Bovine respiratory disease (BRD) prevention starts before the first signs of disease with a management that helps minimize the risk of disease development. By understanding when cattle are most vulnerable and building a plan with your veterinarian, you can better protect herd health, reduce outbreaks and safeguard productivity.
BRD risk increases when cattle experience physiological and environmental stressors, including dietary change, transport, commingling, and transition from pasture to confined feeding systems.
During transport, cattle may have reduced feed and water intake, exposure to temperature fluctuations, and contact with unfamiliar animals, increasing pathogen exposure and immune stress. Commingling also requires animals establish new social hierarchies, which can limit feed access for subordinate cattle and further elevate stress.
Together, these stressors can impair immune function and increase susceptibility to BRD.
“Cattle are anatomically predisposed to respiratory disease. Relative lung capacity and specific cellular-level features of the bovine respiratory tract contribute to a higher risk of bacterial pneumonia compared with other species,”1 says Dr. Ron Tessman, veterinary technical consultant for Elanco.
When viral exposure or additional stress occurs, these factors can initiate a cascade that increases the likelihood of bacterial respiratory disease and clinical BRD.
How to Manage Risk
Antimicrobials remain an important tool for BRD treatment, but the most sustainable management strategies begin before cattle encounter major stressors.
A proactive BRD plan should prioritize immune readiness through adequate nutrition, including key micronutrients such as copper, zinc, selenium, and manganese, which support enzyme systems essential to immune function.2
This foundation begins in utero: properly nourished cows are better positioned to support fetal development, produce high-quality colostrum, and deliver calves with stronger nutritional reserves.3 Ensuring timely colostrum intake after birth further supports early immunity and can help reduce the severity and economic impact of BRD later in life.4,5
“We recommend administering at least two modified-live vaccines before cattle are relocated,” Tessman says. “Protocols should be tailored to each operation’s management system and handling capacity, with vaccines strategically timed to support immune protection while minimizing stress whenever possible.”
Strategic deworming can reduce parasite burden, improve nutrient utilization, and support immune competence, helping cattle better withstand BRD-related stressors.
“Timing should be guided by herd-specific parasite pressure, weather conditions, and other risk factors distinct to your location,” Tessman says. “Work with your veterinarian to develop a targeted protocol rather than relying on broad recommendations that may not fit your operation.”
Water quality is another risk factor that is often overlooked.
For example, water with elevated sulfate or iron concentrations can interfere with micronutrient availability, including copper, potentially contributing to deficiency even when dietary intake appears adequate.2
“Water quality and availability are especially important during periods of heat stress. Adequate access to clean, high-quality water is essential to support hydration, immune function, and overall cattle health,” Tessman says.
Evaluating the risk of developing BRD begins with proper record keeping.
“Record keeping can be the small notebook you carry in your shirt pocket. It doesn’t have to be a fancy computer program. It’s about keeping track of birth dates, treatment timings, facilities, management decisions, and more to determine when vaccines and dewormers have the most benefit and are most effective,” Tessman says.
How to treat BRD
BRD management begins before the first calf shows clinical signs, but therapeutic treatment should be initiated only after animals are identified as having BRD.
“We are very fortunate that there are multiple treatment options that work very well, especially if we have other prevention factors in place,” Tessman says.
When other treatment options haven’t worked, Pradalex™ (pradofloxacin injection) is an innovative third generation fluoroquinolone available to treat BRD.
“Pradalex should be used after consideration of other non-fluoroquinolone therapeutic antimicrobial options,” Tessman says. “Pradalex is truly a different antibiotic within that class with a different active ingredient and a different mode of action. It attacks the bacteria at the DNA level, but it has two targets, affecting two different sites within that same bacterium.”
Veterinarians and producers should consider the best option for each situation. Was a previous treatment effective? Is a control therapy needed or are individual treatments called for?
“This is when historical records come into play to remind you of disease history, what treatments were used last year, and what laboratory results are available,” Tessman says. “It’s important to understand that Pradalex is a treatment only product.”
INDICATIONS FOR PRADALEX
Pradalex is indicated for the treatment of bovine respiratory disease (BRD) associated with Mannheimia haemolytica, Pasteurella multocida, Histophilus somni and Mycoplasma bovis in cattle intended for slaughter (beef calves 2 months of age and older, growing beef steers, growing beef heifers, and beef bulls intended for slaughter), and in cattle intended for breeding less than 1 year of age (replacement beef and dairy heifers less than 1 year of age and beef and dairy bulls less than 1 year of age). Not for use in cattle intended for breeding 1 year of age and older (replacement beef and dairy heifers 1 year of age and older, beef and dairy bulls 1 year of age and older, and beef and dairy cows), beef calves less than 2 months of age, dairy calves, and veal calves.
IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION FOR PRADALEX
CAUTION: Federal law restricts this drug to use by or on the order of a licensed veterinarian and prohibits the extra-label use of this drug in food- producing animals. To ensure responsible antimicrobial drug use, use of pradofloxacin should be limited to treatment of bovine respiratory disease (BRD) in cattle only after consideration of other non-fluoroquinolone therapeutic options.
Not for use in humans. Keep out of reach of children. Avoid contact with eyes and skin. Individuals with a history of hypersensitivity to quinolones should avoid this product. Not for use in animals intended for breeding greater than 1 year of age. Not for use in beef calves less than 2 months of age, dairy calves and veal calves; a withdrawal period has not been established for this product in pre-ruminating calves. Quinolones should be used with caution in animals with known or suspected central nervous system (CNS) disorders. Mild to moderate inflammatory changes of the injection site may be seen in cattle treated with Pradalex. Pradalex has a pre-slaughter withdrawal time of 4 days for cattle. See package insert for additional safety information.
1Prohl A, Ostermann C, Lohr M, Reinhold P. The bovine lung in biomedical research: visually guided bronchoscopy, intrabronchial inoculation and in vivo sampling techniques. J Vis Exp. 2014 Jul 3;(89):51557.
2Tessman, Ronald Kenneth. “Diagnosis, epidemiology and immunologic consequences of copper deficiency in calves.” Diss., Columbia, Mo. : University of Missouri-Columbia, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/10355/4470.
3T.A. Westhoff, S. Borchardt, S. Mann. Invited review: Nutritional and management factors that influence colostrum production and composition in dairy cows. Journal of Dairy Science, Volume 107, Issue 7, 2024, Pages 4109-4128
4Male Here RR, McGee M, McAloon C, Byrne AW, Earley B. Factors associated with failure of passive transfer of immunity and morbidity in spring-born beef and dairy calves during the first 30 days of life. Front Vet Sci. 2026 Jan 6;12:1658532.
5Schaffer AP, Larson RL, Cernicchiaro N, Hanzlicek GA, Bartle SJ, Thomson DU.
The association between calfhood bovine respiratory disease complex and subsequent departure from the herd, milk production, and reproduction in dairy cattle. J Am Vet Med Assoc. 2016 May 15;248(10):1157-64.
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