disease Antigen and Antibody Testing Some of the most common diagnostic tests for infectious diseases detect either antigens or antibodies. An antigen is a foreign substance that elicits an … Continue reading
Principles of Diagnostic Testing Series Part 1 – Test Characteristics: Sensitivity and Specificity The performance characteristics of a diagnostic test influence the circumstances that the test is most useful and how the results might be interpreted. Ideally, every diagnostic test … Continue reading
Livestock producers in the southeast are reminded to be vigilant in their biosecurity practices to protect against the vesicular stomatitis virus. Just last week, the disease caused by this virus, vesicular stomatitis (VS), was diagnosed in horses in Arkansas, dangerously … Continue reading
Part 10: Body Conditioning Score Series: Urea as a protein supplement For most cow-calf producers, forages are the primary component of the cow’s diet, therefore supplements should only be used when they increase the nutritional value of the forage. A common form of … Continue reading
Part 9: It’s all about the microbes There are many supplements available to the cow-calf producer, and most producers utilize some sort of supplemental feeding when cattle are on a primarily forage-based diet. The choice of supplement should complement the ability of the … Continue reading
Part 8: Body Conditioning Score Series: Consequences of poor forage Unfortunately, a lack of understanding of forage quality and beef cattle nutrient requirements by cow-calf producers often leads to poor body condition scores in their cattle, particularly in the early … Continue reading
Part 7: Body Conditioning Score Series: Protein Management When considering feedstuff selection and ration development, producers often base decisions heavily on protein content of the particular feed or feedstuff in question. For purposes of this article, we will define a … Continue reading
Part 6: Body Conditioning Score Series: Measuring Forage Quality The expression “You can’t manage what you can’t measure,” very accurately describes managing forage quality on cow-calf operations. Forage quality is measured through performing forage quality testing. Whether you feed dry … Continue reading
Part 5: Body Conditioning Score Series: Forage System Management Each individual cow-calf operation is a unique and complex system of various inputs and factors that drive management decisions and animal health and profitability outcomes. If cow-calf producers and their veterinarians … Continue reading
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