This edition of Have You Herd? is sponsored by Lactipro. Lactipro harnesses the power of Mega e, a superior lactic acid utilizer, enabling beef and dairy producers to support healthy rumen function. Lactipro places a large number of Mega e into its native environment, the rumen, where it immediately begins targeting lactic acid. To learn more about the science behind Lactipro, visit this link.
AABP Executive Director Dr. Fred Gingrich is joined by meat scientist Dr. Ty Lawrence, Professor of Animal Science and Director of the Beef Carcass Research Center at West Texas A&M University. We discuss the top three reasons that livers are condemned at the packer: liver abscesses, flukes and telangiectasis. Lawrence reviews the scoring system for liver abscesses and the issues that liver abscesses can cause to the speed of commerce on the harvest floor. We review the history of liver abscesses as well as risk factors such as number of days on feed, geography, starch source, region, bunk management and breed. Lawrence reviews the effects of liver abscesses on animal performance as well as loss of edible tissue for the various types of abscesses. Telangiectasis has an unknown etiology but is a cause of condemnations in about 1% of beef livers and 0.2% of beef livers. We review the life cycle of the liver fluke, how they are diagnosed at the packer and the impacts on the beef industry. We close the podcast by summarizing the economic impact of these three causes of liver condemnations on the beef industry which total $430 million of economic losses to the beef industry annually. Veterinarians can play an integral role in discussing liver disease prevention in beef cattle to lessen the impact of liver condemnations.