beef 911 It has long been recognized that transport coupled with commingling of cattle greatly increases stress, shrinkage, and the incidence of the respiratory disease complex.
For many years, auction markets have used satellite or Internet sales to market larger groups of cattle without having to move them off the farm. This is pretty much all upside for both seller and purchaser.
Selling and shipping directly to the purchaser’s place eliminates one transport, saves time, and there is no comingling unless the purchaser decides to do that on his own premises with other purchased cattle. Shrinkage is also minimized and the purchaser will be able to get a detailed description of what the cattle have had for preventative shots. This may eliminate the need to repeat procedures such as endectocides for lice, deworming, implanting, or vaccinations when they reach their new home.
Read Also
Horns aren’t unlocking anytime soon on livestock transport standards
Standards good enough meet the definition of “humane” animal transportation still vary widely between what what industry wants, what animal rights advocates want and, between the two, what federal regulators decide is good enough.
Although the traditional auction system sets the price with competitive bidding, it does increase shrinkage substantially. With green cattle that have just been weaned, overnight shrinkage at the auction market could approach or exceed 10 per cent. Often direct-shipped cattle have a predetermined shrinkage calculation placed on them depending on where they are going to be weighed and the distance moved. On the satellite and Internet sales, a sliding grid is established depending on what their final weight actually is when delivered. That way it keeps it fair for everyone. Keeping it fair means both sides benefit and long-term relationships may result.
There is a fair bit of redundancy in our cattle industry with regards to vaccinating, using endectocides, ear tagging, deworming or even implanting. When the source of the cattle is directly known and it is a large group, the health history can follow the cattle through. If trust is established, you know the products were applied properly. It’s nice, for instance, to know when cattle were implanted so implants are not stacked to any large degree. If the former implants are almost used up, then you can start directly with your implant protocol.
The respiratory disease complex (viruses such as IBR PI3 BRSV and bacteria such as Mannheimia or Pasteurella) has been the main nemesis of the cattle-feeding industry for quite a long time. If the cattle are pre-immunized before you get them and have been weaned on farm (preconditioned), that should be worth a premium because the cattle are less likely to get sick and will go onto feed quicker. I know some larger feedlots that try to start cattle on the same ration in order to make transition that much easier. With direct shipping, calves are less stressed, less likely to be deprived of feed and water, and arrive in much better shape having not been commingled. These type of cattle, in my view, would be classified as low risk, but it is up to you and your veterinarian to decide whether prophylactic antibiotics are in order. They may be left and the sick ones pulled or given antibiotics. Overall, the morbidity and mortality rate should be much less than highly stressed cattle.
By taking the entire group off the farm there may be a few different coloured calves, smaller ones, or ones with slight imperfections such as frozen ears, scarred eyes or warts etc. The advantage of getting an entire group not mingled, and on the same feed and herd health program far outweighs the disadvantages of these non-uniform cattle. I have always said feedlot pens are generally full of all the colours anyways, with sorts are done closer to finishing to feed the cattle which came in lighter a little longer. Slight frost damage to the ears is inconsequential. Sure, the producer would sort out the very poor performers, but all the others, even with minor imperfections, have advantages for both parties if sold as a group.
Pathogen spread
Commingling exposes cattle to a myriad of pathogens just when they are highly stressed. Even if feedlots need to put two, three or four owners together in a pen that is better than a multitude. You can just imagine how many different owners’ cattle are in their feedlot. A survey of one 5,000- to 10,000-head feedlot done a few years ago traced its cattle back to more than 2,000 owners. This is an alarming amount of commingling.
By sorting off a single or two from a group you create this double negative. The calf would do better with his contemporaries plus the calf now goes into another group of like animals and is commingled with them. Almost without exception this is why owners which wean and feed their own cattle seldom have a lot of respiratory and health issues compared to the huge feedlots which have to bring cattle in from all over (often from auction markets), transport them over long distances, and then commingle them. All these cattle become high risk, and that is why veterinarians often prescribe metaphylactic antibiotics.
Although pre-sort sales make the groups more uniform and the sale goes quicker (as lots are bigger), there are major disadvantages. In my view, the added stress of sorting weighing individuals and then comingling them negates the advantages. The seller likes it as the shrink is predetermined, and because the lots are uniform, the price is at a premium. My question is whether, over time, feedlots will shy away from the increased risk of sickness. However, very potent long-acting antibiotics are now available as metaphylactic treatments. These drugs have no doubt greatly improved the death loss and the number of chronics in the feedlot.
The direct ship method also helps out with traceability. And large feedlots may not need to retag as pens have the owner’s tag, branding is probably minimized and it also saves considerable trucking costs. The auction market still sells them but in a different way (satellite or Internet) so fees are saved here as well. Direct shipping can benefit everyone along the supply chain. Calves should have better gains, plus potentially lower morbidity and mortality. It is definitely worth taking time to pursue!
