The economic impacts of the bovine respiratory disease complex on beef cattle feedlots from Brazil

Bovine respiratory disease (BRD) is a common cause of morbidity and mortality in beef cattle feedlots from countries such as USA, Canada, and Australia. However, data relative to the economic impacts, morbidity, and mortality are scarce in Brazil. This study investigated the incidence of BRD in 10 beef cattle feedlots from different geographical regions of Brazil, during January/2019 to December/2020, with a total of 699,526 cattle on feed. The incidence of general morbidity was 3.6%, while BRD-associated was 2.1%. The incidence of general mortality rate identified was 0.38% and the mortality rate BRD-associated was 0.08%. BRD accounted for 57.9% and 22.1% of all disease cases and deaths, respectively. The average body weight was 14.9 kg higher in cattle without BRD compared to cattle with BRD. The costs of BRD-related mortality and morbidity were estimated at $ 777.98 USD/animal and $ 51.4 USD/animal, respectively, and resulted in an estimated annual loss of $ 6.9 million USD due to morbidity and $ 4 million USD due to mortality. This is the only study in Brazil that investigated the incidence of BRD and the impact on production/economics and the data herein obtained can be used as the starting point to understand the BRD-related losses in the local cattle industry.