Bovine respiratory disease is the most costly disease in the cattle industry and causes significant suffering, particularly in beef calves during weaning and transport.
Bovine respiratory disease involves significant suffering: fever, laboured breathing, reduced appetite, and depression persist for days to weeks in affected animals. The link between management stress and disease onset is well-established — the cascade of weaning, transport, and mixing that calves experience in moving from farms to feedlots suppresses immune function and creates conditions for viral and bacterial respiratory infection. Prevention-focused management that reduces the number and severity of stress events has both welfare and economic justifications.