Lost a healthy heifer in three days. What gives?

[lastcowboy32]

We are from Central NY.

This was the first winter that we kept our dairy herd in a "coverall" on a bedded pack. We've used traditional stancions and we've done packs indoors before, along with removing "plops" once a day and putting down a thin layer of dry bedding.

This type of pack was new to us, in that hay/bedding was being added; but plops weren't being removed. The animals stayed fairly clean; but they weren't spotless like before. This pack also would freeze hard on cold nights, due to the coverall only having about six foot high wind barrierson the ends.

We were feeding hay, free choice salt blocks and free choice water. No grain, as the cows in this group were dry.

Anyway. We have had a very cold winter this year; and I thought that the worst was over. During feeding about a week ago, I walked among the cows and preg-checked the old fashioned way with a quick fist bump on animals that would stand for me. I preg-checked "Princess" and found her handling a nice calf. Our breeding records indicated that she should have a month to go. She was in good shape, eating well and a little hard to sneak up on and preg check.

The next day, during feeding, I noticed that she had a runny nose, not much worse than I've seen here and there on a cow. She also was less active at feeding time and sort of hung back. By the next day, I brought a syringe of Tylan 200 with me. I had treated one or two stuffy noses like this already this winter. However, I needed to tail her to stand her up. The mucous was now green with some blood from her left nostril. She had no appetite. She did drink a little water that I carried to her. About three to five gallons. She went and stood with the other cows that were eating; but only sniffed at the hay. I gave her the antibiotics. Twelve hours later, could not stand, wouldn't drink water. Twelve hours after that, dead as a doornail on her side.

IBR? Lepto? Rabies? I don't know. Just seems way too fast.

 

[Rafter S]

I don't know what it could be, but I believe I'd have had her at the vet on the second day. Are any of the other ones showing any symptoms?

 

[branguscowgirl]

I have seen a very bad pneumonia get them in 24 hrs.. Weak and off feed one day and dead the next! One year a friend of mine lost several like that. I lost one. The vet had said that she saw a lot of cases. You will probably know, if you start to loose any more. I sure hope not though! Good luck.

 

[Stocker Steve]

I have seen a very bad pneumonia get them in 24 hrs.

It is called fast pneumonia here. I vaccinate for it. PHM usually.
Stress (like a weather change?) can bring it on and younger animals are at higher risk.
Vet can open her up and check the lungs for hard purple/black tissue.

 

[lastcowboy32]

Thankfully, no others have any symptoms. I wanted to start lead feeding anyway for the ones that are going to calve soon; so I started everyone on five pounds of grain everyday and went through with a vaccinating gun and gave everybody a Triangle 10 vaccination. I've been a little jumpy this winter. We had a case of horse rabies at a neighbor's farm about five miles away. We have alot of skunks around this year. They say to look for horses...not zebras...when you hear hooves...so it seems as though it could be just a virulent strain of pneumonia.

 

[dun]

ADMINISTRATION AND DOSAGE: Tylan 200 Injection is administered intramuscularly.

BEEF CATTLE AND NON-LACTATING DAIRY CATTLE-Inject intramuscularly 8 mg per pound of body weight one time daily (1 mL per 25 pounds). Treatment should be continued for 24 hours following remission of disease signs, not to exceed 5 days. Do not inject more than 10 mL per site

I haven;t heard of anyone using Tylan for pneumonia in cattle in years. There are so many much better antibiotics available (from your vet). It was the hot deal 40 years ago, better then combiotic.

 

[cowgirl8]

You mentioned rabies. We had a calf get rabies, our whole family had to get shots. We would have never known this calf had rabies, it just got lethargic and died(happens sometimes to orphaned calves). When it started getting sick i was teaching it to eat grain. Had my hand in its mouth every day until a few days before it died. I would have gotten rabies, i had fresh open cuts on my hands from working cows at that time. I was the only one handling the calf, but just in case someone didnt remember messing with it or letting the dog lick them, all of us got shots.
The way we found out it had rabies is about a couple months before it died, i picked up a stray dog on the side of the road. She had been sitting there a couple days, i couldnt stand seeing it there another day and brought her home. Turns out the dog was blind, had a old broken shoulder(frozen joint) and a gimpy back leg. She technically only had 2 legs so she couldnt move around good. When i got her at the house she would wander around outside the yard where the mule and donkey were. They would go after her so i locked her up with the calf. About a month before they showed signs, we did find a dead skunk in the stables, but that wasnt all that unusual...She showed signs of rabies first. She went down hill fast and we took her to the vet. He suspected maybe rabies so we had her head sent off, then the calf died before we got the results. Sent its head off and it was rabid too....I think to this day that if i hadnt picked up that blind dog we would have never known that calf had rabies and well, my family would wonder where i got it. Or, if i had decided to keep the dog( i was thinking we wouldnt) and had her vaccinated she wouldnt have gotten rabies but the calf would. One time i'm glad i procrastinated...lol
The dog and calf had dumb rabies. They showed no signs of aggression. The dog did walk around howling the day before she went comatose. The calf just got droopy and progressively went downhill. No foaming at the mouth, nothing to point to rabies.

 

[Bez__]

I would just like to know why you would not have discussed this with a veterinarian?

Cost benefit analysis shows it would have paid you to do so.

This happens on a regular basis on these boards - someone loses an animal or has a sick one and comes here to a total group of strangers for advice.

Is there a reason you did not do this?

Just curious

Bez

 

[lastcowboy32]

Cost benefits analysis only works out if the vet saves the animal or prevents future infections.

This animal wasn't going to be saved.

I blame myself more for the conditions that led to this than anything else. I did discuss the antibiotic with a vet and alternatives weren't suggested.

I also described the symptoms to a vet.

There is quite a bit of experiential knowledge here that one vet may not have.

 

[branguscowgirl]

The only other thing that I have seen with the nasal discharge as you described, (but not with sudden death) is an infected tooth that the infection spread to the sinus cavity. The puss was limited to the infected side. Antibiotics (45 days worth) did not clear it until tooth was removed.

 

[lastcowboy32]

In the spirit of full disclosure, I should elaborate on my vet experience. At a different farm, my wife and I called the vet alot. Standard stuff, like preg checks and milk fever came out OK. Pneumonia? Seemed as though they could prolong it; but not really cure it. Little sniffles and stuff? No problem; but the cows may have come through that anyway. (Read about mastitis. Much of it self-resolves; so many times, you think a drug cured it; but it was going away anyway.) Through that, I had a few instances of high bills and dead cows. I also got a speech every time about why I should feed milk replacer as opposed to spare milk from the cows. (Not diseased milk, just spare milk.) Tge last straw was a cat that I needed spayed. They charged me three times what I could have it done for at another vet. I was out of work and complained; but I did pay the bill. Since then, seems like they don't want to talk to me. The other large animal vet in the area isn't taking new patients. So, what I have is a friend who has her own dairy herd and a small animal practice. She does my dogs and cats for spaying, neutering and such; and she gets me medications for my cows, along with advice. Naybe the moral of the story...along with keeping your animals on a high plane of nutrition...is kiss your large animal vet's behind; because he/she may be your only option.

 

[branguscowgirl]

It sure helps to have A GOOD VET. Otherwise you are just throwing your money away. I know that I have had vets in the past, and felt that I had more common sense about what was going on with the animal than they did. Not a good feeling! Sounds like large animal vets are few and far between where you are at. Good luck with the rest of your cattle, hope no one else gets sick.

 

[lastcowboy32]

I think that they were good vets. They did what we asked them to do. The philosophical differences about milk replacer vs milk are just that: philosophical differences. The argument over the cat spaying was also a philosophical difference. I had a stray cat foisted on me. Good cat...just not spayed. I just wanted it spayed and vaccinated so that it could hang out in the barn. They insisted on treating the job like dome spoiled house cat with pre-visits, bloodwork...the works. Ended up being three hundred bucks. I could have had it done for a hundred. I never complained about the cow bills; but I did learn to prevent what I could and only call if I thought that they could help.
I do think that they mismanaged a prolapsed uterus once. Instead of just putting it back in with the cow standing, as my father's vet used to do, they insisted on us wrestling the cow to the ground and using come-a-longs to stretch her legs apart. She burst a uterine artery in the struggle...poof! Dead cow. Maybe the textbook says to do it that way; but if the cow is strong enough to fight you tooth and nail; but she would stand peacefully....maybe go with the flow.

For a few years now, I've gotten along without them by keeping animals warm, fed well and well ventilated...along with salt, minerals and a weekly dose of black oil sunflower seeds...about a pound per cow.

I feel as though my problems this year are more attributed to the cold and lack of grain/sunflower seeds.

They've been on just five pounds of grain supplemented with their hay for a week now; and they have much more pep and almost run me over.

If I have to use the coverall again next year, I definitely want to make changes such as vaccinating in the fall before confinement and keeping their body condition higher. I feel that the better conditions will obviate the need for a vet or this discussion again next year.