Anguscollegekid
Well-known member
What exactly is acidosis, how does it occur and what determines if they live or quick death?
Acidosis
- Thread starter Anguscollegekid
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Good grief... there's no such thing as a short answer to that question. Best suggestion would be to run a search on the boards and/or on google before asking here.
My very concise answers to your questions... acidosis is a state where the pH of the animal's rumen and/or body organs, blood, etc, drop below normal levels to an acidic pH. Usually caused by grain overload, can also be caused by diarrhea (loss of electrolytes). As with any problem, the level of severity and prompt treatment determine the outcome.
My very concise answers to your questions... acidosis is a state where the pH of the animal's rumen and/or body organs, blood, etc, drop below normal levels to an acidic pH. Usually caused by grain overload, can also be caused by diarrhea (loss of electrolytes). As with any problem, the level of severity and prompt treatment determine the outcome.
1982vett
Well-known member
I find this to be a pretty good source of information.
http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index ... d=acidosis
http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index ... d=acidosis
Merck does do a good job of describing what goes wrong internally, but there are more options for treatment available than what's listed in the MVM. One kind of has to take the MVM with a grain of salt -- most of the time it is right on, but occasionally they leave things out.
Anguscollegekid":1rtpslmu said:
In a nutshell - and I'm sure this explanation leaves out certain things that are relevant - ruminants have specific micro-organisms that digest specific types of feed-stuffs in their rumens, and the rumen needs to be at a specific ph balance - usually slightly alkaline (if memory serves) - in order for it to work properly. That is the reason for changing feedstuffs gradually - to allow the proper micro-organisms to build up in order to digest the feed properly and safely. When grain is introduced at a high rate (for an animal that is not used to grain, that rate can be a pound - depending on that animals weight), the micro-organisms are not present, and the resulting fermentation of that grain can result in the ph dropping drastically to a more acidic ph, and the micro-organisms that digest roughage die due to the ph balance being upset. This drop in ph causes the rumen to not function properly. If allowed to progress, the acidic ph balance causes a systemic reaction that results in vital organ shut down and the death of that animal. The same thing can happen in reverse - if an animal is used to getting a large amount of grain, and that grain is suddenly stopped, then the micro-organisms that digest the corn die and acidosis can result from that, as well. Acidosis is usually manifested by copious diarrhea, being off-feed, and bloating. Whether the animal lives or dies depends, in large part, on the severity of the condition, as well as the owners/caretakers awareness of feed changes, knowledge, and quick implementation of treatment for the condition.
TexasBred
Well-known member
Anguscollegekid":1pkmeqb7 said:
Angus, my simple method of giving someone an idea of acidosis is to tell them it's like going from bland diet of oatmeal and toast to a huge, hot and spicy mexican dinner twice a day. You'll need a few rolaids pretty darn quick. Doesn't occur that often in beef cattle, but dairy cattle, feedlot cattle, show cattle and calves on the homeplace being fed a heavy diet of starches (grain) will commmonly have some degree of acidosis.
Best way to avoid it is to make sure you're cattle get enough long stem roughage in the diet to maintain proper rumen ph and facilitate cud chewing. At any given time when laying down 50-75% of your cattle should be ruminating. Some of the posts above have described the potential problems associated with acidosis.
I had a calf get acidosis and she was sick for three months, as we treated her with corid , antibiotic, vit b, basamine, I forgot all the med the vet gave her, to make a long story short treat it quick keep a close watch on it for quite some time it turned into a snowball of illness, weather did'nt help either-- GOOD LUCK!
dburkhart
Well-known member
We had a pregnant cow end up with acidosis--got out and ingested about 30# of barley. Initially, I put baking soda-water mixture down her and walked her (she also bloated). We took her to the university vet hospital and after a couple of ruminent replacement fluid treatments, antibotics and time, she came home. Amazingly, she didn't founder and didn't abort.
TexasBred
Well-known member
wood2":1dlnj2jk said:
Must have been a little more here than acidosis. Sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) is the most common treatment and preventive along with taking them off any remaining grain and putting them on long stem roughage only.
TexasBred":1w7s31de said:
Not necessarily - the length of time it takes to get it straightened out generally depends on the cause of onset, as well as how quickly one realizes what is going on. One of our bulls developed acidosis from being pulled off grain too quickly - screw up on our part - we didn't realize what was happening, and it took a good 3-4 months to finally get him straightened out. It involved a couple of trips to the vet, a lot of Probios, a couple of medications that I don't remember the names of, and was just a long, drawn out mess.
TexasBred
Well-known member
msscamp":3qxpim7v said:
Wow..this doesn't happen. The only things you may look at was that either the reverse of the rumen shutting down from a lack of the fermentable CHO that the bull was used to or if the bull was pulled off grain and put on lush pastures. Did his intake change to fresh forage?? He may have gotten into a situation where the nitrate level created a rumen problem.
TexasBred":2bg4tqq8 said:
Yes, it does happen. This particular bull was removed from a high level of grain - for whatever reason, he was in a pen with 2 or 3 steers being finished for slaughter - to a diet of ground hay, a little beet pulp, and no grain.
TexasBred
Well-known member
Mss...he already had the acidosis when you took him off the high grain diet. Just took it awhile to become "acute" and was coincidentally "after you removed him from the grain". Left on the grain the results could have been much worse. Glad you got him straightened out tho.
