Friday morning i went out to the barn and found my best heifer dead. She was in a pen with 3 others the same size and they night before she was up and eating and acting fine. She didnt seem to be sick or anything and no signs of a fever. She also had no signs of being bloated that night or after we found her. We could not figure out what caused her to die. We took her to Purdue and they did a necropsy(sp) on her and found absesses in her liver and above her spleen. On was as big and an inch and a half in diameter. They came to a conclusion and one burst and got into a blood vessel which put her into shock and thats what killed her over night. We are still waiting for the tests to find out what might have caused this. I was just wondering if any of you have had this happen or have heard of it happening before
Heifer found dead
- Thread starter wpenrod
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Brandonm22
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I googled a little on liver abscesses and this is a more common condition in feedlot cattle. You had the heifers penned, how hard were you pushing them on feed?? Also sometimes liver abscesses are blamed on fusaform bacteria. Wait for the pathology, but if you aren't already you might want to ask the vet if you should give them free choice hay. Also ask if a series of fed or injected antibiotics would not be worthwhile.
She had as much pasture as she wanted and after the frost was given hay. She was not pushed hard on feed. limited amount feed twice daily. I was told by the man that did the necropsy not to worrie about the other that they are in no risk. im pretty anxious to get the test results back and see what it was actually caused by
Brandonm22
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I am totally flummoxed on this one then. If Blackleg is suspected they normally make an incision in the inside of either leg and can quickly identify the tell tale infection by sight. If he was even suspecting that he would have told you to vaccinate the other heifers immediately.
Brandonm22":3gvtlumk said:
There are various other Clostridium strains with different after death symptoms. I agree that I would have expected to hear vaccinate the others immediately without even waiting on test results.
I was told that the other heifers are in no danger what so ever so that leads me to think that it was not caused by black leg and they are also all current on their shots. Go figure the one that died was out best and cost the most.
Thanks for everyones information!
Thanks for everyones information!
HerefordSire
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wpenrod":2226ontk said:
They could have been spooked at night and the others trampled your favorite. This happened to me one time. I figured a coyote or two got in the corral and started chasing them.
They were all locked in the barn and when we found her say way laying with her feet under her just like they normaly lay. I dont think she was tampled or anything. I think it was just a freak bad luck thing with the absesses
milkmaid":221zcjnq said:
Never known too many other things that can cause a perfectly healthy looking "animal" (in this case, a bovine heifer calf) to just up and die over night. If there are, please enlighten me.
Dun - LOL. That's a relief too.
As to liver abcesses, from the Merck Vet Manual:
Simplified, liver abcesses can rupture and cause death. Based on what I'm seeing in other articles about liver abcesses, they're frequently caused by acidosis -- in short, you don't have to be pushing calves on feed as hard as a feedlot would to end up with acidosis and liver abcesses. To the original poster -- I would suggest re-evaluating your nutritional/feed management and also consider adding a buffer (sodium bicarbonate) to the feed ration.
To limomike -- liver abcesses; pulmonary (lung) abcesses; acidosis; bloat; botulism; choking; plant, mineral, chemical or metal poisoning; and quick pneumonia for starters. Pretty well anything that involves a rupture of an abcess internally instead of externally, anything that causes the rupture of a major vein or artery internally, anything that involves bacteria that emit toxins, and anything that changes the normal function of the animal's organs in a major way (like acidosis or poisoning) can cause a sudden death.
As to liver abcesses, from the Merck Vet Manual:
- Untoward sequelae include peritonitis after abscess rupture into the peritoneal cavity, and sudden death from an anaphylactic or toxic reaction when there is rupture of an abscess into hepatic blood vessels. Rupture into hepatic veins can also lead to thrombophlebitis of the posterior vena cava with thromboembolic disease, endocarditis, pulmonary thromboembolism, multiple pulmonary abscesses, and chronic suppurative pneumonia. Aneurysms of the pulmonary artery consequent to pulmonary thromboembolism may rupture into airways to result in hemoptysis, epistaxis, and death. Caudal vena caval thrombosis may also lead to portal hypertension with a resulting syndrome of hepatomegaly, ascites, and diarrhea.
Simplified, liver abcesses can rupture and cause death. Based on what I'm seeing in other articles about liver abcesses, they're frequently caused by acidosis -- in short, you don't have to be pushing calves on feed as hard as a feedlot would to end up with acidosis and liver abcesses. To the original poster -- I would suggest re-evaluating your nutritional/feed management and also consider adding a buffer (sodium bicarbonate) to the feed ration.
To limomike -- liver abcesses; pulmonary (lung) abcesses; acidosis; bloat; botulism; choking; plant, mineral, chemical or metal poisoning; and quick pneumonia for starters. Pretty well anything that involves a rupture of an abcess internally instead of externally, anything that causes the rupture of a major vein or artery internally, anything that involves bacteria that emit toxins, and anything that changes the normal function of the animal's organs in a major way (like acidosis or poisoning) can cause a sudden death.
