Avoiding rough grazing, soil-contaminated silage and "weedy" hay/haylage or straw for cattle feed usually prevents trauma to mucosal membranes in the mouth.
In the case of an isolated incident in an individual animal the best approach to prevention and control is to isolate and treat the animal at the first sign of symptoms. The animal should not be brought back into the main herd until all symptoms have disappeared.
In an outbreak, it is important to identify the causative factors to the predisposing lacerations in the mouths of the affected animals. This is likely to be a feed source that, once identified, should be removed. Again, isolation of affected animals and effective treatment early are the best control measures to prevent further spread.
As the causative bacteria do not survive more than 5 days in the environment and are present in the mouths of healthy cattle, the removal of the predisposing feed source is adequate to control the disease within a herd. If the problem persists, it is important to look for further sources of predisposing factors and eliminate them.