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Cattle Health

Herd health and individual cattle health is important when raising cattle, because a producer needs to know what to do and how to treat a bovine that is sick or injured. There are many diseases and health concerns in the field of raising cattle, and they can be asked and answered here. Be sure to always consult your local licensed large animal veterinarian with concerns about your animals. Your vet is your best source of information.

500 Questions

Is there a cure for mastitis in cows?

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Asked by Wiki User

Mint creams that are applied to the skin of the udder, usually twice a day. Brands include Udder Comfort.

How do you treat a cow with diseases?

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Asked by Wiki User

Well yeah medicine from a vet is good but its to expensive. But oil from your car that you just change. Take you animal a bath in car oil and leave him outside in the heat. When he starts iching that means it is working. Then like 3 to 4 hours later take him a bath and the animal will be just like new.

Why do cows spit out their cud?

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Asked by Wiki User

Spitting out cud is one of the first signs of disease in cattle. It is often indicative of abscesses or bad teeth. It is also associated with diseases such as tick fever and anaplasmosis.

How do you treat a calf with broken jaw?

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Asked by Wiki User

The short answer is, you don't; mature horses with broken weight-bearing leg bones do not heal well (or at all), are generally in excruciating amounts of pain and are often a danger to themselves or their handlers because they panic due to being restrained. However, a young foal (6 months old or younger) with a greenstick fracture or a fracture of a non-weight-bearing bone may be able to have the fracture reduced and tolerate corrective equipment (cast, splint, etc.) until the bone heals.

This is where the folk wisdom of shooting (ie, mercy killing) a horse with a broken leg comes from: there is little that can be done to keep the horse safe, comfortable and immobile for the months it would take for the bone to heal up enough to support the animal's weight.

I have seen this tried, on a six year old Arabian stallion with a compound open fracture of the proximal radius. He freaked out when put into a body sling to help support his weight and broke an equine vet resident's ribs. He had multiple surgeries to realign the bone fragments, put antibiotics into the break site to prevent bone infection, pull out dead bone fragments and put transverse supporting pins through the distal humerus. The owner spent over $10,000 on surgeries, X-rays, hospitalization and daily care, the break never healed and the stallion was eventually euthanized.

Can a cow get sick from eating cactus?

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Asked by Wiki User

The cactus plant can hurt a human with sharp thorns, spines, quills or needles. It also can hurt a human with its stored water. That water may be toxic to drink.

What happens if you give an intramuscular injection on cow incorrect?

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Asked by Wiki User

It depends on what you mean by "incorrect." If you gave a cow an IM injection and injected it in the wrong site, it won't matter. But, if you gave an IM injection under the skin instead or in a blood vessel, it may make the solution you injected less effective than what was instructed on the bottle.

Thus, let it be a lesson to you to always read the label and pay attention to where the best injection sites are. Don't dwell on it: just take it as a lesson learned and move on.

When should you wash a cow?

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Asked by Wiki User

You wash a calf when you want to. You always wash a calf when you are going to show her at a fair. But you can wash her any other time too.

Can cow feces and blood infect humans?

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Asked by Aabbeell

If it's from a perfectly healthy cow, no. If it's from a cow that has a zoonotic disease that can be spread through its blood and/or feces, then yes. But there is no recorded or known disease that is liable to cause such health problems for humans.

Why will a cow that is healthy lie down and not stand back up?

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Asked by Wiki User

AnswerIf the cow isn't standing up then it's not healthy and you should be observing it's legs (feeling for injury or, looking for sores.) Cows will lay down off and on (as I'm sure you know) but to lay down all the time is injurious to the cow. I did research on this and even I was surprised at how labor intensive raising cows are especially for milking. I hope the following helps you:

Cow comfort is a very important issue for dairy producers today. A 1996 study by the National Animal Health Monitoring System (For Collins, CO) reported the top 4 reasons given for culling cows were, in order:

reproductive problems, udder or mastitis problems, poor production and lameness and injury. Together, these factors accounted for over 90% of culling activity. Cows culled for the reasons listed other than poor production are considered revoluntary culls. When many or most cows leave a herd involuntarily, the potential for owners to generate a profit, improve their herds, and expand their operations is severely limited.

POOR STALL DESIGN is rivaled only by poor air quality as the major environmental culprit behind many of these problems. Environmental mastitis and teat injuries are definitely attributable to the condition of stalls. Lameness and injury can be directly caused by stall conditions, and may be an underlying cause of breeding and production problems if cows don'ts[sic] want to stand when in heat or at the bunk. Stalls must be clean, dry and comfortable!

OF UTMOST IMPORTANCE, is ensuring that cows have the opportunity to lie down and rise up easily in freestalls by providing lunge space. (When cows get up, their body forges ahead, so there needs to be more space for this action) Stall dimensions and placement of other stall features, such as the brisket board and neck rail, should be suited to the more productive animals that are being house[sic]. Espifications are readily available for mature Holstein cows and have also been developed for younger cattle, different breeds, and cows with special needs.

CHOICE BEDDING material and design of the stall are important considerations as well. The lying surface must have adequate cushion and should have fresh bedding added regularly to keep the stall clean and dry, and to prevent cows from injury, especially to their hocks. A simple stall bed made of a deep layer of sand is the preferred choice if clean sand can be obtained at a reasonable price and handling of sand-laden manure will not be a significant ordeal. A quality stall bed can be achieved using mattress materials where sand is not considered a viable option. Periodic maintenance of the stalls is important for long-term use.

Producers can achieve significant improvement in their freestalls by retrofitting current facilities or by incorporating proper designs into the construction of new barns. It pays to know what partition designs are appropriate for different circumstances. In new construction it is preferable to provide forward lunge space. In head-to-head stall arrangements, this can be accomplished by leaving the stall front completely open and utilizing shared lunge space. For stalls in other arrangements, especially in rows along the barn exterior, consider making the stalls longer (close to 8'-6").

CURB HEIGHT should be kept as short as possible without letting manure be deposited into the rear of stalls while cleaning alleys (depends on frequency of cleaning). If a mattress is used, the total step into the stall will usually be higher than the curb height. Allow for the incread[sic] (typically 4 inches) in all other vertical dimensions that are referenced from the top of the curb. The positions of the brisket board and the neck rail are both referenced from the curb. These two features and their proper placement are essential for encouraging cows to lie correctly in the stall.

Remember to consider cow comfort in your planning. Select freestall designs to minimize cow contact and that prioritize constuction that is firm, but flexible, over rigidly solid constuction. Do not pinch pennies in this regard if it means cow comfort will be compromised by an inferior design.

NOTE: IF INTEREST IN THESE STALL DESIGNS PLEASE GO TO:

http://dairy.osu.edu/bdnews/v001iss02.htm

Hope this helps. Even if you aren't raising dairy cows this is good information and it's a MUST to check the hocks of the cow and be sure there are no injuries to the legs, or problems with the teets.

Marcy

What does it mean when a cow drools a lot?

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Asked by Wiki User

They're hungry, bored, thirsty or just tired.

Can cows get hemorrhoids?

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Asked by Wiki User

Yes, cows can get constipated, especially when they are sick. However, constipation is more common in calves than fully grown cows.

What effect can rust have on animals?

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Asked by Wiki User

Well, rust is really iron that has been oxidized, remember. It doesn't really have much of an adverse effect on animals, but if it is consumed in a large piece, it could puncture a stomach or intestinal wall and cause serious infection.

What causes a cows hoof to rot?

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Asked by Wiki User

Bacteria can enter a crack or wound in the animal's foot, be it in the hoof bone or the space between the hooves, and start to multiply, creating an infection. This infection can cause the hoof to "rot" if not treated with antibiotics and penicillin as soon as possible.

When do cattle get vaccinations?

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Asked by Wiki User

Calves get vaccinations between 2 weeks and 8 weeks of age, and again when they're 6 to 8 months old, either before weaning (as pre-conditioning) or during weaning. Cows are usually vaccinated twice a year: once 3 weeks prior to calving, and again a few weeks after calving. Bulls are vaccinated usually once a year.

What virus causes foot and mouth disease in cattle?

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Asked by Wiki User

It's caused by a virus. A rather highly contagious virus. It's not easily transmittable to humans, but if an outbreak occurred, it could be highly detrimental to the agriculture industry.

Is black leg in horses the same in cattle?

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Asked by Wiki User

Blackleg is a bacteria causing spore that can infect some pastures. If the horse (or other cattle) ingests it or gets it in a wound, it can quickly become fatal. The animal can die in 48-72 hours of becoming infected. There are vaccinations available.

How long does it take cattle to recover from pneumonia?

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Asked by Wiki User

If you fail to treat the calf it will keep coughing until it dies or recovers by itself, which could last weeks. If you treat the calf right away with the appropriate antibiotics, the cough should be gone in a few days.

Do cows go through complete metamorphosis?

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Asked by Wiki User

No a cow grows and matures, metamorphosis is an abrubted change from two forms like tadpole to frog

Will a pregnant cow abort when a bull mounts her?

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Asked by Talasterisks

Only if the cow that they're mounting is in heat.

Does Ecoli harm cows?

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Asked by Wiki User

E. coli, including the species that normally live in the intestines of cattle and cause severe illness in humans, is very susceptible to freezing, intense heat (hence why hamburgers should be cooked to 145 degrees F before being eaten), most detergents (ie, soap and water), extremes in pH (very acidic or very alkaline), drying out and irradiation. Most of these interventions, with the exception of alkaline application and irradiation) are used to reduce or eliminate E. coli on beef from cows slaughtered in the US.

Can cows transmit any diseases to horses if they are stabled next to each other?

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Asked by Wiki User

No, cattle and cows are often kept together with no problems. If there where any risk of horses catching a disease from cattle than they would not enter horses in gaming classes with cattle (calf roping, team penning etc).

Can humans get mad cow disease?

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Asked by Wiki User

People do not get Mad Cow Disease.

No human can get mad cow disease but humans can be infected by eating meat from a contaminated cow that has mad cow disease.

The disease in people that has been associated with humans is called variant Creutzfeldt Jakob disease (vCJD) that is also a progressive fatal neurological disease.

What is the hemoglobin content in calf?

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Asked by Wiki User

Haemoglobin is a substance on the red blood cells that is capable of carrying oxygen from the longs to other parts of the body.