Dead cattle

[cumminspuller]

A friend of mine just called me and said he had 5 cows to die yesterday. Age was 2 months to 8 years. Registered Angus. All were healthy on the outside. He went out yesterday morning and found 4. A short time later the 5th one died. The 5th one was weak and eyes glazed over when he found it just before it died. No other obvious symptoms. I'm very green on knowing my diaseses in cattle. Do any of you have any idea of what could have happened? Next question, is there any kind of a blood test that would show something that might be wrong with the others before they die if they are going to. Thanks

 

[Stocker Steve]

Usually call a vet, and they look for a toxin, open some deads up, pull samples for lab testing.

 

[Buck Randall]

Your friend needs a vet.

 

[Nesikep]

blackleg? Vet ASAP!

 

[bulldog04]

A friend of mine just called me and said he had 5 cows to die yesterday. Age was 2 months to 8 years. Registered Angus. All were healthy on the outside. He went out yesterday morning and found 4. A short time later the 5th one died. The 5th one was weak and eyes glazed over when he found it just before it died. No other obvious symptoms. I'm very green on knowing my diaseses in cattle. Do any of you have any idea of what could have happened? Next question, is there any kind of a blood test that would show something that might be wrong with the others before they die if they are going to. Thanks

If I was you I would get all my cows up and vaccinate ASAP. Even if they are up to date I would give them their annual booster

 

[wbvs58]

Yes get a vet in quickly. Probably the delay already he would have lost vital evidence through decomposition.

Ken

 

[SBMF 2015]

Get not only the vet involved, but also contact a nutritionist.
Try making a list of what has happened in the past week. Different feed, thunder storm, is the pasture greening up, clostridials, have they trimmed any trees or shrubs and piled them where the cattle can get to it, have the neighbors sprayed any fields adjacent to where the cattle were, is there a creek that runs through the pasture?
Where were the cattle found? All together or spread out?
Just some things to start with. Good Luck. Please keep us updated.

 

[Caustic Burno]

blackleg? Vet ASAP!

Blackleg usually happens 6 months or older. Back legs should feel like a bag of Fritos.
Without seeing the bovine it's just a guess as others have said he needs a vet. I am inclined as others to some kind toxins.

 

[farmerjan]

If I found 4 dead animals, and another down with eyes glazed over, I would be on the phone to the VET RIGHT THAT MINUTE. It could be blackleg, but seldom would you see it in the different ages all at once like that. I would be much more inclined to think some sort of toxin, poisonous plant, or something such as SBMF suggested. Needs to be addressed immediately.

 

[A.J.]

Sorry to hear that. As others have said I would call vet ASAP, and I would suspect poisoning of some type. Guy up the road lost 6 cows in a matter of days. Seemed like they just dropped
Dead in the middle of his field without any sign of struggle. They eventually found the lady he leases his farm from had trimmed some Japanese yew in her yard and had dumped the clippings over the fence back in the summer, and the cows had been eating on them.
Amazing how much trouble they can get into sometimes... if I was your friend I would try to move the cows to another field if possible until
He can verify what the issue is. I would walk around the field and look for anything that might be toxic and also have the hay analyzed if he's feeding hay to make sure it's not high in nitrates or has something toxic in it,
And check their water source.

 

[Lbass]

Grass tetany is a possibility, although i think it usually affects older cattle.

Wild guess, dry hay- nitrates, wet haylage-botulism...

Worth all of 2 cents, a good vet is worth a lot more than my opinion.

 

[cowgirl8]

What kind of hay were they feeding? If it was dalis grass and they feed in one spot they could be eating seeds. I had 4 bloat all at once and was lucky to have driven up on them while they were still alive. I saved them all. Another hour and I would have had 4 dead cows...

 

[Lucky_P]

Yep. With that many of varied ages all dead BAM! at one time... it's almost got to be a toxin - and most likely high nitrates or cyanide. He needed to have had a veterinarian out ASAP, or gotten some of those deads to the veterinary diagnostic lab pronto.

The Japanese yew deal is very common - often neighbors(or sometimes the owner themselves) think they're giving the cows a 'treat' by throwing clippings over the fence to them. Disaster is in the offing... And... old, dead, brown yew shrubs or clippings will kill them just like a fresh green one... and don't think the darned cows won't eat 'em!
Saw one case where a farmer asked his wife to go put out a bag of salt for the cows, and she unknowingly filled the feeder with ammonium nitrate fertilizer... soon had dead cows piled up all around the mineral feeder.
Botulism... a possibility, but usually losses are spread out and animals don't just drop over dead with no sign of abnormality; usually takes 'em several days to die.

While we're throwing out possibilities...
Any chance of lightning strike, downed powerline, or electrical wire to outbuilding shorting out on metal siding and electrifying the ground, etc., causing electrocution? Have seen all three of those scenarios on more than one occasion, and if it's a live-wire deal, people in the area are at risk!
And... since the most common things happen most often... gotta consider this option... you/he say they were 'healthy on the outside'... but by any chance are they are really a starvation case? Down here, the old saw is, "February breaks 'em, March takes 'em"... if they've toughed the winter through on nothing but low quality hay, sometimes they just 'run out of gas' with green grass just around the corner. Seen it happen way too many times over the past 35 years... and folks want to claim that there's some pathogen or toxin in the hay, when it's just... not enough energy or protein to support life. Again, it would be unusual to have 5 go down and die overnight from starvation... but it could happen.
And... I've seen animals dead for several days that the less-than-observant owner didn't notice... and all of a sudden, "OMG these all died last night!" If you're not actually LOOKING at your cows every day, it can happen - I know... I've been that guy.

 

[Hereford2]

I think the O.P has left the building.

 

[cumminspuller]

I think the O.P has left the building.

No Hereford2 I'm still alive. Just haven't been able to get to a computer.

Thanks for all of the replys. He has talked with a vet. I haven't heard what the results were yet though. No spraying has been done close by. No trees/bushes cut or piled in the pasture. They put up well cared for hay and sell a pile of it. I wouldn't think it had many weeds in it. Water is a pond and county water in a trough.

 

[Redgully]

Be sure to let us know, I'm intrigued.

 

[tallylittle]

This sounds like you need to send the remaining cows to your vet. They either need a vaccine or a serious med.

 

[VaCowman]

I know a guy down the road a piece from me had about a dozen cows die in a short period of time. Culprit: Theileria orientalis

 

[Lucky_P]

I'd seen reports of Theileriosis over your way...associated w/ that introduced Asian Longhorned tick..
We saw an occasional, isolated case of T.buffeli (same as T.orientalis) in cattle here in western KY 15 yrs or so ago, and my former colleagues at UofMO vet diagnostic lab published a report on a herd infection with T.buffeli some years back.