CARGILL Beef Australia has cut cattle death rates in half at its Riverina feedlot by offering suppliers free vaccine.
Boasting 5 per cent of the national kill, the company has 17,000 cattle on feed at its Jindalee feedlot, near Stockinbingal.
Bovine respiratory disease has been a big cost, accounting for 41 per cent of respiratory issues.
Preferred suppliers are offered the Bovilis MH vaccine free to treat young cattle 14-42 days before entry to Jindalee.
Bovine respiratory disease costs Australian feedlots about $60 million a year.
The disease, also known as shipping fever, is a form of pneumonia, caused by high stress levels.
Cargill Beef Australia's Riverina and northern Victoria cattle buyer Ben O'Kane told a Meat and Livestock Australia seminar last week that the death rate at Jindalee had been cut from 1 to 0.5 per cent by vaccinating with Bovilis MH.
Cargill buys 1000 cattle a week from South Australia, Victoria, NSW and Queensland for its Riverina feedlot.
Jindalee exports grain-fed certified Angus beef to Japan, Korea, Russia, the US, Hong Kong and Singapore.
British breeds and their crosses enter at 370-500kg liveweight and are fed for three brands, Excel, CAAB and the newly launched non-breed specific Riverine Premium Beef (marble-score two plus).
"Animal health is our biggest issue - stress and immune status and the co-mingling of cattle," Mr O'Kane said.
He said 66 per cent of feedlot deaths involved respiratory problems, with bovine respiratory disease causing 41 per cent, lung abscess 19 per cent and pneumonia 15 per cent.
Mr O'Kane said an animal's health at the feedlot was determined by its immune status and stress level when it arrived.
He said producers could improve a beast's immune status by vaccinating with a clostridial 5 in 1 and Bovilis MH.
"Vaccinating for bovine respiratory disease has been our biggest cost saving in getting cattle through 100-day feeding programs," he said.
