Respiratory Diseases

Enteric disease accounts for nearly 17 percent of disease losses in cattle, according to a 2006 report by the USDA. Coccidiosis ranks among the Top 5 most important diseases in US cattle and causes hundreds of millions of dollars in losses each year.

Two types of coccidiosis are found on today beef and dairy operations:

• Clinical coccidiosis is easy to spot and typically presents bloody diarrhea, dehydration, depression and, of course, bad performance. Once the calf's gut lining is damaged by coccidiosis, the animal may never recapture its full absorptive potential for nutrients.
• Subclinical coccidiosis generally goes undetected and, for that reason, can actually be more costly in terms of reduced weight gain and feed efficiency. According to a 1998 report in Dairy Herd Management, the real losses from coccidiosis occur in the 95 to 98 percent of coccidiosis infections that go undetected.

Bovine coccidiosis is caused primarily by two highly prolific species of microscopic protozoa parasites, Eimeria bovis and Eimeria zuernii. For every single oocyst ingested by a calf, these two parasites are capable of more than 15 million oocysts during a single 3- to 4-week life cycle.

Coccidiosis-causing oocysts exist everywhere cattle are found. Shed in feces, oocysts are able to survive in moist, shaded areas for several years. Animals become infected by ingesting infected fecal material in soil, feed, water or by licking other animals.

It is estimated that a single cow passes more than 50 million oocysts each summer in her manure. Ingesting only 50,000 oocysts, or 0.1 percent, can cause severe intestinal disease especially in young calves.  Unfortunately, a significant portion of the intestinal damage contributed to coccidiosis occurs before clinical signs appear.

For more about enteric disease and its control, click on the links below.

• Protecting your investment - beef (PDF)
• Protecting your investment - dairy (PDF)
• Aureomycin+Bovatec: Formula for success (PDF or HTML)
• FDA okays Aureomycin-Bovatec for cattle (PDF or HTML)
• FDA okays Aureomycin-Bovatec for dairy replacement heifers (PDF or HTML)
• Coccidiosis still slips into dairy herds undetected (PDF or HTML)
• Fact sheet: Bovatec (dairy) (PDF or HTML)
• Fact sheet: Bovatec (beef) (PDF or HTML)
• Data sheet: Bovatec 150 (PDF)
• Data sheet: Bovatec 91 (PDF)
• Data sheet: Bovatec Liquid 20 (PDF)
• Distinctions between Deccox, Bovatec and Rumensin(PDF or HTML)
• Bovatec vs. Rumensin in high roughage diets (PDF or HTML)
• MIC evaluation of CTC, lasalocid and monensin against C. perfringens
  (PDF or HTML)
• Fact sheet: Deccox (beef) (PDF or HTML)
• Data sheet: Deccox (PDF)
• Data sheet: Deccox-L (PDF)
• Data sheet: Deccox-M (PDF)
• Effect of Deccox on growth performance of dairy and beef cattle (PDF or HTML)
• Label: Deccox (PDF)
• Label: Deccox-L (PDF)
• Label: Deccox-M (PDFL)
• MIC evaluation of CTC, lasalocid and monensin against C. perfringens
  (PDF or HTML)
• Sub-MIC effects of Aureomycin anf Aureo S 700 (PDF or HTML)
• Neo-Sol 50 (PDF or HTML)
• Sul-Q-Nox (PDF or HTML)
• Brochure: The mark of excellence in heifer health (PDF)
• Brochure: Aureomycin + Deccox (PDF)
• Brochure: Aureomycin + Bovatec (PDF)
• Florida's McArthur Farms prefers to be proactive with disease management
  (PDF or HTML)
• Good coccidiosis contraol starts early, before symptoms show (PDF or HTML)
• Florida's Thomas Cattle Buying fine tunes the art of preconditioning
  (PDF or HTML)

• Aureomycin® + Bovatec®

  Now get BRD and coccidiosis protection in the same feed.
  (read more)

• Aureomycin®

  Time-tested control of BRD and anaplasmosis, plus better feed/gain.
  (read more)

• Aureo S 700®

  The sensible, broad-spectrum choice for tough enteric and respiratory disease challenges in calves.
  (read more)

• Bovatec®

  Proven safe, palatable and the only ionophore you can feed starting at birth.
  (read more)

• Deccox®

  Works directly in the small intestine to stop the top causes of coccidiosis.
  (read more)

• Natural supplements

  Alphamune® and Beta Mos™ help improve intestinal health so cattle can more easily fight disease. .
  (read more)

• Teat dips

  Kenostart® and Kenocidin® - two trusted options to protect cows from mastitis.
  (read more)

• Water solubles

  Fast-acting, water-soluble antibiotics to get a sick animals back on their feet.
  (read more)