Preventing and managing bovine respiratory disease, the leading cause of cattle morbidity.
Bovine respiratory disease represents a convergence of welfare and production failures in livestock systems, as the circumstances that cause BRD - weaning, transport, commingling, and stress - are largely system-imposed rather than inevitable. Affected cattle experience significant respiratory distress, fever, and systemic illness that causes substantial suffering, often for days before treatment is initiated due to the challenges of detecting early signs in large groups. Prevention through vaccination, stress reduction, and good transition management is more welfare-positive than reliance on metaphylaxis, which treats populations rather than individuals and contributes to antibiotic resistance concerns.