Life cycle management is the umbrella under which specific health procedures will be adapted. In this scheme, we practice more primary disease prevention. The optimal life cycle management will result in a herd that is not burdened with clinical or subclinical disease, but has protection against common disease agents of economic significance. Our attention will continue to change from counting the sick and deads to understanding performance as a function of health. The concept of life cycle management is not something that is easy to adopt.
People are resistant.
The concept forces us to leave our envelope of comfort and enter an area in which we are not comfortable. However, there are at least four societal demands or technologies that will, in my view, mandate this approach. The scientific ability to detect and recognize illness in association with food has escalated in the past decade. Society mandates that food be completely and totally safe for all individuals. In years past, the regulatory focus has been exclusively on chemical residues.