AABP Executive Director Dr. Fred Gingrich is joined by Dr. Matt Quinn from Feedlot Health Management Services located in Alberta, Canada. Quinn has a PhD in ruminant nutrition from Texas A&M University and provides his expertise on what implants are and how they can be used in all sectors of the beef industry to improve average daily gain and feed efficiency. Quinn describes the different categories of implants which include estrogenic, androgenic and combination products. He also describes traditional implants with long-acting or extended-release formulations. We discuss the definition and importance of the term “implant pay-out” and the training and monitoring programs that veterinarians can review with the their clients and employees to consistently achieve the results desired. Quinn walks our listeners through the considerations for implementing implant programs for suckling calves, including heifers, stockers or backgrounders, and cattle on feed, both native beef, beef-on-dairy crosses and dairy breed animals. He reminds us that the return on implants is maximized with a sound nutrition program, but that in general, implants will always return an economic advantage to the producer and should be considered in all facets of the beef production cycle. 

LINKS:

Evaluation of long-acting implant programs for calf-fed Holsteins
M.J. Quinn, C.G. Stamm, A.L. Schreck, S.L. Parr, C.W. Booker, S.J. Hannon, M.J. Corbin, R.D. Rademacher, M.L. May
Applied Animal Science, Vol. 36, Issue 2, August 2020 

Anabolic implant strategies in beef production
S.L. Parr
Proceedings of the 3rd AABP Recent Graduate Conference, February 2020 

FDA Letter to Industry on Beef Cattle Ear Implants
December 2021