Cattle Chat

This episode explores how cattle producers can make informed decisions when considering new technologies, products, or services for their operations. The discussion emphasizes the importance of evaluating both costs and benefits, including upfront expenses, recurring fees, labor savings, and potential productivity gains. Producers are encouraged to use tools such as partial budgets and spreadsheet...

This episode explores how cattle producers can make informed decisions when considering new technologies, products, or services for their operations. The discussion emphasizes the importance of evaluating both costs and benefits, including upfront expenses, recurring fees, labor savings, and potential productivity gains. Producers are encouraged to use tools such as partial budgets and spreadsheet...

This episode tackles two listener questions with significant implications for cattle producers. The first explores how increasing cattle carcass weights affect corn demand and feed efficiency. The discussion estimates that an average increase of 36 pounds in carcass weight requires roughly 257 additional pounds of corn per animal, adding up to a substantial amount nationally, although it represent...

This episode tackles two listener questions with significant implications for cattle producers. The first explores how increasing cattle carcass weights affect corn demand and feed efficiency. The discussion estimates that an average increase of 36 pounds in carcass weight requires roughly 257 additional pounds of corn per animal, adding up to a substantial amount nationally, although it represent...

This episode focuses on the decision to pursue graduate school and explores how advanced education can shape careers in animal agriculture and beyond. Guest Maddie Manke shares her journey from taking a gap year after high school to earning a PhD, explaining how a desire to understand the science behind cattle nutrition sparked her interest in research and advanced study. The discussion emphasizes...

This episode focuses on the decision to pursue graduate school and explores how advanced education can shape careers in animal agriculture and beyond. Guest Maddie Manke shares her journey from taking a gap year after high school to earning a PhD, explaining how a desire to understand the science behind cattle nutrition sparked her interest in research and advanced study. The discussion emphasizes...

This episode covers three timely topics affecting livestock producers during the summer months. The discussion begins with strategies for preventing heat stress at livestock shows, where cattle face added challenges from transportation, unfamiliar environments, limited airflow, and changes in water sources. Producers are encouraged to closely monitor water intake, provide adequate air movement, an...

This episode covers three timely topics affecting livestock producers during the summer months. The discussion begins with strategies for preventing heat stress at livestock shows, where cattle face added challenges from transportation, unfamiliar environments, limited airflow, and changes in water sources. Producers are encouraged to closely monitor water intake, provide adequate air movement, an...

This episode of Cattle Chat focuses on practical management strategies for improving profitability in cow-calf operations, driven largely by listener questions. A major topic centers on how to add value to cull cows, emphasizing that even though calf sales make up most revenue, cull cow income is still significant. Experts discuss options like breeding open cows before sale, combining them into a...

This episode of Cattle Chat focuses on practical management strategies for improving profitability in cow-calf operations, driven largely by listener questions. A major topic centers on how to add value to cull cows, emphasizing that even though calf sales make up most revenue, cull cow income is still significant. Experts discuss options like breeding open cows before sale, combining them into a...

Joined by guest Logan Thompson, this episode of BCI Cattle Chat covers a wide range of topics, beginning with updates on current cattle research projects underway during the summer. Researchers discuss ongoing work in areas such as semen evaluation technology, stocker cattle supplementation, grazing system optimization, and respiratory disease investigation. A key theme is how research helps refin...

Joined by guest, Logan Thompson, this episode covers a wide range of topics, beginning with updates on current cattle research projects underway during the summer. Researchers discuss ongoing work in areas such as semen evaluation technology, stocker cattle supplementation, grazing system optimization, and respiratory disease investigation. A key theme is how research helps refine management pract...

This discussion focuses on how to recognize, evaluate, and manage neurologic (brain-related) cases in cattle. Common clinical signs include stumbling, circling, weakness, apparent blindness, head pressing, and paddling when animals are down, all of which indicate issues affecting the nervous system. Diagnosing these cases begins with key questions about the animal’s age, environment, recent manage...

This discussion focuses on how to recognize, evaluate, and manage neurologic (brain-related) cases in cattle. Common clinical signs include stumbling, circling, weakness, apparent blindness, head pressing, and paddling when animals are down, all of which indicate issues affecting the nervous system. Diagnosing these cases begins with key questions about the animal’s age, environment, recent manage...

This case study from a bovine science discussion examines a sudden and alarming incident in which 12 cows and 2 calves died within 12 hours of routine pre-weaning processing. Initially, the deaths raised concerns about vaccine reactions, toxic exposure, or handling stress, but the pattern of mortality did not align with typical causes. Adult cows, which only received topical parasite treatment, we...

Joined by special guest Dr. Lee Jones from Boehringer Ingelheim, this episode focuses on effective heifer development as a foundation for long-term herd success, emphasizing the importance of selecting the right genetics and defining clear production goals. This conversation explores how early-life management—including colostrum intake, vaccination programs, and nutrition—plays a critical role in...

Joined by special guest Dr. Lee Jones from Boehringer Ingelheim, this episode focuses on effective heifer development as a foundation for long-term herd success, emphasizing the importance of selecting the right genetics and defining clear production goals. This conversation explores how early-life management—including colostrum intake, vaccination programs, and nutrition—plays a critical role in...

In this episode of BCI Cattle Chat, the hosts discuss recent research on liver abscesses in feedlot cattle, including how diet, grain processing, and days on feed may influence their prevalence and economic impact. They explore new findings suggesting liver abscesses may not be caused solely by rumen acidosis, highlighting the need for more research into other contributing factors and prevention s...

In this episode of  Diving Into Diets  on  Bovine Science with BCI , Dr. Brad White and Dr. Todd Gunderson discuss a 2026 study on the high prevalence of bovine leukemia virus in cow-calf operations, implications for cow reproduction, culling, and calf weight. The conversation concludes there is not a great association between culling risk and pregnancy status associated with the ELISA test. Read...

On this episode of Cattle Chat, the team discusses how Theileria, a tick-borne parasite that destroys red blood cells, requires laboratory testing for confirmation and cannot be diagnosed reliably from visual signs alone. They emphasized that positive test results must be interpreted alongside clinical signs and herd history, since infection does not always mean it was the direct cause of illness...

In this episode of BCI Cattle Chat, the hosts celebrate reaching one million podcast downloads and reflect on memorable guests, listener interactions, and how the show has evolved since it began in 2018–2019. The discussion highlights popular listener question topics over the years, including nutrition, reproduction, management, genetics, markets, and grazing management. The hosts also share insig...

On this episode of BCI Cattle Chat the experts cover diarrhea caused by coccidiosis, emphasizing that it’s a common organism managed through reducing stress, maintaining clean and dry conditions, and using appropriate feed additives rather than trying to eliminate it entirely. The team also discuss growth implants, emphasizing their use to improve production efficiency and that hormone levels in b...

On this episode of BCI Cattle Chat the experts cover diarrhea caused by coccidiosis, emphasizing that it’s a common organism managed through reducing stress, maintaining clean and dry conditions, and using appropriate feed additives rather than trying to eliminate it entirely. The team also discuss growth implants, emphasizing their use to improve production efficiency and that hormone levels in b...

On this episode of BCI Cattle Chat, Larrison Hicks gave a research update on his project about beef–dairy cross calves, focusing on how early-life management, such as milk-feeding methods and probiotics, may influence gut development and the higher incidence of liver abscesses in calf ranch systems. Early findings showed no short-term benefits from probiotic supplementation, with more results pend...

On this episode of BCI Cattle Chat, the experts cover listener questions on calving difficulty, vaccination strategies, and liver fluke management. The team discusses that while malpresentation in calves can sometimes occur in clusters, it is more strongly linked to factors such as calf size, twins, and genetics than to cattle handling, though low-stress handling remains important. They also discu...