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5. Veterinarians and Producers See BRD Risk Through Different Lenses
New survey results detail how veterinarians and producers assess bovine respiratory disease risk and metaphylaxis decisions when cattle fall into the medium-risk category.
By Andrea Bedford
Bovine Veterinarian
December 31, 2025
The hardest cattle health decisions often live in the gray zone. Nowhere is that truer than with bovine respiratory disease (BRD) in cattle that aren't clearly high risk, but don't look entirely safe either. A new survey* suggests that when cattle fall into this medium-risk category, veterinarians and feedlot managers might be working from different mental playbooks.
[*See: https://academic.oup.com/tas/advance-article/doi/10.1093/tas/txaf165/8385281?login=false ]
The study, published in Translational Animal Science, examined how veterinarians and feedlot managers assess BRD risk and decide whether to use metaphylaxis when risk is uncertain. They surveyed 25 veterinarians consulting for a combined more than 600 feedlots and 30 feedlot managers. While both groups rely heavily on experience, the results show meaningful differences in how risk is perceived, what outcomes are expected and which factors ultimately tip the decision toward treatment.
BRD remains one of the most costly and consequential diseases in feedlot cattle, driving losses through mortality, morbidity, treatment costs and long-term performance impacts. Metaphylaxis is widely accepted for cattle at high risk, but less straightforward when cattle fall somewhere in the middle.
Full text: https://www.bovinevetonline.com/news/veterinarians-and-producers-see-brd-risk-through-different-lenses
New survey results detail how veterinarians and producers assess bovine respiratory disease risk and metaphylaxis decisions when cattle fall into the medium-risk category.
