Bull's gotta problem

[Wick]

My 4 yr. old bull seems to be loosing control in his hind end a bit. He is real unsteady walking to the point of sometimes falling and going down. Lies awhile then gets back up and goes a little further. It almost as if he is drunk from his middle on back. Did not seem hungry today. He was out with the bred cows. No noticiable external injury. He pees a little at a time but not normal and his manure looks like horse poop and has a snoty film like mucas in it. Not normal looking manure. Vet says probably has a spinal injury and could possibly treat with anti inflamiatory. He was being fed only hay, and has been treated just like the other 34 cows he was in with. They are all bred no open cows. Anyone seen this before and what you do for it other than hauling to butcher. Thanks Wick , PS there is about 8 inches snow here. Maybe a fall could have hurt him. I don't know.

 

[Bonsman]

Your vet is probably right. I had a calf with the same problem, treated him with Banamine and bottle fed him for a bit. I had to put him down. Did your vet feel his spine to see if he could find the injury? It could be like a "stinger" in football where your feeling is gone for a while. Watch for testicular degeneration and degeneration of the epididymis. Also look for any changes in his hair around his head and neck. Even if he recovers, he may be sub-fertile. I think you will need to rely on the advice of a good vet.

 

[TNcowman]

Had a 5 year old good bull a few years ago had similar problems. Vet came out and shot him with some steriods a couple of times. Figured he had some kind of spinal problems, even though no physical signs of injury. He got better after each shot for about a week and then started staggering and loosing feeling in his hind quarters again. Finally, had to put him down. My vets best guess was that after I administered my fall dewormer pour on to the bull (which was before the first frost) , some of the internal parisites died in his spinal cord, blocking spinal fluid from the rear of the bull. He said this was rare but had heard of it a few times.

 

[KNERSIE]

The manure fits the description of anaplasmosis to a T.

 

[Commercialfarmer]

Can't say it is impossible, but I would want to see pale gums since Anaplasmosis causes the weakness from destruction of red blood cells.

 

[KNERSIE]

Can't say it is impossible, but I would want to see pale gums since Anaplasmosis causes the weakness from destruction of red blood cells.

I guess that depends on the severity of the illness, we often get a subclinical form here that lasts for months without ever going into the agressive stage, not sure whether its just locational or not.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Easily could be pinched nerve in spine from falling.
When was the last time he was dewormed with a pour-on?

 

[Wick]

Came home from work and found the bull lying beside of round bale dead. This was Sat. Evening. I am thinking probably something going on inside. I never seen any common diagnosed problems out of him and it just kinda was like hey a little slow to eat Weds., brought in cattle Thursday evening to give bred heifers shots and he was slow and stumbling around then falling over. Called vet, could not get to vet on Friday, work Sat. day and Sat. evening he was dead. He was lying just like he layed down to rest and died. Weird. No discharge on either end or nothing. Just one of those things I guess. If you own cattle you gonna loose some, just didn''t think it would be a 2000 lb bull and a good one to. He's the one I had posted pics of long time ago. Anyway thanks for your input. Wick

 

[Angus Cowman]

Came home from work and found the bull lying beside of round bale dead. This was Sat. Evening. I am thinking probably something going on inside. I never seen any common diagnosed problems out of him and it just kinda was like hey a little slow to eat Weds., brought in cattle Thursday evening to give bred heifers shots and he was slow and stumbling around then falling over. Called vet, could not get to vet on Friday, work Sat. day and Sat. evening he was dead. He was lying just like he layed down to rest and died. Weird. No discharge on either end or nothing. Just one of those things I guess. If you own cattle you gonna loose some, just didn''t think it would be a 2000 lb bull and a good one to. He's the one I had posted pics of long time ago. Anyway thanks for your input. Wick

I think I would spend the money and have him posted

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

You didn't answer - have you recently dewormed him? Cattle grums migrate to the spine. If you dewormed him with a dewormer that kills grubs recently, it will cause the same symptoms (including death).

 

[Wick]

Negative he had not been wormed since spring.

 

[RPGalloway]

Wick, sorry to hear about your bull. We had the same thing happen. We had administered a internasal vacc. and lost one of our herd bulls. We have believe it was some form of blockage in the intestine, possibly caused by anaphylaxis. He was bloated, we tubed him to let off gas, but only had fluid. Then pumped in the mixture for frothy bloat. He was walking like he was drunk, kicking at his stomach, lying down and getting up frequently. You could tell that he was very uncomfortable. He ended up dying about 5 hours after trying to treat him. It figures, he had the best disposition one could ask for.

 

[donnaIL]

Sorry you lost your bull, we lost our 4 yr old bull yesterday. Looked like he was having a hard time getting up on Mon--Thur he wouldn't eat, found him dead at the hay ring yesterday afternoon. We did take him to Animal lab and he will be autospy next week. After reading a few posts it seems like this happens more than I thought.

 

[MosesR]

I really hate to hear that, sorry for the loss of your bull.

I do a pour on in the spring and put on fly ear tags along with their other shots. In the fall, I do another pour on and remove the fly tags. I also have out fly blocks starting in the spring and all summer. Should this prevent the bull and/or the cows from having this problem? :shock: