The increase in bovine congestive heart failure (BCHF) in finished cattle has added a new challenge for many feeders, including identifying affected cattle in time, and getting to the root of the issue.
Dr. Randall Raymond, director of research and veterinary services for Simplot Land and Livestock, and David Trowbridge, manager of Gregory Operations, have a depth of knowledge and experience in the industry. Simplot is an integrated operation, taking their own cattle from conception to the feedlot, as well as many acquired cattle from across the western U.S., while Gregory Feedlots feeds a range of cattle from a variety of backgrounds. These two operations provide an insightful look at managing the issue in two very different systems.
Simplot Land and Livestock, headquartered in southern Idaho, is a diversified business including 30,000 mother cows, multiple feedyards with a capacity of 200,000, in addition to a large packing operation. After observing an increase in BCHF throughout their operation and seeing catastrophic death loss in other areas—like the 2022 heatwave in Kansas that caused hundreds of deaths per day in feedlots—Raymond and his colleagues at Simplot set out to research the issue.
The continuity of the business has allowed Simplot to closely track cattle from conception to the rail. To date, they have evaluated around 95,000 animals affected by heart failure, and obtained DNA samples and genotypes on each. From this data, they have identified a promising solution.
“We’ve developed a genetic prediction model for heart failure,” Raymond shares. “The outcome is very robust. The heritability is in the 0.35 range, and the accuracy is between 0.8 and 0.85.”
A test has been developed, which started with a methodology established by the USDA identifying four DNA markers important to heart failure.
“As we pulled that into a broader population, one of those four markers identified by the USDA was validated in this larger population and we found thousands of other markers. It’s what we call a polygenic trait. We don’t know how many genes, but it’s probably dozens, and we know it’s thousands of markers that are predictive,” Raymond explains.
The test was recently licensed through Neogen and is just coming onto the market.
Heart failure risk is now a consideration throughout the Simplot system. “It’s really a multi-tiered approach,” Raymond shares. “From the cow-calf standpoint, we’re trying to reduce feedyard incidents by screening all of our bulls that are going on commercial cows for this trait. We’re not going to put another bull in that battery that hasn’t been screened and assessed for heart failure risk.”
Raymond emphasizes that this genomic test is not the same as pulmonary arterial pressure (PAP) testing. “The association between PAP EPD and PAP scores is relatively low. We believe they are two separate traits. We think that this heart failure model we’ve developed encompasses multiple pathophysiologic pathways to heart failure.
“We believe elevated PAP is just a clinical sign of right-sided heart failure. It’s a heart that’s in the process of failing. This genetic test is really independent of PAP, and broader. We think that using PAP and this genetic prediction model together should have some benefit, and there could be some synergies to using both the traits in a multi-pronged approach toward selection, but they’re very separate.”
At Gregory Feedlots, Taybor, IA, cattle are coming in from a variety of operations. Trowbridge shares, “We have between 60 and 70 different customers each year, from 20 different states. Our customers’ genetics are varied, from straight Angus to very mixed breeds.”
Trowbridge attributes the issue to a combination of genetics and overfeeding. “We’re taking cattle to a weight that’s past their maximum growth, and just putting on fat. I don’t think that’s the whole reason, but with the combination of genetics and overfeeding is where we are seeing it,” Trowbridge explains.
Gregory Feedlots does not see many deaths from BCHF, which Trowbridge attributes to their specific sorting procedure. “We’re sorting them at finish time. We’ll go into a pen of one hundred head and pull every animal we think has between five and six-tenths of an inch of backfat.”
While Trowbridge and his colleagues are sorting cattle for processing based on individual evaluation, some systems involve sorting cattle when they come into the feedyard based on frame and muscle score. Largely, these pens are sent to slaughter as a whole, which means animals that finish faster may stay in the feedlot longer, leading to an increased risk of heart failure.
Over-fattening is top of mind, but Trowbridge emphasizes that cattle are still pushed to finish quickly, which is industry standard. “We are very aggressive implanters, and very aggressive feeders,” he says.
Simplot has been employing a similar sorting approach for some time. “We’ve trained our pen riders to go into groups of cattle that are at high risk, or during high-risk times of the year, to identify some specific clinical signs. Then we remove them from the pen and ship them,” Raymond shares. “That’s allowed us to do a couple things. One is that we get the cattle to a harvest facility before they die. Two, it’s given us the opportunity to see a lot of hearts that are in end-stage heart failure, but they made it to the plant.”
Raymond and Trowbridge both acknowledge that simply feeding cattle at a slower rate, or to be less fat, doesn’t fit within the industry or make financial sense.
Additionally, high performance isn’t a straightforward indicator of risk. “We do know it (BCHF) is highly connected to performance. Animals that have a propensity for high carcass weight and high average daily gain tend to also be at high risk for this syndrome. However, there are animals with that same profile that are also low-risk,” he explains.
Beyond the financial implications of finished cattle dying in the feedyard, animal welfare is a priority. Raymond explains that animals with heart failure don’t respond to treatment—often showing signs of lethargy, respiratory distress, and occasionally swelling—which can leave those caring for them feeling helpless.
“We’ve tried a lot of things. The only option is to get them removed from the system and harvested prior to becoming more clinical or dying. That’s been our most effective tool to date with handling the cattle that are in the pipeline: training our pen riders to identify those animals early,” Raymond expands.
Animal welfare matters to the consumer as well. “Letting this condition perpetuate itself is going to be really challenging from an animal welfare standpoint,” Raymond says.
Heat stress can be the breaking point for an animal at risk for heart failure. The huge losses from heat stress in recent years made international news, and placed a significant amount of scrutiny on the industry.
“From a global industry perspective, if we don’t work on this in a really coordinated fashion we’re going to see a lot more of that. We’re going to have really high scrutiny on animal welfare, and I think we should be scrutinizing ourselves about if we’re doing the right thing.”
The feedyard presents a number of challenges beyond BCHF, and minimizing other risk factors sets cattle up for success. Trowbridge explains that a good health protocol and genetics are vital. “Calves should be weaned for at least 60 days, and on a good nutrition and vaccine program,” he shares. “I believe we can’t make the cattle any better than they are, so genetics is another huge thing.”
While BCHF has the largest financial implications for feedyards, Raymond believes the entire industry should be committed to improvement. “I think seedstock producers should be really worried about it,” he shares. “Without testing cattle and being judicious we are going to continue selecting cattle that generate these high-risk animals because it’s somewhat unknown without doing genetic testing,” Raymond concludes. — Lilly Platts, ASA editor
