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In veterinary practices up and down the country, it is the busiest time of the year. For us, this is certainly the case. I spent the bank holiday on call where I dealt with a series of problems you would generally see at this time of year.
So I’ve listed 10 calls I did with a tip for each.
1. Calf pneumonia: I saw several batches of bought-in calves suffering from viral pneumonia. Early treatment in these cases makes a huge difference.
Tip: look for increased respiration rate and temperatures over 39°C.
2. Calf dystocia: this is basically where big calves are too large for the pelvis and cows and require caesarean sections.
Tip: front legs crossing can be an early indication of large shoulders and along with feet size may require veterinary assistance.
3. Grass tetany: I saw my first case of magnesium defiency or grass tetany.
Tip: ensure plenty of magnesium in the diet at this time of year with cows on pasture.
4. Difficult lambings: large lambs or dead lambs.
Tip: Ewes that have difficult lambings or dead lambs require antibiotics but also respond very well to pain relief or anti-inflammatories.
5. Listeria meningitis: these cases tend to be circling with facial paralysis and ear drop.
Tip: this bug is typically found in poor silage so when seeing an increased incidence it is worth reviewing the diet being fed.
6. Calf scours: we of course see a lot of these cases. They usually tend to be viral or cryptosporidium.
Tip: it is so important to continue milk feeding, replace fluids being lost with oral electrolytes and separate infected calves to reduce spread.
7. Displaced abomasum: this is where a dairy cow's stomach gets displaced, usually causing symptoms such as milk drop, poor thrive condition loss, etc.
Tip: if greater than a 2% increase of this in the herd, you should always go back and look at transition cow diet as this be need to be altered to help rumen fill.
8. Eating stones: I saw a batch of maiden heifers on marginal ground who were continuously eating stones.
Tip: always consider phosphorous defiency when you see this type of behaviour. Consider bloods and supplementing P.
9. Coliform mastitis: this is an acute toxic ecoli mastitis usually seen in the freshly calved cow. It can have udder swelling, watery colour and cows will be very sick.
Tip: while these cows need urgent veterinary attention, continuous stripping of the quarter can be very helpful to reduce the bacterial endotoxins.
10. Respiratory acidosis: these are calves that have received a heavy pull or hard calving. They tend to be down and have a lot of fluid on their lungs
Tip: they again respond well to pain relief and veterinary attention.
So this is a brief snapshot of some cases I saw this weekend, with some simple tips. It must be remembered that it is dangerous to make assumptions about clinical presentations and always be advised to consult with your own veterinary surgeon first when dealing with any of the above problems on farm.
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