Animal Health Quiz #2

[IluvABbeef]

Alrighty folks, here's the second animal health quiz from this one: http://cattletoday.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=31347

1. After starting several pens of calves with little trouble, one pen of calves has begun to back off feed, have runny noses, and then 2 die on Friday afternoon. What is going on? What do we do now?

2. THe calves have just come off pasture and have been weaned at home on a diet of hay and grain with added vitamins and minerals. Consumption is good and even among all the calves. Yesterday, several calves had manure-coated tails and rear ends. Today, 2 are hunched and one has prolapsed a rectum. There is blood in some of the manure in the pen. What's going on?

3. The calves have come home very uneven in weights and haircoats seem dry and dull in many of them. Losses on pasture were higher than usual but undiagnosed because no fresh dead calves were ever found. Now ther are cases of diarrhea (scours) and/or pnuemonia in the calves. Response to treatment has been average to poor. What's going on?

4. You have 100 crossbred beef cows. In a typical year your cows calve out in March and April, and are sent to summer pasture in late May or June. Spring vaccinations for the calves have always included an 8-way clostridial vaccine, including blackleg, in the spring, just prior to turnout. This year, in mid-June, you find one of your better calves dead on pasture with no obvious cause. Two days later a second calf dies, and a veterinarian is called to perform a post-mortem. Lab results indicate that the lesions are "...typical of blackleg due to Clostridium chauvoei." No other cattle in the herd died. How can blackleg be diagnosed in a calf that was recently vaccinated for blackleg? Was the vaccine defective?

5. While adding a new concentrate to your feedlot ration, you inadvertently induce an episode of rumen acidosis in one pen of calves. Together with your veterinarian and nutritionist you resolve the problem. However, in the weeks that follow, you continue to pull and treat high percentage of calves from this same pen for free gas bloat. Is the acidosis related to high number of free gas bloats, or is this just more bad luck?

6. While you are helping your new hired man treat a small number of catte at your feedlot, you notice him administer a dose of trimethoprim-sulfadoxine (Trivetrin or Borgal) to a 900-lb steer subcutaneously. Both drugs are only licensed for IM and IV use. When you ask why he did that, he tells you he heard that most drugs last longer when given under the skin. Besides, all of the latest quality assurance advice seems to indicate you should inject subcutaneously. How do you respond?

Good luck.

 

[milkmaid]

I'll give it a go.

1) pneumonia, need more info

2) coccidiosis

3) BVD PI calves

4) vaccines are not 100% effective and usually take 2-3 weeks to build immunity

6) he's right on both accounts, however SC use when it's not indicated may mean longer withdrawal times.... for a 900wt steer that may not be an issue; for a 1100lb steer approaching slaughter it's a really big deal

 

[IluvABbeef]

Wow...over 130 views and only one response...either MM answered all the questions for y'all or you don't really feel like taking a quiz for fun... :?

 

[rockridgecattle]

i will try

1, need more info or post. Something is wrong. One sick, self diagnose, more than one in today's market, get a vet. but i would also check the feed for contamination or over feeding....the runny nose says pnemonia

2, too much protien, got the poops real bad. Could it be Codcidiosus? maybe, i have not had to deal with that so...I would atleast call the vet

3, BVD PI calves...did we vacciante momma's, poppa's and babies

4, the time it takes to build immunity in the system is 3 weeks. How was the momma's colostrum, did the cows get black leg shots recently so the antibodies would be in the colostrum? passive transfer

5, got me...ask the vet more questions

6, withdrawl time would be longer, why not follow the label, unless vet specified. I'm the owner, my responsibliity, my rep if caught with drugs in a slaughtered animal, ultimatley I am in charge,...so... this is how i do it, or want it done... don't like it, "don't let the door hit you on the way out"

 

[msscamp]

Alrighty folks, here's the second animal health quiz from this one: http://cattletoday.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=31347

1. After starting several pens of calves with little trouble, one pen of calves has begun to back off feed, have runny noses, and then 2 die on Friday afternoon. What is going on? What do we do now?

Shipping Fever/Pneumonia. Hit them with a mid-level dose of Baytril.

2. THe calves have just come off pasture and have been weaned at home on a diet of hay and grain with added vitamins and minerals. Consumption is good and even among all the calves. Yesterday, several calves had manure-coated tails and rear ends. Today, 2 are hunched and one has prolapsed a rectum. There is blood in some of the manure in the pen. What's going on?

Initial instinct is acidosis, but the blood in the stool could also be coccidosis. I believe I would probably call the vet.

3. The calves have come home very uneven in weights and haircoats seem dry and dull in many of them. Losses on pasture were higher than usual but undiagnosed because no fresh dead calves were ever found. Now ther are cases of diarrhea (scours) and/or pnuemonia in the calves. Response to treatment has been average to poor. What's going on?

Possibly wormy. Possibly something else. I would have called the vet after I lost the 2nd calf.

4. You have 100 crossbred beef cows. In a typical year your cows calve out in March and April, and are sent to summer pasture in late May or June. Spring vaccinations for the calves have always included an 8-way clostridial vaccine, including blackleg, in the spring, just prior to turnout. This year, in mid-June, you find one of your better calves dead on pasture with no obvious cause. Two days later a second calf dies, and a veterinarian is called to perform a post-mortem. Lab results indicate that the lesions are "...typical of blackleg due to Clostridium chauvoei." No other cattle in the herd died. How can blackleg be diagnosed in a calf that was recently vaccinated for blackleg? Was the vaccine defective?

Probably not, the calf was probably infected before the vaccine reached effective levels.

5. While adding a new concentrate to your feedlot ration, you inadvertently induce an episode of rumen acidosis in one pen of calves. Together with your veterinarian and nutritionist you resolve the problem. However, in the weeks that follow, you continue to pull and treat high percentage of calves from this same pen for free gas bloat. Is the acidosis related to high number of free gas bloats, or is this just more bad luck?

Yes, the acidosis is probably related to the free gas bloats. Acidosis can be very difficult to resolve on a permanent basis.

6. While you are helping your new hired man treat a small number of catte at your feedlot, you notice him administer a dose of trimethoprim-sulfadoxine (Trivetrin or Borgal) to a 900-lb steer subcutaneously. Both drugs are only licensed for IM and IV use. When you ask why he did that, he tells you he heard that most drugs last longer when given under the skin. Besides, all of the latest quality assurance advice seems to indicate you should inject subcutaneously. How do you respond?

This would be a firing offence for me. Drug administration routes are established (and clearly stated on the label) for a reason, and to willingly/intentionally ignore the label is not a good thing in my book. He may very well have cost that calf his life, and I would have a major problem with that. There is also the factor of my trust in his ability/knowledge would be severly undermined, and there is no point in having a hired man if I have to continually monitor how/what he is doing.

Good luck.

 

[rockridgecattle]

so do we get the answers yet? I would like to see how wrong I was...

 

[IluvABbeef]

Here's the answers (loooong...)

1) Post-mortem exams on these 2 dead animals are very important to help identify the problem. Laboratory workup may not be available, but much information can be determined from the post-mortem

The answer is we really don't know yet. It could be pneumonia, shipping fever, Hemophilus somnus, or something unrelated to the runny noses such as blackleg. It is always difficult to say "we don't know" but it may be far worse to assume it is one problem and not know what we are dealing with. Physical exams, including temperatures on several affected cattle from the pen, will be needed to identify. Appropriate therapy could then be started.


2) There are several possibilities for the manure-coated rear ends and loose manure including winter dysentry, BVD, coccidosis, grain overload and dietary indigestion. The blood in the manure is seen in BVD and coccidosis. However, with BVD there are often erosions or ulcers in the mouth and high fever. The straining (tenesmus) is common in severe cases of coccidosis, as the coccidia burrow into and out of the rectal mucosal lining.

With a diagnosis of coccidosis, the appropriate therapy for these calves involves treatment of the active cases and prevention of further cases. Treatments involve oral sulfa medications and Trivetrin or Borgal by injection. Oral Amprol has also been used. Prevention involves the feeding of Rumensin or Deccox at appropriate levels. Your vet can prescribed which products are best for you.


3) As part of a thorough examination, we check the mouth of the calves for oral erosions of ulcers and blunted papillae in the cheeks and tongue which indicates BVD. Much information is available about the cytotoxic/non-cytotoxic strains of BVD and you should discuss your farm's specific needs with your vet. In general, BVD is around, causes lots of trouble in young calves, summer calves on pasture, fall calves, and can lead to trouble throughout the feeding period whenever there is stress. The cowherd needs appropriate protection and this will depend on what's already happening within the herd. Abortions in the cow herd and weak newborn calves are also signs of BVD infection in the herd.


4) THere are a number of reasons why an animal may succumb to a disease for which it was recently vaccinated. If we presume that the vaccine was refrigerated appropriately from the manefacturer all the way to the chute-side, and administered using the appropriate dose and technique, there are still other factors that may contribute to a failure:

a) High levels of immunity of clostridial disease may be acquired from colostrum, and still present at the time of vaccination. These antibodies are passed from cow to calf to protect the calf from disease, but may also "protect" the calf from being vaccinated if it is vaccinated too young.

b) The calves may have been challenged with an overwhelming dose of clostridial organisms which sometimes happens when an area has been excavated or flooded, exposing massive numbers of organisms that were buried in the soil.

c) The 2 calves may have been "non-responders". In any population following vaccination, the majority will develop average immunity, a small percentage will develop excellent immunity and a small percentage will develop weak, inadequate immunity and become the non-responders.

d) The calves may not have recieved a booster dose of clostridial vaccine. Although a single dose should result in some level of immunity, it is often the second, booster dose that causes the greatest rise in immunity. Be sure to give appropriate booster inoculations.

e) Vaccine failure is more likely in a herd that is parasitized or malnourished. A healthy response to vaccination requires a healthy calf at the time of vaccination.


5) In all likelihood, the rumen acidosis episode and the high rate of free gas bloat are related. Free gas bloat occurs when normal gas production in the rumen cannot be belched off. This may occur when the calf is choking (esophagus is obstructed) or there is impaired motility of the rumen. Following an episode of rumen acidosis, the inflammation centred around the rumen and esophagus may signifantly impair rumen motility, and thus reducing belching activity, and causing more bloats.


6) Neither Trivetrin nor Borgal are licsensed for subcutaneous use in cattle. It is true in many cases tha a drug will last longer than the same drug injected intramuscularly, however, the reasons offered by the hired man are inadequate. The claims of efficacy for any given drug are based on the approved dose and administration. Without label assurance you really don't know if the subcutaneous dose will work or not. Nor can the stated withdrawal periods for safe consumption of meat and milk be relied upon. In this particular case, it would likely be appropriate to increase the withdrawal period. Although subcutaneous injections are preferred from a quality point of veiw, they should only be used when the label clears them for this use.



~Canadian Cattleman magazine, September 2000~