BRD slows growth, increases veterinary bills, and can lead to death losses. Even mild cases mean fewer kilos on the truck come sale day. While vaccination programs, careful backgrounding, and experienced pen riders help, the industry is still chasing earlier, more reliable detection to stop losses before they start.
The Australian Lot Feeders’ Association notes steady improvement through better management and vaccines. Still, the “Fitbit for cows” solution remains elusive. JBS, the country’s largest lotfeeder, recently trialled smart ear tags to monitor temperature and feeding behaviour. The idea: support younger pen riders who may not have decades of stockmanship.
Early trials revealed problems, the tags caused minor abscesses and didn’t deliver consistent data, but the effort was far from wasted. Each trial builds knowledge and moves the industry closer to cost-effective, welfare-friendly monitoring tools.
Healthy cattle are profitable cattle. As technology develops, these practical steps remain the best defence against BRD and the best way to protect your bottom line this season.
In the agricultural industry, there’s a whole lot we can’t control. We can't control when the rain falls, we can’t control global market
swings, and we certainly can’t control the price of fuel.
But here’s the good news: the things we can control make all the difference to the bottom line.
For generations of primary producers across the North West, the traditional farm clearing sale was an all-or-nothing event. It meant months of stressful preparation, a yard full of strangers, and a heavy reliance on the weather behaving itself on sale day.
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