AABP Executive Director Dr. Fred Gingrich is joined by Dr. Brian Warr, veterinarian with Telus Cattle Professional Services in the Animal Health Module based in Alberta, Canada. The discussion for today is the role of the veterinarian in overseeing and providing guidance for feedlot cattle in special needs pens.

Warr begins by describing the routine health care provided on feedlots to ensure that each individual animal is observed daily and interventions based on the treatment protocol provided by the veterinarian are administered. After an animal is treated, options may include moving back to the home pen or moving to a special needs pen.

Warr reviews the care that should be provided by the caregivers for each special needs pen. This can include the treatment or hospital pen, where animals are given daily treatments before returning to the home pen. The hospital pen may also include animals that need daily close observation or that may need separated from the home pen while recovering. Warr also provides some guidelines for managing the chronic pen and railer pen to ensure that welfare is not compromised for animals that may not be able to return to the home pen or achieve the finishing weight goal. He suggests moving these animals through the treatment area once a week to assess their condition and record a weight with a general goal of 1 pound of gain per day for 30 days before returning to the home pen.

Warr also cautions that veterinarians should be realistic when assessing the welfare needs of special needs animals. Veterinarians should provide humane euthanasia protocols and provide the oversight to ensure that animals that do not meet the guidelines for continuing in the feedlot are humanely euthanized. We also discuss some of the general needs for biocontainment of infectious diseases on feedlots and nutritional and pen requirements for special needs animals.

Watch Warr's presentation from the 2026 Recent Graduate conference by going to this link.

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