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Intermittent Feeding of Tylan Reduces Use of In-Feed Antibiotics While Still Controlling Incidence of Liver Abscesses in Finishing Steers

Objective: To determine if it is feasible to control liver abscesses in feedlot cattle with intermittent feeding of Tylan, thereby decreasing overall antibiotic use.

Study Description: Treatments included a negative control group (no Tylan throughout finishing period), positive control group (Tylan fed continuously throughout finishing period), and a group that received Tylan on an intermittent basis (1 week on, 2 weeks off). Steers (n = 312, 908 ± 15 lb) were blocked by body weight, randomly assigned to treatment groups, and placed into 24 dirt-surfaced pens with 13 steers per pen. Pens were weighed every 28 days. After 119 days on feed cattle were shipped to a commercial abattoir for carcass data collection.

 

The Bottom Line: Incidence of liver abscesses was similar for groups fed Tylan continuously and intermittently, but intermittent feeding resulted in a 60% de­crease in overall use of in-feed antibiotics.

View full research report by authors H.C. Muller, R.G. Amachawadi, H.M. Scott, and J.S. Drouillard at http://newprairiepress.org/kaesrr.

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