anaplasmosis

[DallyCash]

I know there are a lot of posts on this topic, and I have read a few, but I wanted to tell my situation and see what you all think of it. Sept 12 and 13th we went to a complete herd dispersal sale, the owner is well known in the red and black Angus show and especially in the junior associations. We bought 3 open yearlings and a spring bred black yearling. Got them home and 4 or so days later one had really just went crazy. She's skittish, stays to the other side of the pen at all costs, even went after my 5 year old daughter. This last Thursday, an older cattleman that knew we had bought at the sale called up my husband to let him know that there have been cattle from the sale die of anaplasmosis, so we need to get ours checked. Went out that night, one red and the black one had pale gums so per our vets recommendation, we started them on ctc and we will reevaluate on monday, while they are at the vets. So now I have questions (I'm going off the assumption that's they are positive). We paid $3500-3700 for these girls. Do we keep them in the herd knowing they are carriers? Can we take them to shows if they are carriers? What about the rest of our herd, do we run a large risk of them becoming infected if we keep them? I'm really kinda p!ssed that we bought from a reputable breeder, and paid more then I think we should have to find out that we now will be sinking more money into them because of this. So what are your suggestions or thoughts?

 

[cowgirl8]

If we get a case, we get them over it and then sell.... We had one last year, but went many years without any. Use to be a big problem for us, but i think that since we sell the infected one it lessened our cases of it... The last case we had, that herd had a neighboring herd...could have come from their cows which were usually bought from a sale barn. Luckily, they are now gone.

 

[cow pollinater]

My concern would be any older cows in the herd that are unexposed.
I don't show cattle and I also don't vaccinate for anaplasmosis so I may be wrong but I think cattle that have been vaccinated show up as positive so I have a hard time thinking that they'd be banned from shows from having it and gaining immunity the hard way. I would be fine keeping these heifers once they got over it.

 

[wbvs58]

A blood smear from capillary blood like tip of tail or ear should have been taken before treatment to see if they have got it first but may not be too late. You usually need an insect vector like cattle ticks for it to spread. From where I come from in Australia it is one of 3 organisms associated with Tick Fever except it doesn't produce the Red Water that the other two do.
Ticky country is along the sub tropical coast and all cattle coming over the range to tick free areas must be dipped at government dips, nothing else is required. Coastal cattle develop immunity soon after birth, western cattle have no immunity. I live in tick free country and sell bulls down to the coast so they all get blooded with 3 germ vaccine soon after weaning, one dose is all that is required and I have no problems.
Ken

 

[branguscowgirl]

I might add that it is often transferred by reusing needles and tattoo equipment also. Ken Is correct about the ticks carrying it here in CA also. I have read that flys and Mosquitos are not really much of a threat.
Some documentation recommends keeping two separate herds. Positives vs negative animals. I guess that would be your choice. But personally, it scares the dickens out of me. A breeder friend of mine lost half of her cows and calves because of Anaplasmosis one year. Cows aborted in late pregnancy without any dilation. For about 2 weeks she was cutting and pulling dead calves out and loosing the cows in many cases.

 

[DallyCash]

Well went to the vets today. All 4 new girls came back positive with active parasites. The bred heifer had the lowest packed red blood cells, at 21%. The rest were low at 35-39%. We have been treating with ctc, and the bred heifer got 50cc LA 200. It is not possible for us to keep 2 separate herds unfortunately. Our vet wants us to treat then entire herd with ctc. I'm so upset that these cattle were sold with active outbreaks. I feel really bad for the ones that have lost cattle from this sale.

 

[branguscowgirl]

Sorry to hear that they are all positive. That is a bum deal to pay that much money for them with Anaplasmosis. I would be pretty darn upset about it also!

 

[BRYANT]

As for what I would do they would be gone as soon as I could get them sold. I have dealt with that stuff and its not fun.
I would also give more than 50cc of LA200. Not telling you what to do just saying what I would have done.

What does the seller have to say about this ?

 

[DallyCash]

As for what I would do they would be gone as soon as I could get them sold. I have dealt with that stuff and its not fun.
I would also give more than 50cc of LA200. Not telling you what to do just saying what I would have done.

What does the seller have to say about this ?

I need to figure out who and how to get of someone from the sale. This was a complete herd dispersal, he was selling land and everything. I'm not sure if they still have office people, or if everyone is gone. I think I will start with a fb message and see if I get any response. I would really like to get ahold of the guys who have lost cattle. I feel like at this point it has only cost me $150, those poor guys lost thousands... I guess I will just keep to buying from people we personally know.

 

[Lucky_P]

cELISA test that we now have is very sensitive and specific - it will detect infected animals before you can identify infected RBCs in a blood smear - and will detect those persistently infected carrier animals that were infected as calves or became infected later and survived.
Vaccinated animals will also be seropositive on cELISA; vaccination will not prevent cattle from becoming infected, but will prevent clinical disease.
'Carrier' animals are persistently infected for the rest of their lives unless you undertake a high-dosage CTC feeding regimen to clear the infection; while these persistently infected cattle will likely never develop clinical disease, they can serve as a continuing source of infection for other cattle in the herd.

 

[Lucky_P]

When we move animals(and humans) around, we often bring along more than we'd bargained for when we made the purchase.
Health requirements for interstate movement vary from state to state.

You can 'clear' the Anaplasma infection by feeding high levels (check with your vet... they'll now have to do this under the new VFD, if it's still permitted) of CTC. 60 days at the 'high' level will clear *most* animals... but potentially not all; antibody levels may not go negative for 3-6 months. If any are not cleared, they may serve as a source for reinfection. 'Cleared' animals are susceptible to being reinfected...so, 'feeding for clearance' can be a double-edged sword - if you don't clear all animals, or if there are infected animals in neighboring herds or on adjoining premises... 'cleared' and previously unexposed animals are at risk.

 

[76 Bar]

Got them home and 4 or so days later one had really just went crazy. She's skittish, stays to the other side of the pen at all costs, even went after my 5 year old daughter.

If this is the dispersal that I suspect you're referring too…not at all surprised…numerous videos of the Angus females in particular clearly demonstrated overtly poor if not outright dangerous behavior…i.e. noteably nervous & high headed, seeking escape routes i.e. bashing themselves along the enclosure contemplating leaping over the pipe corral and worse, several were captured charging the person taking the videos.

Regarding the anaplasmosis outbreak…you're in for a rough ride.

I'm really kinda p!ssed that we bought from a reputable breeder, and paid more then I think we should have to find out that we now will be sinking more money into them because of this.

Correction…a reputable breeder earns that accolade via a long and hard won effort to enhance his client's bottom line. Johnny-come-lately's with slick promotions & fancy websites should never be confused with the real deal.

I hope you escape your "anaplasz" ordeal relatively unscathed. I trust the experience will be enlightening in more ways than one. Good luck.

 

[DallyCash]

Sorry haven't been on for a while. Everyone is still alive and doing fine. Checked one of the new girls gums and they looked good and pink. Haven't caught the bred heifer (lowest rbc numbers) to look at her gums. If she still has pale membranes, would it be worth it to feed some red cell supplement? Found out that a vet who had bought some bred cows from this sale lost a cow that was due in October. I'm wanting to find out if they take any action against the sellers.
76, I didn't see any go after camera men, but I do remember making comments to my husband that some looked like they might eat your lunch and not think twice. But I don't care for black angus attitudes so I tend to point out those girls! Hahaha