CattleCon News (Cattle Industry Convention & NCBA Trade Show)

10 Cattle Health Advancements That Could Fit into Your Daily Practice

Sat, 14 Feb 2026 01:33:16 GMT

Walking the trade show floor at CattleCon 2026 , the pace of change was hard to ignore. New diagnostics, therapeutics and management tools lined the aisles, each promising sharper decision-making and stronger herd performance. For veterinarians, the challenge is not access to innovation. It is determining which tools will meaningfully improve outcomes and which are incremental updates wrapped in compelling marketing.

Several clear themes surfaced across product categories. Stress mitigation has an increased presence, with companies targeting both behavioral and physiologic responses tied to handling, transport and management changes. The focus is not simply on calmer cattle, but on stabilizing performance and reducing downstream setbacks. At the same time, diagnostics continue shifting closer to the point of care. More products are designed to deliver actionable information at the chute or pen, narrowing the gap between testing and intervention. Efficiency, both in labor and procedure, is increasingly part of the value proposition.

Products centered on rumen health and calf resilience lean into microbiome research and bioactive supplementation. The goal is targeted support during predictable risk periods such as scouring or transport, when animals are most vulnerable to performance losses.

Diagnostic platforms reflected a similar push toward earlier insight. Rapid pregnancy testing capable of producing results from two drops of blood at 28 days post-breeding drew attention from producers seeking tighter reproductive timelines. Expanded chute-side and ear notch options for BVD detection reinforce ongoing efforts to identify and manage infection quickly. Genomic testing for conditions such as bovine congestive heart failure signal broader investments in identifying risk before clinical signs emerge.

Conversations around treatment remained grounded in antimicrobial stewardship. Research examining first-treatment strategies for bovine respiratory disease following metaphylaxis highlighted continued industry focus on timing, drug selection and responsible use. The emphasis was not on introducing an entirely new class of drugs, but on refining how existing therapies are deployed.

Not all innovation centered on pharmaceuticals or biologics. Ergonomic ultrasound tools designed to reduce shoulder strain, along with battery-powered vaccination devices that support multiple routes of administration, reflect growing recognition that practitioner durability and injection accuracy influence herd-level outcomes.

For veterinarians who want a deeper look at how these products are positioned and what the companies behind them say about real-world application, the full conversations from the trade show floor are available in Episode 2 of The Bovine Vet Podcast . Listening offers additional context around development, intended use cases and how these tools may fit into day-to-day practice.

Featured in this episode of The Bovine Vet Podcast :

CattleZen from Solvet: A topical pheromone solution that helps calm down cattle for reduced stress and easier handling. (Guest: Steve Schram)
Bovacillus from Novonesis: A probiotic with two Bacillus strains to support rumen and lower gut health. (Guest: Greg Eckerle, PhD)
Early Pregnancy Rapid Test from Central States Testing: This gives results with only two drops of blood and has been shown to be 99.5% accurate at 28 days post-breeding. (Guest: Dustin Hessman)
Prozap from Neogen: This line up is for external parasites, including lice and flies. The company’s genomics testing for bovine congestive heart failure is also discussed. (Guest: Kenton Carlson)
FerAppease from FERA: This product is a synthetic analogue of the maternal bovine appeasing substance to help animals deal with management and physiological stressors. (Guest: Rodrigo Bicalho, DVM)
Reproarms from ReproScan: These extension arms reduce shoulder and arm strain and allow for safer and faster pregnancy diagnosis and fetal aging. (Guest: Elle Terhaar)
Replenish Ab+ and BovAlign from TechMix: Replenish Ab+ is an electrolyte with maternally derived bioactives to help support calves during scouring, while BovAlign is a nutrient-dense liquid designed to help combat the stresses associated with transport. (Guest: Nathan Upah)
BVD testing from Idexx: From chute-side blood testing to ear notch tests, there are multiple options for detection of the virus. (Guest: Mike Ray)
BRD research from Virbac: This investigates the use of tulathromycin for the first treatment of BRD following metaphylaxis treatment with the same drug. (Guest: Jessica Newberry, DVM)
Power-VACC from Henke-Sass Wolf: This battery-powered vaccination device supports intradermal, subcutaneous, intramuscular and nasal administration of fast and accurate injections. (Guest: Marius Leyhausen)

Are Record Carcass Weights Pushing the Supply Chain to Its Limit?

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 17:04:00 GMT

Has the beef industry hit the tipping point when the unintended consequences of animal size outweigh the benefits? Industry leaders say rising carcass weights have boosted beef supply and efficiency, but they have also increased bruising, mobility issues, heat stress and economic risk.

Kevin Good, CattleFax vice president of market analysis, says carcass weights the last two years have gone up by 52 lb., with carcasses now averaging 975-990 lb.

“That’s an offset of 2 million head harvested,” he explains.

While the added weight has helped fill the supply gap due to the reduced cow herd and fewer cattle on feed, Jessica Lancaster, NCBA senior director of product quality and safety research, says these huge incremental shifts in carcass weight can certainly cause challenges.

Lancaster was a guest on “AgriTalk” Thursday, discussing carcass size research as well as foreign object research results.

Shown is the “Bigger Cattle, Bigger Decisions: Managing Health and Welfare as Cattle Size Increases” panel including: Lily Edwards-Calloway, Colorado State University associate professor of animal science; Scott Pohlman, Cargill director of beef supply chain sustainability; and AJ Tarpoff, Kansas State University Extension veterinarian.

(Angie Stump Denton)

Today’s Bigger Animals Are Testing Transport and Plant Limits

The Cattlemen’s College session “Bigger Cattle, Bigger Decisions: Managing Health and Welfare as Cattle Size Increases” featured industry experts Scott Pohlman, Cargill director of beef supply chain sustainability; Lily Edwards-Calloway, Colorado State University associate professor of animal science; and AJ Tarpoff, Kansas State University Extension veterinarian.

From longer days on feed to tougher transport and processing, the panelists discussed how a more efficient, heavier animal can strain welfare, infrastructure and profitability. They all agree proactive management and research are critical to dealing with the rising carcass weights.

Here are some key takeaways from their conversation:

1. Structural Shift: Fewer Cows, Bigger Cattle

Pohlman says the U.S. cow herd is at its lowest level since the Roosevelt administration.

Feedlots have compensated by adding days on feed and pushing carcass weights sharply higher — approaching 975-990 lb. — resulting in similar total beef supply with fewer animals but much larger individuals.

2. Efficiency Gains Are Real, and So Are the Risks

According to Tarpoff, the larger, heavier cattle and longer feeding periods have improved overall efficiency: more beef with fewer animals, less total feed and water per pound of beef. This has helped “backfill” lost production from the smaller cow herd.

However, longer time in the system means:

Higher probability of adverse outcomes.
Rising death loss and greater economic risk per head, because each animal is more valuable.

3. Welfare: Tipping Point Concerns Around Size

Welfare is framed around biological functioning: growth, health and reproduction, the ability to express normal behavior and the freedom from discomfort, fear and distress.

Edwards-Calloway says there is a particular concern for animals at the extremes of the size bell curve, whose welfare can be “pretty compromised.”

The industry must proactively address welfare challenges associated with larger cattle to maintain consumer trust. Edwards-Calloway says if consumers think the industry knew about a welfare problem and didn’t act, that’s seen as worse than making an honest mistake and fixing it.

4. Transport and Packing Plants: Systems Not Built for Today’s Cattle

Edwards-Calloway explains transporting from feedlot to packing plant is still one of the most stressful phases, even with best practices.

Research has often controlled for size rather than explicitly asking how large size affects outcomes. She says evidence suggests larger‑frame cattle have more traumatic events and bruising on certain trailer types.

Not all fed cattle are fit for transport; there’s a call for mobility scoring at loading, not just at the plant, she adds.

Pohlman says the frequency of bruising in the 2022 National Beef Quality Audit was the highest on record, with major/critical bruises increasing. He stresses the economic impact is significant at about $110 million from loin bruises alone.

He also says mobility scores at arrival have worsened.

Processing facilities built decades ago are struggling to accommodate today’s larger cattle. Plants are having to modify pen densities, single-file alleyways, restrainer sizes, intervention cabinets and even re-engineer rail systems to handle the increased weight and size of modern cattle carcasses.

5. Heat Stress, Dark Cutting and Seasonal Losses

Heat stress represents a more than $650 million annual loss to the industry, with heavy, near-slaughter cattle at highest risk. Larger animals have increased difficulty with thermoregulation, making heat-stress management increasingly critical as cattle weights continue to rise.

Tarpoff says summer heat correlates with higher dark‑cutting rates, causing additional carcass‑value loss.

6. Call to Action: Upgrade Infrastructure and Management for a ‘Different Animal’

Today’s cattle are heavier, bigger‑framed and take up more space per head than 10 to 20 years ago. Now is the time to reinvest in infrastructure: pens, water systems, shade and heat‑stress mitigation, transport equipment and plant modifications.

Tarpoff says the industry needs to be nimble enough to make individual outcome decisions because every animal is a bigger financial and reputational stake.

He encourages the industry to consider welfare investments — comfort, health, mobility and heat mitigation — as economic investments with real returns in performance and risk reduction.

Tarpoff stresses that now is the time to adapt systems to the realities of larger cattle so the industry can keep delivering high‑quality, efficient beef without eroding welfare or consumer trust.

What About the Other AI?

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 16:17:57 GMT

Artificial intelligence (AI) isn’t new to agriculture, but it has reached a point where it is no longer limited to research projects or niche tools. What’s driving its growing visibility in cattle health and production is pressure.

Cattle values are high, input costs are higher and small inefficiencies now carry outsized consequences. At the same time, cattle operations are managing more data than ever, often spread across disconnected systems that are difficult to interpret quickly.

AI is emerging as a way to manage that complexity. Not by automating care or decision-making outright, but by processing information continuously and surfacing patterns that would be impractical to track manually. Harold Birch of UnCommon Farms and Robert Terry of Folio3 spoke at CattleCon on how AI could be used to improve how we work on the farm and with animal health.

From Raw Data to Continuous Awareness

A central theme of the discussion was early awareness. AI systems are designed to absorb large volumes of information, learn what “normal” looks like over time and flag changes as they emerge.

“It gives us more insight quicker than we can see with our own eye,” Birch explains. “The AI agent learns from you and gathers information out of your systems and gives it back to you in real time.”

That capability applies broadly — across health signals, operational workflows and financial data.

Rather than relying on episodic review or fixed schedules, AI enables a more continuous view of what is changing within an operation or across herds. This represents a shift from reacting to visible problems toward noticing drift sooner with AI analysis.

Pattern Recognition at a Different Scale

Pattern recognition is one of AI’s core strengths. These systems improve through use, refining their outputs as more data flow through them. They are not static tools; they learn from repeated exposure to real-world conditions.

“AI is not one-and-done,” Terry says. “You put it in place, and it just keeps getting better. It learns from itself — when we put things in place that were 85% accurate and four to six weeks later it’s 99%-plus.”

This adaptation makes it easier to identify subtle trends that might otherwise blend into day-to-day variability. Instead of relying on predefined thresholds alone, AI can recognize deviations because it has learned what typical performance looks like across time, conditions and systems.

Why AI Keeps Coming Back to Economics

Most current AI applications on farms are tied to cost and operational efficiency rather than direct revenue gains. AI speeds up routine work, reduces friction in accessing information and helps identify inefficiencies that quietly accumulate over a season.

“The impacts that we can have in agriculture usually revolve around cost and daily operations,” Birch says. “Most of it has been around the cost components. Things like detecting weeds, detecting sick animals and finding where animals are located.”

For animal health, this economic context shapes how AI fits into advisory roles. Insights that support earlier intervention, better timing or avoided losses tend to resonate more strongly than tools positioned purely around novelty.

Ideas for Where to Start With AI

Birch and Terry emphasize that AI does not need to be adopted perfectly — or all at once — to be useful. Its value often becomes clear through trial, not theory. Practical starting points include:

Use AI to scan for change — Apply AI to monitor for deviations in health, performance or operations so attention is drawn to what looks different, not just what is scheduled to be checked.
Summarize before you analyze — Use AI tools to pull together and summarize information from multiple sources before reviews or discussions, reducing time spent searching for context.
Focus on early signals, not final answers — Treat AI outputs as indicators of where to look first rather than conclusions. Earlier awareness alone can be valuable.
Reduce repetitive manual work — Experiment with AI for organizing, importing or synthesizing routine information, such as records, reports or metrics, freeing time for higher-level evaluation.
Apply it where consistency is hardest — AI is especially useful where scale, distance or workload makes consistent monitoring difficult. It can help standardize awareness across people, sites or time.
Test one workflow at a time — Start small, evaluate whether it improves clarity or efficiency and move on if it doesn’t. Learning what doesn’t work is part of the process.

AI as a Capability, Not a Commitment

Above all, Terry recommends dipping your toe in and seeing what AI can do for you.

“It’s not a spectator sport. When I first got involved with AI, I thought I had to do it perfectly and know a lot. Actually, the best thing you can do is get in and start doing it,” Terry says.

Waiting to understand everything before engaging often means never engaging at all. At the same time, not every tool will be worth keeping, and applying the wrong one can add complexity without benefit.

Rather than a single investment decision, AI is better viewed as a capability to explore. Used thoughtfully, it changes how quickly patterns are noticed, how efficiently information is handled and how confidently decisions can be made. For cattle practice, that shift is what makes AI worth paying attention to.

New World Screwworm: An Infestation, Not Infection

Wed, 04 Feb 2026 22:55:33 GMT

New World Screwworm (NWS) is an infestation of individual animals, not a herdwide infection like many diseases. Finding one infested animal does not automatically mean the whole herd is infested.

“This is not infection,” explains Adis Dijab, DVM and veterinary services associate deputy administrator for USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). “When you talk about infection, there is a potential that every single animal is infected. In this case, it’s [the] infestation of one animal; you can check the rest of your animals and they can be fine.”

What does this mean for operations? If NWS does cross the border, quarantine and movement controls will be designed to inspect and treat affected animals. Dijab says this means producers can clear the rest of the herd as quickly as possible, and there will be a pathway to continue business, not a blanket, long‑term stop on all movement — assuming cooperation and inspections.

APHIS will try to avoid blanket shutdowns by targeted zoning and quick pathways out of quarantine after inspection and treatment.

Dijab gave a NWS update during the cattle health and well-being committee at CattleCon. Here are four key points from his presentation:

1. What NWS is and why it’s dangerous

NWS is a parasitic fly whose larvae require living tissue to feed.
Its life cycle is 21 days but can be longer in colder climates.
The fly is not active around 40°F.
NWS flies prefer water, shade greenery and hosts.
They typically move only about 3 km (approximately 1.6–1.7 miles) per day if they must; they are not strong long‑distance flyers.

Dijab shares the top 10 conditions leading to myiasis in Mexico, with umbilical being No. 1.

(Data source: COPEG)

2. Current NWS Spread Pattern in Mexico Strongly Suggests Illegal Movement of Animals, Not Just Fly Movement

“One of the primary modes of movement of this fly is not flying of the fly; it’s a set of 18 wheels doing probably 60 or 70 [mph] down the road,” Dijab says. “Southern Veracruz had a pretty healthy number of the cases. Then suddenly it jumped into the middle of Tamaulipas, which clearly showed there was illegal movement.”

Due to this concern, USDA took the proactive action to start dispersing sterile flies in the southeast corner of Texas as well.

3. Sterile Insect Technique Is Key

The U.S. has long relied on sterile insect release as its primary eradication tool.
Panama facility (COPECA) currently produces approximately 100 million sterile pupae a week.
“This is what’s keeping us alive right now,” Dijab says. “This is the reason that we don’t have a New World Screwworm on the U.S. soil.”
A new U.S. facility is planned at Moore Air Base in South Texas. Dijab says the construction award is targeted for March/April, with an operational goal of 300-million sterile flies a week by 2027. He adds they expect a six-to-eight-month ramp‑up.
The U.S. is collaborating with Mexico in remodeling a fruit-fly facility in Metapa, Chiapas. The U.S. is investing approximately $21 million. The goal is 100 million sterile flies a week, with first output expected late summer.
The combined goal is approximately 500 million sterile flies a week, similar to volumes used in the 1990s’ eradication to the Darién Gap.

Dijab summarizes that APHIS is rebuilding and expanding sterile fly capacity to historical eradication levels, which is essential for long‑term regional control and eventual border reopening.

4. The U.S. is Using a Layered Defense: Strict Import Controls, Active Surveillance and Border Trapping to Detect Any Incursion Early

The two main surveillance streams are:

The Foreign Animal Disease Diagnostician (FADD) network of 400 trained federal and state veterinarians.
Trap lines along the U.S.-Mexico border, placed near water, livestock and greenery.

Dijab says that, since June, there have been more than 300 FAD NWS investigations, with zero findings so far and more than 900 hide/wildlife inspections. He adds that what scares him the most regarding NWS is wildlife.

Read More: The Importance of Wildlife Monitoring for New World Screwworm

Rebuilding the Herd From the Cow Up

Tue, 03 Feb 2026 21:25:42 GMT

In cow-calf systems, many of the factors that determine productivity, fertility and longevity are set long before a replacement heifer ever enters the breeding pasture. The biological foundation of the cow is shaped in utero through the interaction of genetics, nutrition and environmental conditions. Those early influences follow her for life.

This was the topic of discussion during a joint presentation by Ron Scott, director of beef technical innovation at Purina, and George Parry, research professor of beef cattle reproductive physiology at Texas A&M, during CattleCon.

“We’re talking about rebuilding the cow herd, how it’s going to impact future replacement health,” began Scott, speaking on the epigenetics of heifer development. “The biggest thing we need to remember is that life really shapes the animal. It’s the environment, it’s the nutrition, it’s the genetics. All of that comes together to impact how that animal is going to perform.”

Reproductive traits offer a clear example of how the environment affects performance. While genetics matter, reproductive performance becomes less heritable as animals age because management and environment increasingly shape outcomes. Traits measured early, such as ovarian follicle number or age at puberty, are more strongly tied to inherent potential because outside influences have not yet accumulated.

Identical genetics alone do not guarantee identical performance. Animals with the same genetic makeup can diverge dramatically depending on how their genetic potential is expressed. That process begins before birth.

Fetal Development Sets Reproductive Capacity

“For that first month of life, that embryo lives totally on what’s being secreted into the environment. It’s not attached to the uterus to draw the nutrients it needs,” Parry explains. “It’s really dependent on what we’re supplying it. So what happens when we change that supply?”

Nutritional changes around breeding and early pregnancy can affect embryo survival, developmental rate and long-term function. Even when embryos survive short-term nutritional restriction, their development may already be altered.

Speaking about recent research, Parry emphasized the importance of a constant nutrient supply.

“If we drop nutritional supply at AI for as short as six days, we impact the stage of embryo development. We impact embryo quality,” he says.

One of the most critical developmental outcomes affected during gestation is ovarian reserve. Germ cells migrate and form the future ovary early in pregnancy, and the population of follicles expands and then declines before birth.

“The ovarian reserve that follows that ovary of your future replacement heifer is really impacted while that calf is in utero,” Parry says.

The number of follicles a heifer carries into life — the foundation of her reproductive capacity — is largely determined before she is born.

Importantly, these changes are not obvious at birth. Calves may look identical at birth and weaning, yet differ significantly later in reproductive performance. Heifers that experienced more favorable fetal nutrition are more likely to calve earlier in their first season, a difference that compounds across their lifetime.

Early Conception Compounds Herd Profitability

Heifers that conceive and calve early tend to remain earlier in subsequent breeding seasons. Over time, this translates into more calves, more total pounds weaned and longer productive lives. Each missed estrous cycle pushes a cow later in the calving season, resulting in lighter calves and increasing the likelihood of eventual culling.

This also impacts the bottom line.

“At $4 calves, every heat cycle you miss is worth $150”, Scott says.

Late conception often becomes a repeating pattern rather than a one-time event. Once cows fall behind, it is difficult to move them forward without intervention. Over multiple years, this drift erodes herd productivity and profitability.

Nutrition Must Be Consistent, Not Reactive

One of the strongest drivers of developmental programming is consistent maternal nutrition. Cows prioritize nutrients toward maintenance and survival first, followed by growth and lactation. Reproduction falls lower on that hierarchy. When nutrients are limited, reproductive processes and fetal development may be compromised.

“Think about consistent nutrition. That’s how you optimize,” Scott says.

Body condition score is the most practical indicator of nutritional adequacy. Gradual weight loss is difficult to detect visually, especially when cows are observed daily. Regular body condition scoring and documentation are essential for identifying trends before they become biologically costly.

Stress compounds nutritional effects. Cold weather, poor forage conditions, social pressure or environmental stressors add to the nutrient demands placed on the cow. Nutrition cannot fully offset stress, but inadequate nutrition magnifies its impact.

Heifers Require Different Management

First-calf heifers face unique challenges. They are still growing while simultaneously lactating and preparing to breed again. Treating them nutritionally like mature cows often leads to lower body condition, delayed cycling and late conception.

“Rethink heifer management. Focus on first service because of selection and conception. We need to optimize field programming,” Scott advises.

Managing heifers as a distinct group separate from mature cows allows nutrition and management to better match physiological demand. Without this adjustment, even genetically superior heifers are at risk of early failure.

Key Considerations When Selecting Replacement Heifers

Selecting replacements based solely on size or appearance at weaning overlooks critical developmental signals. Both Parry and Scott agree effective replacement selection should consider:

Calving timing: Heifers born early in the calving season are more likely to conceive early and remain productive longer
Developmental history: Maternal nutrition and stress exposure during gestation influence lifetime fertility
Growth pattern: Consistent, adequate growth is more important than compensatory gain
Body condition at breeding: Heifers must enter breeding with sufficient reserves to support cycling and conception
Reproductive readiness: Reproductive tract maturity provides insight into breeding potential
Longevity potential: Early-conceiving heifers are more likely to stay in the herd and repay development costs

Longevity is a Management Outcome

“To break even and realize the benefits of fetal programming, cows need to remain in the herd. It really starts with heifer development,” Scott says.

Longevity is not accidental. It reflects the cumulative effects of early development, nutrition, reproductive success and stress management. Developmental programming establishes the foundation, but realizing that potential requires keeping cows healthy, fertile and in the herd long enough to return value.

Putting the cow first — starting before birth — shifts herd improvement from short-term correction to long-term strategy. When early development is supported and replacement selection reinforces those advantages, productivity and profitability follow.