THE beef industry is continuing its push for a reduction in Bovine Respiratory Disease (BRD), and lotfeeders last week discussed how they could get cow-calf producers to adopt yard weaning and vaccination methods as the norm.
Agriculture and Food Department beef team leader Brad McCormick addressed last week's WA Lot Feeders Association (WALFA) annual general meeting in Perth, specifically relating to the issue of BRD in the industry.
BRD is estimated to cause 70 per cent of all sickness and deaths in cattle feedlots.
The main cause is stress and there is a higher prevalence of the disease in young cattle subjected to sudden weaning, trucking and intensive gathering.
The ideal management approach is to combine pre-vaccination programs, with good cattle husbandry relating to the style of weaning.
Mr McCormick said he thought the BRD issue was an indicative one, and the uptake of reduction methods would show how adaptable the industry was to change.
"It also encompasses my own passion for reducing waste," Mr McCormick said.
"BRD has a growing impact on live shippers as more younger cattle are sourced, there is clearly a need for industry change here.
"The Beef CRC has proven that yard weaning decreases the risk of BRD, but still less than five per cent of WA producers use yard weaning.
"There is further risk reduction when you add a vaccination program.
"There is a huge scope for industry gain but it needs leadership."
Mr McCormick said any culture change needed an increase in awareness, commercial drivers and understanding up and down the supply chain.
He said all major industry groups, such as WALFA, were highly supportive of the program and things were in the works to push it forward.
Wellard export cattle general manager Anthony Fellows said his company already had declarations in place that vendors were expected to sign to guarantee that their cattle had been weaned within 14 days of purchase.
Mr Fellows said there was also a subjective clause, so they as buyers could visually inspect the cattle and their behaviour in the yards.
But at the moment there was no price incentive for producers, he said.
"For us as a company, the risk of buying unweaned cattle is too great," he said.
"We're not saying that we'll reward you, we just won't buy your cattle if you can't prepare them properly."
