Cattle Health

Yes. Cattle that consume this plant can develop paresis, loss of coordination, blindness and even death.

Diarrhea, or scours, occurs if there's a digestive upset the calf is experiencing, such as from bacterial or viral infection or coccidial infection. Anything, really, can cause a calf to scour, whether it's environmental stressers or parasites or, as mentioned, exposure to bacteria in the gut. Either way, the calf will need to be given electrolytes to prevent dehydration--even if he's on milk--and quarantined so that if he has an infection that is contagious to other calves, he won't give it to them either. You will have to contact your vet so that some tests can be done to see what's making him scour, why and what can be done about it.

Usually most calves are vaccinated when they are a bit older than a day to two days of age. There's nothing that says you can't, however. You will need to revaccinate them when they are around 4 to 6 months of age.

Lepto is a disease which will cause severe spikes in fever, anorexia, anemia, jaundice, shortness of breath from congestion of the lungs and hemoglobin in the urine (or bloody urine) in calves. Fatalities in calves is not common, as often they will recover after 48 to 72 hours afterwards.

In older cattle, more obvious in dairy cattle than beef cattle, it will cause a drop in milk production and abnormal milk. Milk comes out thick, yellow, blood-tinged with thick clots and a high somatic cell count. Milk production can drop anywhere from 10 to 75%, depending on the strain. The udder is often soft and flabby, unique to leptospirosis. Cows will recover normal milk production after 10 to 14 days, though some cows that have had a severe drop in production often won't recover back to normal production during that lactation cycle.

The chronic form of Leptospirosis in cattle occurs in the form of stillbirths and abortions. Abortions are most common to occur during the third trimester of pregnancy. An "abortion storm" is often the primary indicator that leptospirosis infection is prevalent in the herd. Abortions mostly occur to bred heifers and can be sporadic. Leptospirosis can also cause infertility due to the possible consequence of infection in the uterus and oviducts.

For more information, please see the related link below.

Could be anything, really. At this point its best to see your veterinarian to see what's wrong with your steer and see what can be done to help him.

It is a genetic disorder found mainly in Shorthorns, and tends to crop up especially if a producer has a closed herd or TH-positive dams and sires. TH stands for Tibial Hemimelia, which is a fatal condition where a calf is born with deformed legs and the tibial bone is completely missing.

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Cattle (and horses) become quite lame (or rather, cannot stand normally on their four feet and tend to limp when they walk), and get inflammation, and pain in their afflicted hooves. Founder is a layman's term for Laminitis. Laminitis or founder is essentially the separation of the laminae from the hoof wall causing severe pain in the animal. Cattle tend to get it most when they're on a "hot diet" or high-grain diet. Feed-tested bulls, feedlot cattle and dairy cows are more likely to get founder than any other cows. Cattle on pasture never get founder.

A cow typically produces dung around 10 to 15 times a day, depending on factors such as diet, age, and health. Each manure deposit can vary in size, but overall, a single cow can produce approximately 60 to 120 pounds of dung daily. This frequent defecation is a natural part of their digestive process, which is essential for their health.

For cattle with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, the scientific name of mad cow disease), the survival rate remains 0%. BSE is always fatal eventually due to the progessive neurologic deficits. However, the infection rate of BSE in the world in 2011 was also almost zero - infectious BSE has been all but eradicated through the institution of a world-wide feed ban.

Maybe this "cow" that you are concerned about isn't a cow at all. Joking aside, if this is indeed a cow and not a different animal, illness like pneumonia or IBR can be serious enough to make a cow too sick to eat, thus not burp up and chew cud.

Anaplasmosis is not a disease in dogs, nor is it spread by saliva or by feed in either cattle or dogs. It is a blood-borne infectious disease in cattle caused by rickettsial bacteria of the Genus Anaplasma. It occurs more commonly in the subtropical and tropical areas and, though not contagious, can transmitted by ticks that feed on the blood of cattle. It can also be spread by contaminated needles, dehorning equipment, castrating knives, tatooing equipment and biting flies and mosquitoes.

There really is no medication or feed system that will prevent cows from getting cystic ovaries, though over conditioning (where cows are too fat to be considered normal condition) may be a factor in a cow getting cystic ovaries. But scientifically there is (as of yet) no known causes of how cows get cysts on their ovaries, nor how it can be prevented with the exception of culling them out.

Calves only need to be drenched if they are needing it, like if they have severe scours or are too sick to eat. You will need to drench them as often as what the instructions say on the label of the formula you are drenching the calf with.

When the calf needs it and when you think (or your vet) think it's necessary. You can worm a calf at pretty well any age, just make sure you're using the correct dose and read the label to the dewormer you're using.

No. A pregnant cow can still lactate or give milk. A bred cow will have a "wet" (lactating) period and a "dry" (non-lactating) period. A cow's "wet" period lasts from parturition until her calf is weaned or, if she's a dairy cow, the farmer decides to let her dry off and rest before she calves again. A cow's dry period lasts from the time she is dried off (dairy farmer's decision) or when she has a calf weaned off her (beef cattle) until next parturition.

After a cow gives birth, she has 45 to 60 days (or around two-months, sometimes up to 3 months) of rest to allow her uterus to involute or go back to normal size, and allow her to go back into normal estrus cycling. After this period she is bred again, either by bull or artificial insemination. She will still be producing milk even after she has settled and become pregnant again. A beef cow will be lactating until her calf is around 6 months old. Once her calf is at this age he is weaned from her, and she is "forced" to no longer produce milk. When the calf is 6 months old, she will be 3 to 4 months pregnant. A dairy cow, on the other hand, will be lactating until she is 2 months away from her next due date to deliver her next calf, which means she will be giving milk for 10 months after the birth of her calf, then be dried up when she is 7 months into her pregnancy. Some beef cows will be allowed to have their calves suckle them until they are 10 months of age.

A lot of where people think that pregnant cows are dry cows is from what they have learned about human pregnancy and the fact that women are not lactating when they are pregnant. This is like comparing apples to oranges and should not be used as a way to compare the reproductive physiology and workings of a cow versus a woman. Thus one should not think that just because a cow is pregnant she is not still giving milk.

Width doesn't have a whole lot to do with determining the health of a cow, because all cows are different individuals, with different frame sizes, height, breed, age, etc. You should be more concerned with the body condition score of a cow than her width. Body condition of a cow is the judgement of how much fat she has as a determination of health. Please see the related questions below for more information.

Culling and vaccinating. You better make sure those cows and heifers you are culling out are going to the meat market and not to another cattle producer.

Breed has very little to do with what vaccinations a beef calf should get. This all depends on your location, herd health and history of any diseases or illnesses that have inflicted your area or farm, and what you think is necessary for that calf based on what his mother did or didn't get vaccinated with when she was pregnant with him/her. Please talk to your local large-animal veterinarian for more information.

Yes, if the load on the bovine is to heavy for it to carry.

Lung worms cause respiratory problems in cattle that give them similar symptoms as if they would have a bacterial or viral pneumonia, except that they are parasites in the lung. A cow can die from having lungworms if there are too many in the lungs. An internal parasiticide is given to cattle to get rid of these worms.

It may be best to let it have access to water. Also gently pour some cool water over the calf and on its chest to help cool it off.

Depends on the medicine and what sort of illness your cow is inflicted with. See your veterinarian on a proper diagnosis of your cow and for the proper medicine needed to administer.