12 Apr 2023
Philip Elkins
Job Title
Image © Budimir Jevtic / Adobe Stock
Bovine respiratory disease (BRD) is the most common disease of calves, costing the UK dairy and beef industries an estimated £80 million and £50 million, respectively1.
Despite this, it is estimated that more than 1.9 million calves are treated for BRD annually2, with subclinical rates far higher than treatment rates3.
A wealth of literature surrounding BRD, risk factors and prevention is available, yet the condition remains highly prevalent.
So, how can farm vets help their clients control or prevent this disease? This article will look at some of the approaches and tactics to aid farm vets in moving conversations around BRD from a reactive to a preventive focus.
It is important to remember that with BRD, just like other multifactorial disease such as lameness and mastitis, moving from the status quo to the end goal is often not a one-step process and, as such, the approach should consider it as a journey.
For this journey, each farm will have its own starting point and target destination, which will ultimately determine the route and duration to get to the destination. The author finds discussions around this approach particularly useful with clients to manage expectations; for example, what might be an appropriate target for disease incidence for one farm might be unachievable for another without significant investment in infrastructure.
Being upfront around these restrictions is important, and the farmer may indeed be willing, or indeed planning, this level of investment, which would allow veterinary input at the planning stage.
Unfortunately, unrealistic expectations may exist on what is achievable within certain set-ups – ensuring a team understanding of target performance at the start of the journey means improvements can be appropriately celebrated.
Taking a step-wise approach to the journey rather than attempting multiple changes at once has multiple benefits. It:
Putting this in the context of a fictional farm with an above-target incidence of BRD, the following journey could be successful. Please consider this as a fictional example rather than a blueprint approach:
Of course, not every journey is straightforward and not every intervention will be beneficial, but being aware that disease control is a medium to long-term aim will help ensure focus is maintained for a successful outcome.
This is stating the obvious here, but it is very important when considering disease control – especially for multifactorial diseases such as BRD – is the tenet that not only is each farm unique, but each farmer is unique. This obviously means BRD control must be bespoke and target the risk factors present on the specific unit. But the individuality of the farmer is just as important in shifting the focus to disease control.
Before changes can be implemented, it is important to understand what motivates the farmer and, therefore, how the current status can be converted into a motivating factor for the farmer. These motivators may be drastically different for each farmer and include factors such as:
For example, a farmer who is motivated by alleviating future concerns might be more receptive to discussing the impact of more heifers making successful milking animals rather than being limited by previous disease or culled.
A different farmer may be motivated by the target of seeing even groups of youngstock coming through the system, having eliminated the poor doers.
It is commonplace to discuss the cost of disease with farmers. However, in the author’s experience, when not discussed appropriately this can often disenfranchise farmers with the desired actions. This occurs for two reasons: the costs discussed are often industry averages and the assumption that all costs attributed to disease are recoverable.
A level of distrust with industry average disease costs exists in farmers, as it is often felt they do not accurately reflect the costs on a specific unit. When considering the variability of some cost points recently used to calculate these standard costs, it is clear to see why.
Equally, it is not honest to say that with a cost of x per calf affected, and y calves affected, the recoverable cost of disease is xxy. BRD is rarely a preventable condition; as such, a baseline incidence of disease should be expected (although, in excellent units, this baseline level is minimal).
Equally, it is important to consider the costs associated with interventions, as well as the benefits. The author has created a respiratory disease cost benefit calculator that is used with clients to understand the true recoverable costs of disease (Figure 1). This takes user input data to determine the costs of disease, with a target disease incidence to derive the benefits. By using bespoke cost figures, clients can become more engaged with the financial impacts of disease.
Again, farmers like praise might seem like stating the obvious. Don’t we all need praise? When engaging with disease control, it is easy for vets to focus on areas that can be improved – or, put in a different terms, problems: things being done wrong; issues.
Whether consciously or subconsciously, when finding these improvement areas, vets will have noticed many areas where no improvement is needed – things being done right.
Commenting on these factors can often bring goodwill and some positivity to the discussion. “You’re doing this very well, but we need to tighten up on that” can bring the needed balance to ensure engagement.
Similarly, in the author’s experience, being open and honest with clients leads to a better long-term relationship, which is needed for control of multifactorial disease. Unfortunately, none of us can predict the future. Two common pitfalls are overstating certainty, and overpromising and underdelivering. Farmers often respond better to statements such as:
Rather than statements such as:
Changing some of the rhetoric will reinforce the journey approach to disease control, but also embed yourself into the journey, showing the client they are not doing it in isolation, but as part of a team.
While this article has been written in the context of BRD, the principles hold true for many interactions for farm vets – particularly those targeting multifactorial disease control or optimising health, welfare and production.
BRD outbreaks provide a good opportunity to use these principles for better long-term client relations, through improved disease control, a preventive approach, and improved health and performance. Approaching disease control like a journey, with bespoke interventions and motivations – and mixing praise, openness and honesty – can lead to long-term success.
