Association of the "Rat Tail" Syndrome with Bovine Papular Stomatitis in Feedlot Cattle

Abstract

A problem designated as the "rat tail" syndrome was widespread in high plains feedlots in the late summer of 1975 and in 1976 and has become a matter of economic importance to the cattle feeder.

The "rat tail" steer is one that has lost the switch in his tail, a warning that the animal should be culled from a pen of feedlot cattle as a potentially poor performer. "Rat tail" is an external sign of disturbed digestive function. Chronics that fail to recover from an acute infection such as bovine viral diarrhea may develop rat tails; however, such incidence seldom exceeds one percent of a pen. When five to ten percent of the cattle in a feedlot develop rat tails, the situation presents a different problem called the "rat tail syndrome."