A randomised clinical trial of a metaphylactic treatment with tildipirosin for bovine respiratory disease in veal calves

BACKGROUND: Bovine respiratory disease (BRD) is a major problem in veal calf rearing units. The objective of this randomised clinical trial was to assess the effectiveness of tildipirosin as a metaphylactic treatment in veal calves on the number of BRD treatments, lung consolidation on thoracic ultrasonography (TUS) and average daily gain (ADG). A total of 209 veal calves from a pre-weaning fattening unit were randomly allocated to receive one of two treatments (tildipirosin 4 mg/kg, subcutaneously, n = 109; placebo 0.9% saline, subcutaneously, n = 100) at day 12 after entry in the pre-weaned unit. The calves were followed for a 70-day period. Occurrence of mortality and BRD treatments were recorded during the pre-weaning period. At days 1, 12 and 30, TUS and clinical scores were performed and ADG was measured during the first and second months of feeding. RESULTS: The use of a metaphylactic treatment of tildipirosin 12 days after arrival of the veal calves was not associated with the number of BRD treatments performed by the producer, ultrasonographic lung consolidation or weight gain (P < 0,05). In this cohort of calves, the proportion of calves treated for BRD by the producer was low at 14% (29/209). However, 13% (26/209) of calves included in the study already had ultrasonographic lung consolidation lesions 12 days after their arrival, which was before treatment time, and 27% (56/209) had lung consolidation at day 30. CONCLUSION: In this study population with a low BRD prevalence, we were not able to detect any benefit of tildipirosin as a metaphylactic treatment of BRD at day 12 after arrival based on BRD treatments, TUS, and ADG. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12917-017-1097-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.