The improvements in handling facilities and vaccinations for cattle have allowed producers to work with animals more effectively and efficiently with less people. With all the new technology out there, cattle should be under less stress and be more efficient, so when Dr. Tom Noffsinger told a large group of producers that feedyard mortality has increased 40%, despite all the new generation antibiotics and improved vaccine technology, there was a definite hush in the room. Noffsinger recently spoke to a group of over 300 producers during the annual Nebraska Grazing Conference in Kearney, NE.

Noffsinger is a senior partner of Twin Forks Clinic in Benkleman, NE. As part of his daily routine, Noffsinger is a consultant to beef feeding and cow-calf operations in the areas of health, performance and animal behavior. Along with Dr. Lynn Locatelli, who is a practitioner at the clinic, Noffsinger has learned and applied some concepts that renowned low-stress livestock handler, Bud Williams, has taught them over the past four years to help reduce the stress and mortality in cattle.

Cattle producers and feedlot personnel need to find ways to provide a more consistent environment for cattle from birth to slaughter.

“Our goal should be to have calves that gain the same amount of weight the day after they are weaned, as they were the day before they were weaned,” Noffsinger explains.

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