Bovine respiratory disease (BRD) is the main reason for economic loss in feedlots. A cross-sectional study was conducted in order to detect the pathogens involved in BRD. A total of 88 animals with respiratory signs were sampled for diagnosis using PCR. The detected pathogens were bovine respiratory syncytial virus (80.6%), Mannheimia haemolytica (79.5%), Pasteurella multocida (68.1%), parainfluenza 3 virus (23.8%), bovine herpes virus-1 (20.4%), and bovine viral diarrhea virus (11.3%). The average number of treatments applied per animal was 1.3 with an estimated treatment cost of 16 USD per treatment/animal. Animals receiving more than one treatment averaged costs exceeding 38 USD per animal. In total, 77% of all animals received the first treatment during the first 3 weeks after arrival. We found a relationship between shrink percentage and the distance traveled by the livestock from its origin to the feedlot (P = 0.049). BRD represents a costly condition for feedlot operations. It is imperative that cattleman and veterinary practitioners recognize the necessity to apply additional preventive medicine strategies to reduce the impact of BRD. Preconditioning and a more systematic use of methaphylaxis may improve our ability to accurately identify the most effective strategies to reduce the impact of BRD.