hardware

[milkmaid]

What's the chances of hardware resembling pneumonia? Cow's acting normal otherwise, vet said he could hear a rattle in her lungs that he felt sounded like pneumonia, but 3 days of antibiotics didn't result in any change and she's still down on milk and has dropped a noticable amount of weight.

:???:

Thanks ;-)

 

[dun]

The few cases of hardware that I've dealt with, the cows had a cough, depressed temeprature and a hunched up back, some to a greater or lessor degree then others. One cow that had a cough but no other sympton other then loosing weight hada foxtail, actaully a whole cluster of them, in one lung.

dun

 

[farmwife]

The only hardware that I have seen the animal also exhibits an excessive amount of saliva and drainage from the nose.

 

[Roadapple]

Hardware involves the reticulum,(second stomach) The reticulum acts as a trap for foreign objects. A sharp object in the reticulum can travel toward the lung cavity, where it can create a condition almost identical with pneumonia. An animal suddenly davelopes a lack of appetite, a drop in milk production, abdominal pain, and/or a slowness in movement. A symptom is when they walk downhill they'll grunt as if in pain, which they are. The temp. is slightly elevated, there may be shallow breathing, the pulse is increased, and often will kick at their stomach. Run her up on an elevation with her front feet and let her stand there for a while and see if she acts more relieved. I would stick a magnet in her and cut back on her feed for awhile and keep giving antibiotics to control infection. Had one once, we put her in chute stuck magnet in her and she walked out as if nothing was wrong. Went right to bunk and started eating, so treatment can be pretty dramatic. Good luck with her.

 

[ENNOT]

We think we lost one to hardware this spring. Very sudden weight loss, stood around all humped up, drooled, hard breathing, coughed when she would move,........

She was very inactive, would move to get her loaded in the trailer and into the corral, but it was very laboring for her. We dropped a magnet in her, filled her full of LA-200 & Banamine for the pain and to see if it was something else. She went a couple of days and we put her down.

This cow was the poster child for hardware, according to the vet. As near as we can figure, there must have been a bolt or something in the hay??????????

The vet said it is really hard to tell for sure if it is hardware and that they have a slim chance of making it.

 

[Ratfish]

That's a bit scary, I may want to devise some way to efficiently pass a high-powered magnet through broken bales we put out this winter. When you're not baling your own, you never know what's in them.

 

[dun]

That's a bit scary, I may want to devise some way to efficiently pass a high-powered magnet through broken bales we put out this winter. When you're not baling your own, you never know what's in them.

The easiest way is to just put a magnet in all of the cows that you'll be keeping and feeding hay to. It's a one shot deal and when you butcher the cow you can get it back, clean it up and drop it into another one.

dun

 

[AngusLimoX]

That's a bit scary, I may want to devise some way to efficiently pass a high-powered magnet through broken bales we put out this winter. When you're not baling your own, you never know what's in them.

The easiest way is to just put a magnet in all of the cows that you'll be keeping and feeding hay to. It's a one shot deal and when you butcher the cow you can get it back, clean it up and drop it into another one.

dun

Alot of these dairy girls are worth a big buck, would it not be standard practice to throw a magnet in them? Or maybe this one failed, if it is hardware. Sometimes hardware takes the blame when it shouldn't in a lot of cases.

Any heifers/bull being kept here get a magnet at vacc time, just part of the drill, I think they are $4 for the good ones.

I keep forgetting to ask for my magnets back at the abbatoir! :lol: Thieving darned cows. :lol:

 

[milkmaid]

Well thanks for the responses, ya'll. The cow in question went down and was shot... so there the story ends. :?