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Zilmax back in the news

A Wall Street Journal report says that Merck Animal Health is meeting resistance in its efforts to revive its cattle feed additive Zilmax.

The report says Merck has delayed plans to begin a new round of Zilmax field evaluations because of continued unease among meatpackers. Merck suspended sales of the growth promoting beta-agonist last year when concerns emerged that might cause lameness in cattle.

Meanwhile, results of a Nebraska study show that Zilmax has “no noticeable detrimental effect” on cattle health.  University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) animal scientist Ty Schmidt says the study involved 20 heifers, with half receiving Zilmax at the recommended dose and half not receiving it.

“There are some differences that would be expected when you’re feeding cattle on beta-agonists,” Schmidt says, “but, overall, none of the differences were  glaring differences that suggest there was any type of animal well-being issue.”

Schmidt says that while they did not focus specifically on the lameness issue, there was nothing to indicate that it was a problem.

“We looked at a lot of the blood factors in terms of the immune system—white blood cells, red blood cells—and none of those factors were elevated,” he says. “So the animals, based on what we saw, weren’t fighting any type of inflammation or showed any indication that they had something going on that was causing them pain or distress.”

The study was a joint effort involving scientists from UNL and the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service.

AUDIO: Ty Schmidt (5:57 MP3)

Link to UNL news release

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