Association of and variants with bovine congestive heart failure in feedlot cattle.

Background: Bovine congestive heart failure (BCHF) has become increasingly prevalent among feedlot cattle in the Western Great Plains of North America with up to 7% mortality in affected herds. BCHF is an untreatable complex condition involving pulmonary hypertension that culminates in right ventricular failure and death. Genes associated with BCHF in feedlot cattle have not been previously identified.

Current Reality of Beef Cattle Veterinary Practice in North America: A Systems Thinking Perspective.

Beef cattle veterinarians provide services to the increasingly complex beef industry system. Systems thinking offers pathways to better understand and communicate ranges of issues such as prevailing mental models, importance of match quality relative to clientele needs, and identification of leverage to better adapt and continually improve. Thinking in systems identifies and helps us to understand patterns or structures that are organized and interconnected that result in the outcomes observed and experienced in the practice of beef cattle veterinary medicine.

Detection of bovine viral diarrhea virus in stable flies following consumption of blood from persistently infected cattle.

Control of bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) relies on resource-intensive sampling to detect and remove persistently infected (PI) cattle. Herd-level surveillance tools would be useful for herds with unknown BVDV status and for monitoring herds with BVDV-free status. Our objective was to determine the feasibility of using stable flies as a sampling tool to detect BVDV at the herd level.

Upregulation of the type I interferon pathway in feedlot cattle persistently infected with bovine viral diarrhea virus.

Bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) has a profound economic impact on the cattle industry. Calves infected in utero and born persistently infected (PI) with BVDV have increased morbidity, mortality, and reduced productivity. Further, they serve as a continual source of viral exposure to herd mates and thereby pose a significant risk to animal wellbeing and production efficiency.