Bovine respiratory disease is the most common and economically significant disease in beef cattle, causing significant suffering that is largely preventable.
Bovine respiratory disease causes significant suffering through fever, painful airways, reduced feed intake, and laboured breathing. Untreated or late-treated disease progresses to chronic pneumonia with permanent lung damage that reduces welfare and productivity throughout the animal lifetime. The clustering of disease risk at high-stress periods including weaning and sale means welfare improvements from stress reduction directly reduce disease incidence. Prompt detection and treatment through systematic daily observation, combined with preventive vaccination and management improvements that reduce stress, represent the most welfare-positive approach. The antibiotic stewardship tension requires careful management to avoid both undertreatment and overuse.