There’s an old saying that rings true when approaching new experiences: “You don’t know what you don’t know.” Those words hold up when it comes to herd health and facilities. There are few things more frustrating than dealing with an illness on your own. Add in facilities that don’t pull their weight and it’s a recipe for pure frustration (and perhaps money lost).

Our theme for this edition of the Angus Beef Bulletin focuses on supporting herd health and building facilities that work for you. Here are a handful of Angus at Work episodes targeting health topics worth considering.

A policy went into effect June 11, 2023, that changed how every cattle producer in America managed herd health. While the policy certainly threw a wrench in the status quo, it also underlined the importance of a functioning veterinarian-client-patient relationship (VCPR).

On this episode Editor Shauna Hermel sat down with veterinarian Eric Moore to discuss how Guidelines for Industry 263  would affect cattlemen, including over-the-counter medication access, veterinary feed directives (VFD), how thinking ahead would be necessary for animal welfare, questions to ask your veterinarian, other benefits of a VCPR and more.

Click here to listen.

You’ve likely asked the question, “Which is better — modified-live virus (MLV) or killed vaccines?” Both have their place in your herd. If used strategically, they can work together to create lifetime immunity.

The Angus Beef Bulletin  team sat down with Elanco’s Thach Winslow for this episode to discuss when each type of vaccine is optimally used, whether they work together, what kind of timing you should keep in mind, how they affect profitability, what you should always vaccinate against, where producers can save some money, and more.

Click here to listen.