• Aureomycin®
  + Bovatec®
• Aureomycin®
• Aureo S 700®
• Bovatec®
• Deccox®
• Natural supplements
• Teat dips
• Water solubles

• Anaplasmosis
• Bovine respiratory disease
• Enteric disease
• Lameness
• Intestinal health
• Feed efficiency/gain

ISSUE #1
News from the Field

DATELINE : BEEF
Dynamic Duo

FDA okays Aureomycin®-Bovatec® combination for beef cattle

FAST FACTS Aureomycin-Bovatec helps producers optimize performance while controlling pneumonia, anaplasmosis and coccidiosis. Steers fed Aureomycin-Bovatec achieved an ADG 10 percent greater than unmedicated controls Aureomycin-Bovatec combination makes producers less dependent on labor-intensive injectable antibiotics

A new FDA approval allowing the use of Aureomycin® (chlortetracycline) and Bovatec® (lasalocid sodium) in the same cattle feed is expected to help beef producers optimize weight gain and feed efficiency while controlling anaplasmosis, coccidiosis and the leading causes of pneumonia.
"For years, beef producers have added Aureomycin and Bovatec to their feed rations to maximize herd health and performance. Now the two products can be fed simultaneously for added convenience and flexibility,"reports Dr. Denny Hausmann, a technical service veterinarian for Alpharma Inc., Animal Health.

"Having the option of feeding a broad-spectrum antibiotic like Aureomycin with Bovatec may present new disease-management strategies for beef herds," he adds.
In an 82-day trial conducted by Kansas State University, grazing steers fed Aureomycin and Bovatec achieved an average daily gain that was 10 percent higher than unmedicated controls (2.64 pounds of gain per day vs. 2.40).
"As a general rule, we found that using the two medications together increased gain by 0.20 to 0.30 pound per day," reports Dr. Gerry Kuhl, a retired cattle specialist from KSU who did some of the trial work with the combination with colleague Dr. Frank Brazle.
"When you get that improvement in rate of gain for a few pennies per day, it’s a very attractive investment - one that could also make energy and protein supplementation more cost-effective for grazing situations."

Complementary Products

Dr. Twig Marston, a nutritionist and extension beef specialist at KSU, notes that Aureomycin and Bovatec have different yet complementary modes of action, which may account for the excellent performance seen when the two medications are used in the same feed.
"The two products really complement each other very well," he says. "Bovatec works in the rumen microflora to improve intestinal health and allow animals to utilize the energy of feedstuffs more efficiently," he explains. "That, in turn, produces a healthier animal, one that can respond better to antibiotic treatments."

‘Having the option of feeding a broad-spectrum antibiotic like Aureomycin with Bovatec
may present new disease-management strategies for beef herds’

"In the past, if your animals were on Bovatec or another ionophore, you had to use an injectable antibiotic for managing respiratory disease," he says. "That was a real struggle, particularly in grazing situations and some growing and finishing operations. The Aureomycin-Bovatec combination changes that scenario dramatically, to the point where I think some consulting nutritionists will now consider Bovatec because it can be fed with Aureomycin."
Kuhl and Marston also expect the Aureomycin-Bovatec combination to be useful in any situation where cattle are grazing on native and improved grasses or wheat pasture.
"I think the combination has the potential to really help cow-calf producers and stocker operators considerably on a wide variety of forages," Marston says. "Certainly, it will be a good tool during adverse weather, when respiratory problems are more prevalent."

Flexible feeding

FDA has approved varying combinations of Aureomycin (50, 70, 90 and 100 grams per pound premix formulations) and Bovatec (20 grams per pound liquid premix and 68 and 91 grams per pound dry premix formulations) for use in Type B and Type C medicated cattle feeds.
Depending on dose rate, Aureomycin may be used for treating bacterial pneumonia caused by Pasteurella multocida in calves, beef and non-lactating dairy cattle. In beef cattle, it can also be used to control active infection of anaplasmosis caused by Anaplasma marginale, an infectious parasite, and bacterial pneumonia associated with shipping fever complex caused by Pasteurella sp.
Bovatec can be fed at various dose rates to improve feed efficiency and rate of weight gain in cattle fed in confinement or increase rate of weight gain in pasture cattle (stocker, feeder cattle, dairy and beef replacement heifers). In addition, Bovatec can be used to control coccidiosis caused by Eimeria bovis and E. zuernii in cattle weighing up to 800 pounds.

©2006, Alpharma Inc. One Executive Drive Fort Lee, New Jersey 07024 1.800.645.4216 www.AlpharmaAH.com


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For more information about the new Aureomycin-Bovatec combination, producers should contact their feed supplier or Alpharma representative,
or call 1.800.645.4216
or go to www.AlpharmaAH.com.
Aureomycin® and Bovatec® are registered trademarks of Alpharma Inc.