Recipient Organization
OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
(N/A)
CORVALLIS,OR 97331
Performing Department
Eastern Oregon Agricultural Res Center
Non Technical Summary
The stressors associated with the transfer of beef calves from the ranch of origin to commercial feedlots are major predisposing causes for bovine respiratory disease (BRD), an infectious complex that costs the US cattle industry approximately $ 1 billion/year. Road transport and feedlot entry, considered major stressors during the aforementioned instance, have been shown to elicit inflammatory and acute-phase responses in overtly healthy cattle. These stress-induced immune responses are highly demanding and detrimental to subsequent cattle performance and health by increasing the BRD incidence. Therefore, alternatives to modulate immune reactions elicited by stressful but routine management procedures are warranted to promote animal welfare and productivity. Our group demonstrated that administration of anti-inflammatory compounds to cattle prior to and after transport effectively alleviated the acute-phase response during feedlot receiving. More specifically, supplementation with linolenic acid prior to transport and during feedlot receiving reduced the acute-phase protein response but did not benefit feedlot receiving performance. Administration of Flunixin Meglumine, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), at truck loading/unloading also alleviated the acute-phase protein response but did not improve feedlot receiving performance. Perhaps the elimination half-life of flunixin meglumine (less than 8 h) was insufficient to modulate the transport-elicited acute-phase response to an extent that resulted in enhanced cattle performance. Alternatively, meloxicam has an elimination half-life of 28 h when orally administered to cattle at 1 mg/kg. Accordingly, Van Engen et al. (2014) reported that oral administration of meloxicam to cattle prior to a 16-h road transport reduced transport-induced inflammatory reactions, although authors did not evaluate feedlot receiving performance. Based on this rationale, we hypothesized that oral meloxicam administration prior to transport and during feedlot receiving alleviates the acute-phase response and improves performance of feeder cattle. Hence, the objective of this experiment was to evaluate the effects of oral meloxicam administration on circulating concentrations of cortisol, NEFA, acute-phase proteins, and feedlot receiving performance of transported cattle.
Animal Health Component
50%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
20%
Applied
50%
Developmental
30%
Goals / Objectives
Evaluate the impacts of meloxicam administration prior to transport and during feedlot receiving on the acute-phase and performance parameters of feeder cattle
Project Methods
Eighty-four steers weaned at 7 months of age (day -30) and vaccinated against common infectious diseases including BRD complex, will be ranked by body weight and age on day 0 of the study, and assigned to 21 feedlot pens (4 steers/pen). Pens will be randomly assigned to 1 of 3 treatments: 1) continuous road transport for 900 miles and daily administration of Meloxicam (1 mg/kg of BW daily) from day 0 to day 7, 2) continuous road transport for 900 miles and daily administration of lactose monohydrate (1 mg/kg of BW daily; a pharmacologically inactive excipient used in the manufacture of Meloxicam tablets) from day 0 to day 7, or 3) no transport and daily administration of lactose monohydrate (1 mg/kg of BW daily) from day 0 to day 7. The Meloxicam dose adopted herein is based on the oral administration utilized by Coetzee et al. (2010 / Journal of Animal Science 90:1026-1039) and Repenning et al. (2013 / J. Anim. Sci. 91: 4965-4974) to weaned beef cattle (1 mg/kg of BW daily). Further, Meloxicam will be administered to assigned steers on day 0 via oral drench (mixed with water) to modulate stress-induced inflammatory reactions elicited during transport. From day 1 to day 7 of feedlot receiving, Meloxicam will be mixed in the dietary concentrate and is expected to modulate residual as well as novel stress reactions elicited by unloading and feedlot entry.Beginning on day 1, all pens will be offered a feedlot receiving diet (50:50 forage and concentrate ratio) ad libitum from day 1 to 28. This schedule will simulate the feedlot receiving period, which in commercial situations, is the period where cattle are most susceptible to opportunistic diseases and performance dictates their overall productivity through harvest (Arthington et al., 2005). Feed intake will be evaluated daily from day 1 to 28 by measuring offer and refusals. Steer shrunk bodyweight will be collected on day 1 and 29 for body weight gain calculation. Blood samples will be collected on day 0 (prior to loading), and day 1 (immediately after unloading), 4, 7, 10, 14, 21, and 28. Serum will be harvested and analyzed for concentrations of: A) cortisol (Cayman Chemical; Ann Harbor, MI) - assess neuroendocrine response, B) non-esterified fatty acids (Wako Chemicals: Dallas, TX) - evaluate body tissue degradation and nutritional status, and C) haptoglobin and ceruloplasmin (Arthington et al. 2008) - assess acute-phase protein response.