Recipient Organization
TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY
(N/A)
LUBBOCK,TX 79409
Performing Department
ANIMAL & FOOD SCIENCE
Non Technical Summary
(N/A)
Animal Health Component
40%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
40%
Applied
40%
Developmental
20%
Goals / Objectives
The primary objective associated with this subordinate project is to develop a reliable and repeatable bovine respiratory disease model that can be used to evaluate a variety of nutritional and management strategies that may be beneficial with regard to improving cattle health, well-being and productivity.
Project Methods
Young calves will be obtained and transported to the Livestock Issues Research Unit's Calf Barn for a series of experiments to develop the respiratory disease model. Calves will be placed into individual pens and fed either a milk replacer and/or concentrate ration. Once the calves have adapted to their new environment and diet, calves will be exposed to a nasal inoculation of Infectious Bovine Rhinotracheitis Virus (IBRV) and either an intra-tracheal injection of mannheimia haemolytica bacteria or an injection of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to induce respiratory disease. Body temperature, blood samples, feed/milk intake, and body weight will be collected from the calves in order to evaluate the immune response to the challenge. These parameters will be evaluated in each of the challenge models (i.e., IBRV and mannheimia, IBRV and LPS, etc.) to determine which challenge model produces the most consistent immunological and performance markers that are consistent with the observations for cattle experiencing respiratory disease in a production environment.