Newswise — Early each morning after feeding, "cowboys" Marc Epp and Rodney Derstein take a spin through the cattle pens at Kansas State University's Beef Stocker Unit.
Epp, the unit's manager, is looking for signs of sickness -- and he's got a pretty good eye.
"Sometimes they don't feel like eating, they hold their head down. Or they might be having a hard time getting around," Epp said. "You can just tell by paying attention to their mannerisms."
Once they're spotted, the potentially ailing calves are brought into the unit's processing center for an in-depth examination. The sooner a sick calf is treated, the quicker it recovers. But when Epp pulls a calf with borderline signs of sickness, he sometimes thinks twice. Visual identification, after all, isn't an exact science.
"In some cases it's just a judgment call based on your experience," he said.
Thanks to research taking place at K-State's Beef Stocker Unit, modern-day cowboys could soon be using a bit of old-fashioned science to fight disease in the feedlot.
Dale Blasi, a K-State professor of animal sciences and industry, is researching the effectiveness of a new radio-frequency identification ear tag that takes the animal's temperature. Elevated temperature is thought to be a precursor to the onset of disease.
The experiment is taking place at the Beef Stocker Unit, which is designed to emulate real stocker cattle receiving conditions in the interest of research. It is also home to the K-State Center of Excellence for Animal Identification, where researchers examine whether certain technologies have an economic benefit for producers.
Blasi says what comes into the typical receiving yard is a mixed bag. The animals come from several farms and are typically stressed, having been on a semitrailer for as many as 14 hours. Exhaustion and dehydration aren't wholly uncommon, which leaves calves particularly susceptible to disease.
Depending on what's ailing a particular calf, signs of sickness can range from the withdrawal of feed to subtle behavioral changes. And, you've got to know what you're looking for. Sometimes, Epp says, labor is short and the pen riders on the larger feedlots can be inexperienced.
The tag, which is manufactured and marketed by a company called TekVet, looks like a traditional plastic identification tag, except that it has an active, battery-powered radio frequency transmitter attached to it. The tag goes on the animal's left side and has a flexible thermometer that slides down the ear canal next to the tympanic membrane. The thermometer periodically takes the calf's temperature and transmits the data to a dish located in the feed yard. The dish then transmits the temperature data to tracking software developed by the same company.
Blasi said that the software can be set by temperature " normal for a cow is in the 100-102 degree range " to alert lot managers of an elevated reading. This gives workers who do visual inspections a heads up on which cows might be sick.
Blasi calls the technology a management tool to give the feedlot manager one more way to fetter out sickness in the herd. While it seems to be working well, Blasi said there's still a lot to learn. The unit just received the second set of calves for the research trial.
"We're evaluating the importance of this technology for early disease detection," Blasi said. "We want to be able to administer the antibiotic based on the true need of the animal."
Early findings have revealed some difference in the way calves reacted to different antibiotics. More findings are anticipated. The trials will continue throughout 2008.
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