2018-137: Treatment guidance for Bovine respiratory disease: Optimizing prudent and economical antimicrobial decision making.

Medicating cattle with effective antibiotics helps reduce treatment times and costs. However, producers do not often know precisely what pathogens are affecting cattle. This research will investigate if calves can be swabbed on arrival at feedlots, and the chances that they will later be ill from the same pathogens detected. It will also determine if the most common bacteria detected would affect the whole herd, and if a small sample could predict the illnesses for the entire pen.