Merck Animal Health has a new tool to help cattle producers more accurately diagnose bovine respiratory disease (BRD) — the Whisper Veterinary Stethoscope System. The Whisper platform provides a management tool designed to enhance the efforts currently in place for confirming BRD, the single largest source of morbidity and mortality in feedyards.
“This innovative instrument improves the diagnosis accuracy of BRD when cattle are brought into the chute for further assessment,” says Jason Nickell, D.V.M., Ph.D., DACVPM, associate director of livestock technology and innovation, Merck Animal Health. “By providing clarity on lung health and potential severity of disease, as well as which animals have BRD or at the highest risk, Whisper will help veterinarians and producers optimize antimicrobial costs and develop optimal treatment plans.”
Merck Animal Health acquired the rights to Whisper last year. Since then, extensive work has been performed to evaluate the technology and enhance the usability for producers.
We had the opportunity to catch up with Nickell at the National Association of Farm Broadcasting Convention to find out more about the Whisper.
