Anaplasmosis is an infectious disease of cattle caused by several species of the blood parasite Anaplasma. A. marginale is the most common pathogen of cattle.

It is widely agreed that prevention rather than treatment is the most economical approach to keeping disease losses low. Treatment of a disease after its onset is not always

Calving difficulty, technically called dystocia, is a major cause of death loss in cow-calf herds. CHAPA (Cow-calf Health and Productivity Audit) studies indicate that dystocia is responsible for 33 percent of all calf losses and 15.4 percent of beef cattle breeding losses.

Many advances have been made in the field of livestock parasite control over the past few years. Because parasites decrease production, usually through decreased weight gain, advances in the control of parasites can have a direct economic impact on beef cattle operations.

Questions about dewormers are some of the most frequent that producers have. I will try to address the most common questions producers ask as well as my list of the most important questions. The answers are a combination of current research and my interpretation of that research. In some cases the answers are my educated opinion based on our current understanding of worms and dewormers.

You cannot just “get” bed bugs. They have to be brought into your home. So what is your first clue that you have brought bed bugs home (say after a trip, or after purchasing a piece of used furniture that you bought at a garage sale)? Most people become suspicious of a bed bug infestation when they find unexplained bites on their bodies.

Disease represents a major problem in most feeder and stocker settings. In some instances, outbreaks of disease can result in as much as a 30% death loss. In addition, treatment costs, feed efficiency losses, and the expenditures and labor necessary for treatment, as well as the necessity of culling animals which fail to respond to treatment, make disease loss substantial in many situations.

Foot rot is a common disease of cattle that can cause severe lameness and decreased weight gain. Other common names for the disease are sore foot and foul foot.

Profitability in the dairy business is NOT the herd with the larger milk check, or the greater volume in the bulk tank, but the producer who retains a larger sum of revenues at the end of the month (income minus expenses equals profits). One of the larger expenses incurred on the dairy is replacement heifer rearing. Replacement rearing is second only to feed cost for the lactating cows. In surveys of dairy expenditures, this item accounts for 9 to 20% of the total expenses on the farm. In the authors' experience, producers are seldom aware of what heifers cost to raise, and most producers think that these expenses are negligible. Heifers are a high cost item when expenses are divided among the various enterprises on the farm.

A critical evaluation of production in first lactation heifers once they reach the milking herd is important to determine the effects of the heifer rearing program. This can easily be done by monitoring start-up milk (milk production 0 to 40 days in milk), start-up milk butterfat and protein, and peak milk, peak milk butterfat and protein (41 to 100 days in milk) because these are directly related to heifer development.

Mycoplasma is a tiny bacterium that has a long history of causing disease in the cattle industry. Beginning in the early 2000s, it has emerged as an important entity in Virginia.

Mycoplasma is a tiny bacterium that can cause mastitis, metritis, pneumonia, drooped ears, and lameness in dairy cattle. While this bacterium has existed for more than 100 years, the current disease was first recognized in the 1960s and 1970s, and has only recently become a problem in Virginia. There has been a steady rise in the frequency and severity of disease associated with Mycoplasma in the last ten years. Mycoplasma is a highly contagious disease that can have devastating economic effects on a dairy farm due to decreased milk production, additional veterinary costs, culling of cows, calf loss, and treatment cost. All dairy animals can be infected, including calves, heifers, dry cows and lactating cows.

Pinkeye, also known as infectious bovine keratoconjunctivitis (IBK), is one of the most common diseases of beef cattle in Virginia. It is a highly contagious disease, causing inflammation of the cornea (the clear outer layer) and conjunctiva (the pink membrane lining the eyelids) of the eye.

The recognition and treatment of Bovine Respiratory Disease Complex (BRDC) is vital to the economic well-being of the stocker cattle producer. This disease is also known as shipping fever, or simply pneumonia.

Bovine respiratory disease complex (BRDC), or shipping fever, remains the most important health issue facing stocker-cattle producers. Despite many advances in our understanding of BRDC, vaccine technology, and new antibiotics in the last 40 years, the percentage of cattle that develop BRDC and the number that die from it have remained relatively unchanged.

You cannot just “get” bed bugs. They have to be brought into your home. So what is your first clue that you have brought bed bugs home (say after a trip, or after purchasing a piece of used furniture that you bought at a garage sale)? Most people become suspicious of a bed bug infestation when they find unexplained bites on their bodies.

You cannot just “get” bed bugs. They have to be brought into your home. So what is your first clue that you have brought bed bugs home (say after a trip, or after purchasing a piece of used furniture that you bought at a garage sale)? Most people become suspicious of a bed bug infestation when they find unexplained bites on their bodies.