summer pneumonia/allergies in mature cows

[angusdave63]

i have a 2 and 3 year old half sister cows, that have had a hard time this summer with all the heat.more than the other cows, as well as runny noses, from time to time, and hard breathing and sneezing from time to time, my vet called it summer pneumonia/ allergies. has anyone had this in cows and how did you make out with .i was wondering if i put them in the fall calving herd would it make summers easier on them. both cows seemed to get along fine last year, both bred quickly, and the 3 year weaned a very nice bull calf and bred back on time. i am just tired of culling cows all the time. these are comercial cows not breeding stock and there calves would be terminal thanks David

 

[Sir Loin]

angusdave63

First off: Where are you located?

Second, your vet is right, climatic conditions can cause "summer pneumonia/ allergies".
The real question is why? And the same can be said for pinkeye.
Why does it effect some cattle and not others in the same herd?

IMO Cattle should be able to ward off most of these type ailments before they become noticeable much less life threading .
I believe that many of the posts, like yours, are really only the symptom and not the real problem.
I believe the real problem lies with a compromised immune system, not the invasion of a bacteria or virus.
I believe the real problem is hereditary and/or dietary.

As for what you should do, I will leave that up to the pill pushers. I'm more interested in debating the real cause of your problem, not the symptoms of your problem.

Have you any idea what would cause these two cows to have a compromised immune system?
Are they from same momma and 2 different bulls?
Where did you get them?

Anyone's opinion is more then welcome.
SL

 

[angusdave63]

i am located in east central indiana. and the cows are by the same bull, they are on fescue pasture could that be part of the problem.

 

[angusdave63]

i bought them as yearling from a local angus breeder

 

[Sir Loin]

Re:

fescue pasture

BINGO! You may be dealing with fescue toxicity.
They may have a perfectly good immune system and the toxicity is over whelming it.
Google: Cattle, fescue toxicity

What else are you feeding them?
SL
Edited to add:
Here is a sight you should read in its entirety.
http://hayandforage.com/hay/0301-fend-fescue-toxicity/

Beyond the most obvious physical sign of toxicosis — fescue foot or hoof loss due to lack of blood flow to the foot — there are many less visible symptoms, including narrowed blood vessels, high body temperature, increased respiration, low heart rate and suppressed immune system. All of these changes lead to less milk production, reduced forage intake, low rate of gain and reproductive problems.

 

[regolith]

Similar to summer catarrh? Google is being stupid today but :

Some recovered cows have a persistent snoring respiration and nasal discharge and inclination to push sticks up their noses.

http://home.vetservice.co.nz/home/index ... &Itemid=40
In spite of what the link says, summer cattarh is *not* IBR and vaccination is of limited effectiveness.

From my own observations I'd consider it infectious between cows, though not all vets I've spoken to agree (I've heard the 'allergies' explanation used) and my grazier says it affects some farmer's heifers year after year but not others - even when mixed in the same group. It's in my herd. Any cow with it is one strike on the cull list (meaning if she develops mastitis or gets in calf late or any other fault, she's gone).

 

[slick4591]

I've had two with summer pneumonia. Treated them with Nuflor and they got over it. My vet attributed it to our heat and dusty conditions. He also told me that he had a lot of cases of it and many were not responding to treatment.

 

[angusdave63]

i think it is the fescue problem, i am supplementing them with round bales of alfalfa right now, to go with the pasture. when i wean there calves in a couple weeks i will bring the 2 problem cows home. my pasture here is endophite free, as for the other pasture i am going to frost seed white clover in it. i frost seeded red clover this spring and it is starting to come on . i think with some time away from the infected pasture they should recover thanks for the help David

 

[cabanela]

What are some long term after effects of pneumonia? I am 33 yeas old. I had mycoplasma pneumonia 3 months ago. Was hospitalized for 5 days, got lots of antibiotics, steroids, etc. In turn developed a terrible case of thrush. More pills etc. Took me about a month or 2 to feel back to normal. Was wondering if there are any general long term side effects? Coughing, recurrence, etc. It seems I sweat more than I used to.

 

[dun]

What are some long term after effects of pneumonia? I am 33 yeas old. I had mycoplasma pneumonia 3 months ago. Was hospitalized for 5 days, got lots of antibiotics, steroids, etc. In turn developed a terrible case of thrush. More pills etc. Took me about a month or 2 to feel back to normal. Was wondering if there are any general long term side effects? Coughing, recurrence, etc. It seems I sweat more than I used to.

Probably mostly depends on how much scarring in your lungs. I had legeionairs disease 20 years ago and when they checked my lunge capacity it was 25%. Had it checked (for a different reason) a month ago and now it's up to 80%.

 

[angie1]

i have a 2 and 3 year old half sister cows, that have had a hard time this summer with all the heat.more than the other cows, as well as runny noses, from time to time, and hard breathing and sneezing from time to time, my vet called it summer pneumonia/ allergies. has anyone had this in cows and how did you make out with .i was wondering if i put them in the fall calving herd would it make summers easier on them. both cows seemed to get along fine last year, both bred quickly, and the 3 year weaned a very nice bull calf and bred back on time. i am just tired of culling cows all the time. these are comercial cows not breeding stock and there calves would be terminal thanks David

I had a calf get pneumonia pretty bad (actually it killed the calf). Vet said that if the calf lived through the pneumonia that it would struggle in the summer heat due to scarring in the lungs, and may need to be put in a shed or get an anti-inflammatory on real hot days. I am thinking your "hot" is more so than ours up here, and more of an issue. He predicted it would be a life long problem for this calf if she made it to adulthood. He also felt she would be a poor do-er, not grow as big as the others or maintain weight as well. I don't know if that is the case for yours or not. Maybe it is why the ranchers sold this pair to you? I would like to think that that is not so, but who knows. Fall calving may not be a good idea for them, would be easier for them if they could drop those babies before the heat of the summer. I would not worry so much about it being a genetic issue, but that's just me. Sounds like they are doing their jobs and earning their keep.

 

[vclavin]

We used to have trouble with dust pneumonia and the dust didn't help the eyes either. We started putting bales of hay under their favorite trees to help and they get peumonia and pink eye vaccines every year. Only 1 or so now gets a slight runny nose and a few eyes water. Doc said pink eye can be expected at least once every 5 years. Gotta a few more years to go lol
Valerie
PS. Doc said this year he's had an unusually high number of calves die from pneumonia before weaning, they had not been vaccinated as babies, those that had are OK

 

[Stocker Steve]

i have a 2 and 3 year old half sister cows, that have had a hard time this summer with all the heat.more than the other cows, as well as runny noses, from time to time, and hard breathing and sneezing from time to time, my vet called it summer pneumonia/ allergies. has anyone had this in cows and how did you make out with .

Pneumonia can be common with relocated cows. Seems like the move is more stressful than we realize, and so they can get sick and die in a hurry.
No sure about allergies. Sounds like they may have lung damage.

 

[Nesikep]

Many minerals are involved in the immune system, I know that copper is certainly one, any of them have any streaking (in solid red coats) or red in what should be black?