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Brisket disease

J

jodywy

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 11, 2005
Messages
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Location
Cabin Creek, Carlile,Wyoming
Wasn't just my area that noticed a increase in brisket disease,also called high moutain diease,dropsy, or pulmonary hypertension. Artical in Wyoming Livestock Roundup, about higher incidence of the disease this year. Saw alot of black angus with it this fall. Producers must be getting lax about buying bull that have been PAP tested.
Heck just about the whole state is over 5000 feet and alot of cattle summer pasture at alot higher elevation.
 
Last year I didn't lose a single animal to brisket. The year before I lost 5 calves to it. Same cows, same PAP tested bulls, same pasture. The only difference was that we had moisture last summer.

I now have two cows with edema, one underneath her jaw and one underneath her belly. It may be associated with pregnancy, but I doubt I'm that lucky :lol:

I hope to get the calves and salvage the cows if they do have brisket. It's crazy how it shows up.

I know one producer who papped all of his cows and bulls, and their offspring. There doesn't seem to be any predictability in their offspring and so I wonder just how heritable the condition really is.
 
I haven't had any brisket. But I don't run Angus either. :-) Hard to overcome death loss.

Studying PAP tests reminds me of birth weights in a way. You can have bulls that sire calves that are all over the place. Or they may have been low but their calves are higher. Or the other way around. They need to develop EPD's for it. Yup another EPD. :wink:

Tim Holt told me once that he was asked to some feedlots in Nebraska to study some calves. He said they had all the same symptoms as brisket and went back to the same genetics. Could some genetics be susceptible to brisket even at lower elevations? I personally think cattle with a lot of performance are higher risk for brisket. It just seems higher yearling weight and higher PAP go together somewhat. It may just be from the extra condition their carrying.
 
Yes, I believe Traveler lines are famous for brisket problems. It has to be genetic, but to what extent? My friend who papped his herd observed that he could AI low papping bull A to low papping cow B multiple years in a row and got calves which never consistently papped.

You're right that higher performing cattle are the lines which don't do well at altitude. There is an angus breeder who bought a ranch near the Colorado/Wyoming border. I called to ask about his cattle and he informed me that "People around here really don't have good angus cattle, and that their goal was to show us all what good cattle could do." I asked about brisket problems in those high performing lines, and he said, "if we have a problem cow or bull, we just send them down to our Georgia division." I told him I didn't have a "Georgia division", instead I had a "bone pile" to send mine too :lol:

Never bought from them ... wonder why! Perhaps once they get a high elevation herd established, and are raising bulls from those cows, I may take a look.
 
WyomingRancher said:
Yes, I believe Traveler lines are famous for brisket problems. It has to be genetic, but to what extent? My friend who papped his herd observed that he could AI low papping bull A to low papping cow B multiple years in a row and got calves which never consistently papped.

You're right that higher performing cattle are the lines which don't do well at altitude. There is an angus breeder who bought a ranch near the Colorado/Wyoming border. I called to ask about his cattle and he informed me that "People around here really don't have good angus cattle, and that their goal was to show us all what good cattle could do." I asked about brisket problems in those high performing lines, and he said, "if we have a problem cow or bull, we just send them down to our Georgia division." I told him I didn't have a "Georgia division", instead I had a "bone pile" to send mine too :lol:

Never bought from them ... wonder why! Perhaps once they get a high elevation herd established, and are raising bulls from those cows, I may take a look.
Click to expand...


WY. rancher, was the outfit called Mountain Meadow? or something like that? if so, I'm sure they had a dispersal of the "Colorado division" several years ago, and I think the brisket problem had come up.
 
That could have been the name of the ranch. I believe they are still in business.

I do admire them for trying to develop better angus cattle at altitude. I think they are also selling their own meat into the Denver restaurant market. Like I said, once they start producing bulls out of cows developed at elevation, I would be interested in looking at them.

I must admit though, I think it is good that they have learned just how difficult it can be to get genetics to work at elevation. Perhaps the reason people ran "inadequate angus" was because profitability between alive vs dead animals was a little higher :lol: .
 
Kato said:
This is the first time I've ever heard of brisket disease.

What the heck is it?
Click to expand...

in this area it like herefords with pink eye, angus get brisket
http://oldfort.fortlewis.edu/brisket1.htm
The "Old Fort".......



Brisket Disease in Beef Cattle Research

High altitude disease (Brisket Disease), which causes cattlemen at high altitudes serious problems through cattle losses, has been thoroughly studied.
Pulmonary arterial pressure (PAP) measures have been shown to be a very good indicator of susceptibility to brisket disease, and differences in PAP values have been shown to be highly heritable.
Cattlemen at high altitudes can use bulls with low PAP values to eliminate this problem from their herd. All bulls sold at the SJBRC are measured for PAP values.

BRISKET DISEASE - PULMONARY HYPERTENSION FACT SHEET

Brisket Disease, also known as High Mountain Disease or Pulmonary Hypertension, is one of the Rocky Mountain region's most costly diseases. The disease is the result of elevated pulmonary arterial pressures or pulmonary hypertension and generally affects animals less than one year of age residing at an elevation above 5000 feet.

Brisket Disease is caused primarily by an oxygen shortage; oxygen availability is 17% less at 5,000 feet than it is at sea level; 20% less at 6,000 feet, 26% less at 8,000 feet, and 31% less at 10,000 feet. The oxygen shortage at high elevations causes increased resistance to blood flow in small arteries in the lungs. The heart compensates for higher resistance by stretching and building up a higher pressure. The pressure can continue to build up until fluids leak out of the blood stream and collect in the chest cavity, the brisket, and other places. Eventually, the heart wears out and stops beating.

The losses from the disease can vary depending on the origin of the cattle. In cattle born and raised at high elevations, the losses tend to run from .5% to 5%. In imported or lowland cattle the losses can range from 30% to 40%.

Cattle differ in how they respond to oxygen shortage. Some cattle are able to tolerate high pressures for a longer period of time, while others die quickly. Brisket disease is not limited to one sex or breed. It affects both sexes and has been found across all breeds including crossbreds.

Research has shown that the heritability of Brisket Disease can be quite high, ranging from 42% to 77%. This indicates that cattlemen can successfully select against the disease by curing cattle with high pulmonary arterial pressures.

Pulmonary arterial pressures (PAP) are obtained by a procedure called "right heart catherization". In this procedure, a fine plastic tube is passed through a needle in the jugular vein, with blood flow into the upper right side of the heart (atrium), through a valve, into the lower right side (ventricle), through a valve, and into the pulmonary artery just short of the branches to the lungs. Pressure waves are observed on a heart monitor and the monitor gives a direct readout of the true average pressure.

The PAP test is the best indicator (tool) available to date for identifying animals predisposed to Brisket Disease. The test is not 100% and should not be used as such. Generally, cattle with PAP values greater than 50 are considered to be of higher risk and cattlemen should be cautious of using them at high elevations.

In efforts to cut losses to Brisket Disease, cattlemen should identify those animals, specifically bulls, with high pulmonary arterial pressures and cull them from the herd or if possible, move them to lower elevations. Many times cattle with high PAP measurements or even beginning to contract Brisket disease can be successfully relocated at lower elevations.


Created and maintained by Beth LaShell

Please send comments or suggestions to [email protected]
 
Kato said:
This is the first time I've ever heard of brisket disease.

What the heck is it?
Click to expand...
It is another name for "Pulmonary Hypertension" - or - "Dropsy". In plain English - it is heart disease, and the animal can swell internally, and close off the function of the lungs and the ultimate result is death. It IS an inherited characteristic, but it is difficult to ascertain it's derivation, and, of course, because it appears in high altitude areas where the Oxygen molecules in the air are less per cu/cm than lower altitudes, it makes it even more prevalent in susceptible individuals.

"Mountain Meadows Ranch" lies at an altitude of 10,000 feet, and I think that their summer pastures go higher than that - 11,000 to 12,000 feet, but that is just an estimate. I have not noticed their advertising in the Angus Journal for several months. They laid out a BUNDLE of bucks in the establishment of their facilities, and also spent a tremendous amount of money in their seedstock acquisitions. Their "Cattle Handling Facilities - pens, chutes, headgates, corrals, alleyways, gates etc. are absolutely eye-popping :shock: ! I don't know what their current status is.

DOC HARRIS
 
There are ways to "genetically" alter the incidence of "brisket disease".............trouble is that they are not "politically breed correct"......so most ranchers won't consider them.

If you want more info......let me know.

[email protected]
 
WyomingRancher said:
How else do you manage for brisket disease besides buying PAP tested bulls and culling any cow which has had a brisket calf?
Click to expand...
Don't see it in the Hereford. Mom Tells about one hereford that had it over 40 years ago a hired man wanted it when we went out to shoot, he did till he skinned it.
Never see it in the white faced calves only stright angus , anyway here that is
 
I guess it could be hardware, afterall with livestock anything is possible :D .

I guess the reason I'm leaning towards brisket is because I've seen this swelling before. These cows like to show up after a long period of cold stress. My experience is once the cow has calved, she rapidly progresses into later stages of brisket disease (classic symptoms of a swollen brisket), and then it's obvious what was causing the edema.

Also, my experience with hardware is that they go downhill a lot quicker, and don't move very freely.

I'm finally getting to the point where I am bulding a herd from heifers I've raised. Knock on wood, but I haven't had any brisket loss out of my younger, "native" cattle yet. I'm hoping I've made good genetic progress away from the disease. It takes time, and a drought doesn't help! It's encouraging to see improvement though!
 
Hi Everyone,

A friend suggested that I check out your discussion on Brisket Disease and offer some information from the work a group of us has been doing in that area.

Some of you have obviously been doing your homework but HAD (High Altitude Disease) has a bad habit of getting your attention when you least expect it. About 5 years ago, I brought semen in from California for an AI project. I had my heart set on a frame 7 bull. Thank God it was not a very successful AI as the next year, we lost every bull calf to Brisket Disease. If you suspect a Brisket death, go straight for the heart---you will know when you see it. Half of it will be very very enlarged and often the valves are seriously damaged.

Colorado State has been studying HAD since before 1900 when a Cattlemen's group commissioned a study to determine how to address the very high death loss. Estimates of over 25+% death losses in calves was common in Colorado's high mountains. Adult cattle herds taken from low altitude into those mountains can be decimated by the effects of HAD. At first they appear to be all right but by 60-90 days at altitude, the damage becomes apparent and they start dropping like flies if they are genetically non-adaptable.

You have a good definition of HAD provided to you already, but basically HAD is congestive heart failure. The Brisket swells (particularly in adult cattle) because the blood is under such pressure in the pulmonary system that it is leaking fluid into the chest cavity. Calves can be very different however---watch for signs of failure to thrive. They are born normal but slowly go down hill and just don't come off the mountain.

The British Breeds (Hereford, Angus and Shorthorn) appear to be most affected. However, I recall reading about a recent study being started because of the observation that the Galloways do better at alttiude. I have not seen the results of that work. Depending on just how high you are going to take the cattle, other breeds are also at risk. Cattle don't have the best heart and lung systems and when we breed them for large carcass size, their hearts are even more stressed.

HAD is an inability to adapt to high altitude and it is highly heritable. The PAP test has helped identify individual cattle that are at risk. However, this past summer as we were conducting experiments with HAD, we also found that many things affect a PAP test and cause FALSE POSITIVES. For example, estrus can cause a cow's PAP score to jump 20+ points. A bull may have a high PAP score because of a mild respiratory infection that does not even have obvious symptoms. TAKE A TEMPERATURE ON ANY CATTLE WITH HIGH PAP SCORES. ANY INFLAMMATION WILL JUMP THE PAP SCORE.

I could go on and on about the limitations of determining an animal's fate on one PAP score but PAP testing has still been better than nothing. However, would you feel comfortable if your doctor was still using the same diagnostic methods today that were used 60+ years ago--particularly when human knowledge in the field of genetics is doubling every few months? It is as if time stood still after the first PAP test was conducted. It was a tool -- not a solution!

Dr. William P. Switzer, retired from Iowa State's vet school, offered to help me last Spring and he has created a computer PAP prediction program from hundreds and hundreds of PAP scores for black Angus cattle that we have collected. The program is amazing because it gives us the ability to predict PAP scores for Angus cattle that have never been at altitude. In standard PAP testing, the animal needs to be at altitude for several weeks and longer is better. Most cattle never get to altitudes that allow testing but their effect on the genetic pool can be significant.

While the computer program is a great help, it does not solve the problem of the inherent unreliability of the PAP test itself. Also a PAP test basically measures the damage that is done---which is why a calf's PAP score is not really reliable---there is still more damage that might occur. That translates to IDENTIFYING THE DAMAGED ONES---NOT STOPPING THE DAMAGE BEFORE IT HAPPENS. Once damaged, you may slow down the process by taking the animal to lower altitude, but that pulmonary system will never really recover. The current "feedlot brisket", as it is being called, may be the result of respiratory systems that were stressed at alttiude.

The good news: Our computer program grows daily as we add more scores. We can tell you that many Traveler cattle do just fine at altitude. However, DHD Traveler 6807 has a predicted PAP score of 59.9 with a standard deviation of 17.3! For those of you who don't know about PAP scores---low is good and high is bad and a standard deviation that can swing by 17 points on top of a record setting high PAP score, IS THE KISS OF DEATH AT HIGH ALTITUDE.

At 5500 feet and one year of age, I consider 45 a general pass/fail guideline. Add a point per 1000 feet and a point or two for age. 5000 feet is much less dangerous that 9000 feet. You have to look at the total picture. You also have to have a competent person conducting the test and a good machine.

More good news: We have a better test -- one that can be used very early in life and at any altitude since the issue really is genetic. However, we are now convinced that developing that test will just slow a solution down, as the identification of the genetic markers are clearly within our grasp. It is time to focus on a real answer rather than getting sidetracked into another test that still does not solve the problem.

Now that you know more about Brisket Disease than you ever wanted to know, if I can help any of you that are losing cattle, please email me. I may be able to help you identify the reason. Those of you who have seen the effects of wet weather and climatic influences, you are accurate in your observations! Diet can indeed influence the severity of Brisket Disease for reasons that are more complicated than we have space for here.
 
Thank you, Lady J L&L, for that well-researched information. On our particular ranch, the elevation in the sub-irrigated hay meadows is about 3215 feet, and the hills go up from there to a little over 3400 feet, so High Altitude Disease is not a real big factor. I can see where it makes the utmost difference in mountain country.

I seem to remember from quite a few years back, that the Saler breed really shines in mountain country. The literature at the time mentioned that they would "eat higher up on the mountain" than any other breed of cattle. Then if you were mounted good enough to catch up with them in the fall, you were in luck. :-)

Anyway, I appreciate you taking the time to post this.
 
WOW Lady J L&L, your response needs published someplace where more people could benefit from your information! Thank-you for taking time to post.

You are right about younger calves being harder to detect. They definately are the ones who never thrive, and if they live long enough, usually develop classical symptoms. Other calves do well up to a certain point, and then WHAM! Especially after they go through respiratory stress (change in weather, pneumonia exposure).

Two years ago, when I did have a high loss to brisket, I really didn't know what to think! I had not had a year like that before. Last year I don't recall having a single brisket animal. Maybe 06 got it all out of its system :D

I've heard that there is a possible link between brisket disease and loco weed consumption. I've sprayed for weeds, and don't think this is an issue for me. Have you heard of this link?
 
Hi Wyoming Rancher,

I would be really interested in the bloodlines of the cattle that you lost to brisket disease. Can you tell me what you remember about the breeding of the cattle that were hard hit in 2006?

There is some good evidence that moisture content and certain nutrients and/or amino acids in plants have a positive effect on brisket disease. I have not seen any information on Loco Weed but we have very little of it in our area so that may explain my lack of information. We do know that certain plants in our area may be helping cattle adapt better at altitude. Remember this disease is really a genetic defect that makes the animal less adaptable to the pulmonary pressure at higher altitudes. Therefore, things that decrease pressure will help them handle altitude better.

PS, I am married to a Wyoming Rancher from high altitude country.
 

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