A callout was required for this 10 week old calf because it was behaving strangely.
You might be surprised by what was wrong with it - post your guesses in the comments below!
When is Pneumonia more than just Pneumonia?
When is Pneumonia more than just Pneumonia?
I was recently called to examine a beef heifer who had been off colour and was lagging behind the mob. The heifer had been spotted as the mob was being moved, so I was called out to see what was going on.
When I got there, the heifer was nibbling on the grass in the yard and she was in good body condition. Her temperature was ok, and most of her examination was unremarkable, however, her breathing was shallow and fast, and it was clear there wasnβt a lot of air moving back and forth from the lungs when listening with the stethoscope.
When I did an ultrasound of her chest, it was apparent there was some pretty serious problem going on, as she had fluid around her lungs, and inflammation on the surface.
I diagnosed her with severe pneumonia, and along with a guarded prognosis, the heifer was treated with strong antibiotics and anti-inflammatories in an attempt to save her.
A few days later I got the phone call no vet likes to receive β the heifer had appeared to be doing well, but that afternoon she had rapidly gone downhill and now was unable to get up. We knew how bad her lung condition was, so there was no other option but to end her suffering.
Luckily, we were able to have a post mortem done thanks to the PM team at Massey. Cases like these provide a great opportunity for student to learn about the diseases than animals suffer from, and in this case, there was plenty to learn!
The heifer not only had severe pneumonia with abscesses throughout her lungs, she also had infection around heart, abscesses in her liver, and a large infected blood clot in her vena cava.
This set of problems can develop as a result of overfeeding grains and other carbohydrates to animals β too much carbohydrate affects the bacteria in the gut and causes the gut wall to be inflamed. When this happens, gut bacteria can get into the bloodstream and spread into the body. Abscesses develop in the liver, and the bacteria may spread els
How satisfying does this sound?
A good start sets these calves up for the rest of their lives.
The first feed a calf (or lamb) has, is probably the most important meal of its life.
Colostrum not only provides nourishment to give the newborn the energy to get it up and going, it also provides the calf with antibodies to help it be healthy while it's own immune system develops over the first few months of life.
Colostrum quality is crucial - quality begins to diminish as soon as birth has taken place, and steadily decreases with each passing hour. In addition to this, the newborns ability to absorb the antibodies in colostrum decreases with time too.
This is why its so important newborns get a good feed from their dam, or are fed with high quality colostrum if they aren't with their dam, within the first few hours of being born.
Plating Up Milk Samples To Check For Subclinical Mastitis
With the end of the milking season approaching for many, there has been a lot of milk sampling going on - in fact this week alone I've plated up over 350 milk samples to put through the incubator in order to see what bacteria the herds sampled have.
I thought I'd share this video which shows how easily microbiology can be performed when it comes to mastitis - it may surprise some of you just how easy it is to do.
This video was taken fresh from collecting some samples during milking - cow poo, overalls, gumboots and all.
Milk sampling allows for drastic reductions in dry cow antibiotic use as we can find which cows and specifically which quarters will actually benefit from being treated.
Rates of less than 3% of quarters dried off actually needing dry cow therapy are the sort of numbers we are dealing with in herds with great milk quality (Seaonal SCC 100,000 or below)
Down the microscope today - meet Haemonchus contortus - more commonly referred to as Barbers Pole worm.
For anyone familiar with this worm, you might already understand the implications of me being able to make this video, however, for everyone else, please read on.
Barbers pole is a worm which resides in the last stomach (the abomasum) of Sheep, Goats and Alpaca. It is a worm which consumes the blood of its host. High burdens will result in severe anemia as the worm population consumes more blood than the host can make.
This video was made today, after a callout to see a flock of lambs in which a significant number have died in the last few days.
In order to be able to make this video, you can conclude I found the worm in the abomasum of its host, who had unfortunately just passed away in front of us.
The lambs had rapidly lost condition, had dirty tails and subsequently became weak before dying. All of this, despite them being drenched a month ago with a good drench.
I have been to multiple calls this month to see animals suffering from the effects of this worm.
With the ongoing warm autumn weather we are having, we may have a big problem developing with Haemonchus over the next month or two.
More to follow...
For anyone interested in the behaviour of animals who have clinical facial eczema, this video shows Dud the steer just before I examined him. You can see he is irritated, shaking his head, and pressing his face into the side of his pen-mates:
This video shows sheep behaviour with clinical facial eczema - almost manic head shaking, irritation, pain and rubbing. Shortly afterward the lamb would lie down on the ground, hunched up and trying to hide from the light.
If you don't know about facial eczema or other preventable diseases of sheep or any other lifestyle block animals, get in touch with me and I can help you
This week has seen a couple of timely reminders for animal health problems to keep an eye out for at this time of year.
It may seem that with the warm weather and fine days, that nothing should really go wrong with your stock.
However, this week I have seen a case of flystrike in a lamb, and an outbreak of coughing calves, from lungworm.
The fly struck lamb has a couple of problems which made it an attractive proposition for blowflies to lay on. It was scouring, and also had an improperly docked tail that was festering. Both of these conditions are very attractive to blowflies.
Maggots are not necessarily easy to spot on sheep. It wasn't until the wool was clipped from around the back end of this lamb that we discovered the maggots.
It is a timely reminder to keep a close eye on your stock, and to get them tidied up for summer. Other signs to look for include sheep rubbing their backs on fences, and dark staining to areas of the wool, particularly over the back by the tail.
It is lungworm season in the Manawatu. Typically outbreaks of coughing in calves is seen between November and January. This often coincides weaning, which is a time when their immunity is low, making them vulnerable. Usually weaning is a good time to give calves their first drench if they haven't had one previously. For efficacy against lungworm, ensure the drench contains Levamisole, and also be very careful about dosing to the correct weight, as drenches can be toxic if a significant overdose is given.
Lungworm infection can cause severe reaction in the lungs, sufficient to result in severe pneumonia or death. Testing for lungworm is best done with a fecal sample, which is examined for larvae.
Did you know that lungworm larvae are ingested and migrate from the gut, through the tissues of the body, to the lungs where they mature and reproduce?
The early sign that there may be a problem brewing in your calves is subtle coughing in the mob (but not related to feeding time). The cou
