We have never had a case of Johne's but we just had a cow die and I am wondering if it might be Johne's. I have posted about this cow before, you may have seen it. This cow is one we bought as a heifer, she was about 6 months old. We bought her from a very reputable breeder and friend , as far as I know, she has never had Johne's on her farm either. This cow has had a couple calves, no problems. She turned 6 this April, and had a calf in July. The calf was a bull and has not grown since he was born. He is now about 5 months old and still looks like a newborn. He eats fine on the pasture, but I'm not sure how much milk he was actually getting from his mom, she wasn't giving alot. The cow was fine until this fall when she started getting really thin and had a humped back. My first thought was hardware but I really don't know, as her symptoms sound similar to Johne's. I wonder as well if the dwarfism of the calf has anything to do with the condition of the cow, or if it is just a genetics thing. Its not really possible at this point to get a sample to send away, she died during the night last weekend and it snowed, so there isn't any way to get manure for a sample. Would've called the vet but money is tight and its 100 bucks just to get him to come...Thoughts?
Johne's?
- Thread starter LoveMoo11
- Start date
Help Support CattleToday:
Well, you may never know . . . though you could test the bull calf. If he's positive, she most likely was. If he's negative, she may still have been positive.
It sounds to have many of the symptoms - did she have the runs? Loss of milk production I believe is a symptom too which would result in a dwarfed calf.
Like I said, check the website listed on the other thread or the Merck manual online.
It sounds to have many of the symptoms - did she have the runs? Loss of milk production I believe is a symptom too which would result in a dwarfed calf.
Like I said, check the website listed on the other thread or the Merck manual online.
hillsdown
Well-known member
Moo your calf is to young still to test for a definitive result, from what you are saying about your cow and what I remember reading it did not sound like Johne's but more likely an infection or even hardware..
Katie
Well-known member
You would have to wait till the calf is 2 or older to get an accurate result according to the websites and my vet. Best thing to do is cull the calf and test the rest of the herd blood test was 10.00 per head took about a week to get the results.
