Respiratory disease represents an economically damaging problem for the UK cattle industry. The exact financial impact is hard to determine, but figures ranging from E50 to 80 million have been suggested (Bryson, 1991; Barrett, 2000). At the farm level, losses are seen at the time of an outbreak and also in the longer term. During an outbreak there are the direct costs of dead animals, the labour involved with the treatment, veterinary involvement and medicines. In the longer term, there are fibrosis and loss of functional lung capacity (Fig. 1) in animals that recover, which has a negative impact on daily live weight gains.
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