"Brainer"?

Help Support CattleToday:

L

Lane

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 29, 2010
Messages
56
Reaction score
0
Location
Palmetto, Louisiana
Yesterday, when I went to move calves to ryegrass I found a 6 wt. steer standing in a fence corner
by himself. He was pushing his body against a 5 strand barbwire fence and laying his head on a
4 strand hotwire fence (that I know had 7k+volts) and did not seem affected. I pulled him out of
the corner by his tail, and he really didn't resist. He walked straight down the fence and parked
in another corner, pushing his head against a gate. I know he can see as he went around me a
couple of times and right down the fence. My guess is polio. I understand it can be a B vitamin
problem (thiamin) so I gave 30cc B complex , a shot of Banimine, and a shot of Zuprevo. He is
still alive this morning so my wife is picking up some Dex., and Thiamin from the vet.

Anybody have any other ideas or treatment. I haven't seen one of these in over 25 years and it
was big feedlot calves. I thought about lead poison, mold or aflatoxin, etc. Calves are on self-
feeders at night, ryegrass during day (no recent fertilizer), and have a good free-choice mineral.
There are about 85 other 6 wt. steers with this one and all seem fine. I started these calves as
3 wts. and they have been in about 4 months and have had all vaccinations and boosters. Any
ideas? Thanks
 
Polio's my top rule-out, too.
Self-feeders? High grain ration may be fostering the production of thiaminase enzymes by rumen microbes; or, if the sulfur level in the feedstuffs is high enough (I'm not obsessed with S like SirLoin, but do recognize it can be a problem), you may be dealing with S-induced polio.
Water source? I've seen cases of S-induced polio when cattle were switched to high-sulfate water from a new well.

Lead is a possibility. See Pb toxicity from time to time, and usually, when folks get out and actually scour the property, they find an old truck or tractor battery that they didn't realize was out there.

Doesn't sound exactly like 'nervous coccidiosis', but that would be in the differential.

Mold/mycotoxins pretty unlikely as a cause of neurologic signs.
 
Thanks for the response Lucky_P;

I feed a high-fiber ration in the self-feeders. There is only 300# DDG/ton in the ration and not
much grain. I don't push the calves too hard just shooting for about 2#/day gain. Fat 7-8 wts.
don't go over well with my buyers. I have been using community well water for years. I spoke
with the folks that make my minerals and they can and will add thiamin. You know how it is
when something like this happens you try to look at everything. Just a thought- what about
rabies? I have smelled skunks several times this spring and have seen a couple.

I checked the calf again at lunch and it is laying with its head up and is not near as agitated.
I will give another dose of thiamin and dex. later this afternoon. Thanks again for your help.
 
*smacks forehead* - Duh! Yes, you'd have to include Rabies in the list of possibilities.
I do see an occasional case of rabies in cattle - but it's been several years since I saw one. Still, it should at least be lurking in the back of one's mind, anytime you see an animal exhibiting bizarre or unusual neurologic signs.

There have been 4 cases of rabies diagnosed in horses out of southeastern MO in the last month or so. Not sure what the incidence is in LA, or what your principal wildlife reservoir is - here, it's skunks and bats; up the eastern seaboard and south of the TN River in my native AL, it's raccoons.
 
Lane are you still feeding those "Grain Pellets"?? They've got some aflatoxin and are loaded with fumonsin.
 
TB,
Did my grad school research project on fumonisins in pigs, but had to do extensive literature review on effects in other species. No significant evidence that they're a problem for cattle - though high levels can depress rate of gain - but that's about it.
Horses, on the other hand...2ppm Fumonisin B1 in the diet will kill the heck out of 'em - and if it'd been a horse or pony that was described doing that 'head-pressing' thing, fumonisins would be the first thing I'd be thinking about.
 
I had a bad exerience with mustard weed years ago. All about this time of year. It took several calves and about 2 years to figure out what caused it

They would end up in the corner just like you describe, push with their head, some would grind their teeth, all had sight problems some worse than other, loss of appetite and some recovered better than others, but never 100%
 
Lucky_P":8cyvulqh said:
TB,
Did my grad school research project on fumonisins in pigs, but had to do extensive literature review on effects in other species. No significant evidence that they're a problem for cattle - though high levels can depress rate of gain - but that's about it.
Horses, on the other hand...2ppm Fumonisin B1 in the diet will kill the heck out of 'em - and if it'd been a horse or pony that was described doing that 'head-pressing' thing, fumonisins would be the first thing I'd be thinking about.
Click to expand...
True on the horses. Horses wn't even touch those pellets I was asking Lane about. But being salvage elevator dust pellets they could be full of many toxins.
 
Yes sir I am still using the grain screening pellets. I have been feeding them for about 20 years and
thru several thousand head of calves. You do know that feedlots buy afla corn and can feed up to
several hundred ppb. Export elevators are only supposed to handle grain at less than 20ppb. The
screenings are bought from them.

Thanks for the other suggestions, doesn't listriosis usually cause them to circle.

Update- yesterday afternoon I gave another dose of thiamin and dex. The calf was laying in a corner
so I put a rope on him and pulled him around towards the pasture. My horse kind of got excited and
pulled him on his back so I got down, took off rope, and rolled him on his feet. He got up, walked off
slow and straight like nothing had ever happened. This morning he was still up and looked somewhat
OK. Guess the thiamin did the trick. Thanks all for the help.
 
Lane":1wh894qe said:
Yes sir I am still using the grain screening pellets. I have been feeding them for about 20 years and
thru several thousand head of calves. You do know that feedlots buy afla corn and can feed up to
several hundred ppb. Export elevators are only supposed to handle grain at less than 20ppb. The
screenings are bought from them.
Click to expand...

True..I think the max for feed lots is 200 ppm. Those pellets have an (or did when I used them) an aflatoxin warning of over 20 ppb aflatoxin as well as "do not feed to horses". (This was from PMG) Farmers who grow corn can feed it with aflatoxin into the thousands as long as they feed their own corn to their own cattle.
 

Latest posts

Top