Bovine respiratory disease (BRD) complex – also known as shipping fever or just pneumonia – continues to be the most common health problem facing the cattle industry today. In fact, the BRD complex results in losses estimated as high as $3 billion to the U.S. cattle economy annually.

The Bovine Respiratory Disease Committee, chaired by Chris Chase of South Dakota State University, is developing a proposal for a long-term BRD research and education program.

Because the group “strongly feels projects such as this should reflect current real-world needs of today's cattle industry,” Chase says the committee is requesting producer participation in a survey available at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/BRDsurvey.

“From this survey, we hope to learn producer opinions on BRD in order to plan future research and outreach education on BRD control and prevention,” Chase says. He points out that all responses will be confidential and only summary results will be reported.