Cattle Chat

This episode of BCI Cattle Chat covers liver flukes and emergency preparedness in cattle operations with guest Dr. Christine Navarre. The experts discuss how liver flukes damage the liver, can contribute to sudden death, and may show up in feedlot cattle long after exposure in endemic regions. They emphasize accurate diagnosis, targeted deworming, and vaccination. The team also highlights the importance of planning ahead for disasters by ensuring access to water, feed, power, communication, and secure records to improve outcomes and protect both cattle and producers.

2:55 Liver Flukes

12:03 Emergency Preparedness

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 [email protected]. 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!

Guest Information

Adjunct Professor

Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences

LSU School of Veterinary Medicine
Louisiana State University
Baton Rouge, LA 70803

Extension Veterinarian, LSU AgCenter

Professor, LSU School of Animal Sciences

On this week’s BCI Cattle Chat episode, graduate student Liliana Rivas updates us on her research about leaky guts in yearling calves. She conducted this by feeding the calves a restricted diet and measuring indigestible sugars in the bloodstream over 36 hours. The experts also discussed cow efficiency, measured as pounds of calf weaned per pound of feed consumed per cow exposed. A key finding was that the nutrition models in the study underestimated the extent to which energy restriction harms reproduction.

3:10 Research Update

12:27 Cow Efficiency

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 [email protected]. 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!

The experts discussed whether it is more costly to have thin or fat cows going into the calving season. Thin cows are generally more costly because they are at high risk of having calving issues. Determining when to be aggressive with supplementation is important when addressing thin cows. The team also answered a listener’s question regarding weak calves. They discussed the factors that could be causing the calves to be weak. The key takeaway is that weak calves are associated with long or difficult births, weather stress, and poor nutrition. Better monitoring of heifers and calving progress can prevent many issues.

2:35 Thin vs Fat Cows

19:53 Weak Calves

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 [email protected]. 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!

On this week’s BCI Cattle Chat episode, the experts debate whether you should start treatment as soon as signs of the disease appear or if you should wait for the signs to develop to have a clear diagnosis. The ability to modify the therapeutic plan can be valuable, but it needs to be balanced with consistency that allows better evaluation of treatment outcomes. The team also debated treatment protocols. Being flexible in planning is important, but deviations from the protocol should be kept to a minimum. Lastly, they discussed antimicrobial resistance and its role in the cause of death with respiratory diseases.

2:37 When to Start Treatment

10:03 Treatment Protocol

19:31 Antimicrobial Resistance

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 [email protected]. 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!

On this week’s BCI Cattle Chat episode, the experts answer a listener’s question comparing two genetically identical bulls raised in different environments. The group discusses whether early development and nutrition can influence fertility, longevity, or even the genetics passed on to offspring, diving into the emerging science of epigenetics. Lastly, the team tackles a listener question on udder quality, exploring how heritable udder traits are and when producers should use them as culling criteria in the herd.

3:13 Epigenetics

17:31 Udder Quality

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 [email protected]. 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!