Investigating the Relationship Between Hoof, Liver, and Cardiac Abnormalities in Bos taurus Grain-Fed Beef Cattle < 30 Months in a Natural Program with No Antibiotics or Growth Promotants

Our primary objective was to determine the relationship between hoof, liver, and cardiac abnormalities in a group of natural-fed cattle at slaughter. Bos taurus beef cattle (N = 1312), without dairy phenotype, were evaluated for abnormalities at a slaughter establishment in the Great Plains region of the United States (elevation: 563 m). Cattle were enrolled in a vegetarian-fed program that prohibited implants, diet-included hormones, and beta-adrenergic agonists. Generalized linear mixed models were used to determine the prevalence of each abnormality within other abnormalities. There was no detectable difference (p ≥ 0.1630) to support an association between the proportion of cattle with each hoof score within each heart or liver score. Cattle with no liver abscesses were more prevalent (p = 0.0355) among cattle with normal cardiac morphology (Heart Score (HS)1) (94.37 ± 1.19% (mean ± SE)) than cattle with HS2 (very mild remodeling) (88.6 ± 1.42%). Further research is needed to understand this observed difference between two similar heart scores and to further explore contributing factors to these production diseases.