Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** liver abscesses in feedlot cattle…

Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** liver abscesses in feedlot cattle are prevalent across the united states costing the industry millions of dollars in livers that cannot be used for food, increased time to process carcasses, and cattle productivity losses. The occurrence of liver abscesses will continue to increase as the industry reduces in-feed antibiotic use. We hypothesize that some cattle are more prone to abscess because of their genetics, and that cellular markers that will correlate with the development of liver abscesses. Our first objective is identify genomic markers that predict the likelihood of an animal developing liver abscesses. Our second objective is to evaluate circulating cell types, cytokines, and metabolites in the blood, and gene expression, liver enzyme function, bacterial communities, feed intake and body weight gain to identify biological or cellular profiles that correlate with the development of liver abscesses and the timing at which they occur during the feeding period. Deliverables will include genetic variants that correlate with susceptibility to liver abscesses to allow selection of animals that are less prone to developing them, and diagnostic tools to identify animals that are developing liver abscesses and may need to be managed differently. These data will be useful as a novel approach to reduce the incidence of liver abscesses in the US without the use of antibiotics and provide an opportunity to improve feed efficiency and beef production.