Bayer Animal Health has a new product out on the market for bovine respiratory disease (BRD) and it’s not a vaccine, it’s not an antibiotic … it’s Zelnate. Zelnate DNA Immunostimulant gets the innate system ready to identify and attack an infection. As Dr. Larry Hawkins, senior technical services veterinarian with Bayer Animal Health, described it — Zelnate “ramps up the innate immune system.”
BRD, often referred to as “shipping fever,” is a complex cattle disease that can be caused by a combination of many factors. BRD can affect the lower or upper respiratory tract in cattle, and has serious economic implications. According to Bayer’s web site, despite numerous cattle vaccines and antibiotics on the market, BRD remains a deadly disease. In total, 16.2 percent of all cattle are treated for BRD, and it is the cause of 40 percent of cattle mortality in the United States.
We got the chance to visit with Hawkins at the National Association of Farm Broadcasting’s annual convention and asked about Zelnate’s potential with VFD around the corner as well as the latest data behind the product:
