Fortunately, most lameness in dairy cows is preventable with a well-thought-out plan that should be implemented in every barn.

A good lameness-prevention plan starts with a basic understanding of what a set of four healthy hooves is all about. The illustration of the cross-section of the cow’s foot shows it is comprised of several interlocking parts: on the outside, a horny hoof wall, sole, heel, and white line (a junction between the sole and the hoof wall on the underside of the hoof). Inside the hoof or claw, the pedal bone sits inside the laminar corium, which is a nerve and blood-enriched living tissue that sit along the horn wall. This laminar corium produces the healthy nail of the hoof.

Laminitis is the inflammation of this laminar corium, which research surveys say accounts for about 80 per cent of all treated cases of lameness. Damage to this living tissue leads to abnormal horn growth and is responsible for causing great pain. It also predisposes the limping dairy cow to other hoof problems such as a breakdown of inner hoof tissues observed in sole ulcers and hemorrhages in the sole and hoof walls. It also often allows disease to enter through hoof cracks or in the white-line separation.

Proper nutrition is vital

Good cow nutrition has one of the biggest impacts on the prevention of laminitis. Feeding diets with enough effective forage-fibre has long been known to underlie strong hooves. And it follows to avoid feeding over-formulated high-grain diets, low-forage diets or finely chopped forage, all of which eventually lead to sub-acute ruminal acidosis (SARA), a primary cause of laminitis. SARA has also been implicated in greater rates of hoof wear, physical hoof injury and viral or bacterial invasion of the hoof.

As a dairy nutritionist, I have visited many farms with severe lameness problems. In one particular case, a 400-dairy cow operation had six visibly limping dairy cows standing within 20 feet of one of its many robot-milking stations.

It didn’t take me long to watch these and other cows and discover that it was caused by a lack of dietary effective-fibre, for three good reasons. They were: 1. A lack of cows lying in their stalls and chewing their cud; 2. the dry matter intake of effective forage fibre in the partial mixed ration (PMR) was inadequate compared to a large amount of robot concentrate fed; and 3. The PMR was also heavily sorted by the cows at the feed bunk.

A three-step plan

As a result, the producer could have avoided most of his limping cows’ pain and suffering if only he had taken the time to implement the following lameness-prevention plan:

• Feed enough forage effective fibre. A well-formulated dairy diet should maintain NFC levels between 33 to 38 per cent, while a minimum of 28 per cent neutral detergent fibre (NDF) should be guaranteed, with 75 per cent of this NDF coming from forage feedstuffs.

In another dairy robot barn, I struggled with achieving this advice until I balanced the PMR first and then followed through as to the type and amount of robot pellets to offer at the feeding stations. In addition, I checked the proper moisture levels (50 per cent) and particle length of the PMR to avoid sorting by dairy cows at the feed bunk.

• Implement a good dry cow feeding program. As a dairy nutritionist, I don’t believe that faraway and close-up dry cows should be fed the same diet. My ideal faraway dry cow diet should be made up of bulky good-quality forage by which the cow consumes 1.8-2.2 per cent of her bodyweight (dm basis.) And is should be followed by my close-up diet, which contains moderate-energy forage such as mixed grass hay (limiting alfalfa), and is complemented with five or six pounds of a specific grain-based close-up pellet, both of which should be mixed with limited amounts of barley or corn silage.
• Use specialized nutrition. Feed zinc methionine complex at four grams per head per day, because it is proven to strengthen hoof health. Other dietary nutrients thought to assist with healthy hooves include biotin, vitamins A and E, copper, organic iodine and selenium. Many of these nutrients are thought to play a similar role in hoof formation and integrity.

When it comes to healthy hooves, dairy cattle need all the help they can get. Just feeding the right well-balanced diet to the transition and lactating cows can prevent a lot of painful laminitis. Such preventative action should reduce the number of limping cows and, optimize the dairy’s valuable performance.

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When we talk about a stifled cow or bull, we refer to injury to ligaments surrounding the knee joint (the stifle joint) which is the first joint below the hips on the hind leg.

An injury to this joint is common in dogs and in humans. It’s a fairly common injury among football players and other athletes due to damage most commonly to the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL).

Managing a stifle injury

More often than not, a stifled ligament is caused by traumatic twisting, stretching or tearing. Most often in my experience it happens to older cows, especially around breeding season, or in winter when cattle fall on ice. Among bulls, injury to the ligament can occur during fighting at any time but I think they are especially prone to the injury when one bull is hit by another bull during the breeding process. It often shows up in herd sires. A bull being hit by another is much like a cross block in football.

Initially, there may be quite a bit of swelling around the stifle joint but with time this goes away. When checking out a lame animal, we start by looking around the foot for evidence of swelling. If none, we work our way up the leg.

Antibiotics will not help a damaged stifle. If they are used, even in error, pay attention because antibiotics also have a withdrawal period. The important message is to be prudent with our usage of antibiotics on the farm.

If we find stifle injuries later on in their course, the limp is pretty distinct with the leg held as a peg leg and the foot being placed out to the side with a quick jerk forward when walking.

Many decisions need to be made with a stifle injury. In acute cases, a painkiller and anti-inflammatory products may help the bull or cow be more comfortable. If the injury is a stretch or partial tear of the ligament, recovery may be more rapid. Depending on the severity of injury cattle can recover completely. I have even seen really athletic cattle such as bucking bulls injure themselves with certain twists, but then make a complete recovery by just resting them.

For recovery through rest, getting these cattle to a position where they don’t have to walk far for feed and water and don’t have to compete with others in the herd is a real plus. You can then watch their progress and decide if further treatment is actually necessary or is doing any good.

Weigh your options

Convalescence may take a few weeks. As a producer, you need to balance several things especially if there is little or no improvement despite rest and time. The further direction of treatment involves weighing several things such as animal welfare needs by giving pain killers as needed, the value of the animal, reproductive performance and age as well as other factors.

As cases are discovered you need to make a decision on how to approach them. Sometimes earlier decisions of slaughter for salvage are good ones, but we have to be sure the animal can make the trip, otherwise butchering on farm may be the answer. Transportation is very hard on affected animals, as they are essentially bearing all their weight over three legs. Please keep this in mind.

Culling older cows will definitely decrease the incidence of stifle injuries as poor or unstable footing has lots to do with it. If cattle are standing on slippery or unstable ground during breeding, that could definitely lead to stifle injuries or worse.

With this or any unusual lameness, if you don’t know for sure what it is, contact your veterinarian. With larger cattle, recovery from stifle injuries is rare and often some type of salvage becomes the result. It is important to follow the cattle code of practice and recognize these cattle are in a fair bit of pain just as we would be with the same type of injury. Measures need to be taken to ease their discomfort.

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While simple footrot is blamed the real cause of lameness is septic arthritis. There are treatment options often providing very favourable outcomes. A telltale sign: the infection breaks out in a claw resulting in draining just above the coronary band on the affected side.

Infection has gotten into the last joint on the claw and because this infection is in an enclosed space the pain is intense. Little to no weight bearing occurs on the entire foot. A crack in the hoof, deep foot rot or sole abscess, or a penetrating wound can all lead to infection being introduced into the joint. Rarely a blood-borne infection (septicemia) will localize here, but generally it occurs in the higher joints such as the stifle or carpus. These infections are more commonly seen in the outside front claw and secondly in the inside rear claw.

There are four possible courses of action with a septic arthritis. If the cow or bull is older shipping for slaughter is a possibility provided no antibiotics have been given.

Second, long-term antibiotics can on occasion allow the joint to fuse, meaning the infection eats away the cartilage and the two bones fuse together much like you would have with a fracture repair. The toes will appear club-like but function is maintained.

The third scenario involves freezing the foot and actually drilling out the joint. This area is flushed with antibiotics or betadine and also allowed to fuse. There is quite a bit of pain with the treatment so painkillers are often administered.

Claw amputation

The fourth action involves a claw amputation. This gives quick relief from the pain, has a good long-term outcome and is fairly easy for most veterinarians to perform. Here is what to expect.

If a decision is made to perform a claw amputation the animal can be tranquilized and laid down or lightly sedated standing in a squeeze chute or on a tilt table. The affected claw is scrubbed and the whole foot is frozen with what we call a regional IV block. A tourniquet is placed around the foot to keep the lidocaine in the area but also to control bleeding during the procedure. Once we have good anesthesia the claw is amputated at an angle to ensure we remove above the infection. This leaves a larger open wound which is bandaged tightly with an antibiotic ointment. The tourniquet is removed. I like to leave the patient in the chute a minute or so to insure blood is not leaking through the bandage as sometimes certain areas have to be more tightly wrapped.

They are always given NSAIDs of some sort like banamine and I often cover with long-acting antibiotics and have the producer change the bandage once after four days repeat the antibiotics and that is about all. The stump will have a bit of local infection which is just washed off. Most of the time they recover uneventfully and the stump gets closed over.

With claw amputations there are a few precautions. I don’t advise amputating the back claws of breeding bulls. The breeding pressure will cause the other claw to break down so shipping might be advised here. Cows will last several years before the other claw may start to show tendon stretching. The cow may need a trim on the good claw a little more often than her herdmates but that is about all.

Consider this procedure next time you have a cow diagnosed with a septic arthritis. You will be pleased with the results and it will save you from shipping an otherwise productive cow, with several years more productive life.

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Surprisingly, many cattle really don’t require much treatment, yet many are treated. Producers often use the all-encompassing term of ‘foot rot,’ yet most lameness at pasture is not caused by foot rot. With a wet spring in some parts of the Prairies, the summer of 2018 could see a higher-than-normal incidence of foot rot, but it is important to differentiate the many forms of lameness we see at pasture and understand the steps necessary to correct them.

After lame livestock are spotted, get up close to observe — if necessary use binoculars. First determine which leg they are favouring. Look for signs of swelling, the degree of weight-bearing on the affected leg and how they ambulate. In particular look for at hooves for evidence of cracks, toes spread apart, corns, long hooves or curled toes. These may all cause pain in the foot. Of course as with any condition or illness, record the description of the animal including colour, ear tag and any other distinguishing features as this makes them easier to find on the recheck.

A number of the long-acting products are very effective against foot rot and if caught early, often one shot can be curative. Always consult your veterinarian.

More-involved cases

Many of the other lamenesses fall into two broad categories: those that need more-involved procedures and those that need to simply convalesce on their own with no further treatment.

By more-involved procedures I am referring to conditions such as broken legs, which may need anything from emergency slaughter in larger animals to either casting or splint applications in younger ones. In young calves, casts and splints, depending on the location of the break, have a very high success rate if found early before the bone has broken out through the skin.

A couple other foot conditions needing further care are sole abscesses and septic arthritis. These animals need to be brought home for a therapeutic foot trim performed by your veterinarian. The abscess needs to be opened and drained. We often see this condition in animals with bad feet or a crack in the hoof wall, which allows the infection to enter.

As with other painful conditions it will be up to you and your veterinarian whether painkillers are given. Sometimes limping with convalescence allows the condition to heal quicker rather than removing the pain and having a false sense of improvement. A septic arthritis is when infection has been introduced into the last joint just beneath the hoof. The animal needs to be removed from pasture and properly treated and healed before returning.

Don’t rush to treat

Most of the multitude of other lameness problems are transient and I suggest not to stress the cattle by catching them initially. Just like people, cattle can sprain or strain themselves in a multitude of ways, leading to transient lameness problems. Cattle with poor feet, long hooves or abnormal gaits are definitely more predisposed to these as well. Hoof abnormalities such as cracks (horizontal or vertical), corns, or long hooves ripping off too short will also lead to lameness. A good hoof trimming in spring will prevent a lot of these problems the following summer. Stifle (knee) injuries come in degrees of severity can result from various insults to the hind legs including breeding injuries.

In dealing with cases of pasture lameness don’t rush for the antibiotic syringe without first closely assessing the actual cause. Prudent usage of antibiotics really comes to light with foot and lameness issues. Remember for those lameness cases that can’t be treated such as a broken leg, emergency slaughter. preferably on farm is always an option as long as drugs have not already been given.

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In this particular operation, I recommended he should identity lame cows immediately as well as set up an aggressive prevention program. That’s because lameness in dairy cattle, whether it appears in a robot-milking barn or any other milking system is always an obstacle to good milk and other dairy performance.

I believe solving and preventing common lameness starts with the observation of the first limping cow. When a cow is seen limping, the producer should take the time to observe her general behavior to get some idea of why she is limping before proceeding with corrective action.

Leading causes

One of the leading causes of lameness in dairy cattle is common physical injury. Direct injury takes on different forms such as punctures, ulcers, abscesses, or deep cuts to the horn and sole. When the hoof is damaged, a protective barrier against hoof disease is broken, in which anaerobic (lives without oxygen) bacteria such as Fusobacterium necrophorum, (foot rot), strep and staph organisms are allowed to enter and thrive. Similarly, anaerobic pathogens such as Treponema strains commonly known as “hairy heel warts” can also cause inflammation and painful lesions to the interdigital skin of the hoof.

Another leading cause of lameness in dairy cattle is laminitis, which is the inflammation of “living” laminar corium tissues within the hard hoof. It often leads to abnormal horn growth and wear, which makes walking difficult and is very painful for the animal. Such laminitis is classified upon severity into three main areas, namely: acute, sub-acute and chronic laminitis.

Acute laminitis is the most visible. It is the severe lameness that we frequently associate with cattle limping up to the feed bunk. For example, sole abscesses can result from cracks or holes originating from laminar corium damage in the hoof sole. This damage allows foreign material to enter the hoof and an abscess may form due to infection. White line disease can be another form of acute laminitis in which hemorrhages and poo- quality horn formation along the sole white line lets foreign bodies such as grit and sand to manifest itself into severe lameness.

During sub-acute laminitis, the clinical signs of typical laminitis are often visible. This form of lameness is a degeneration of the laminar corium of the hoof which leads to increased hoof wear and greater hoof injury. Sole ulcers are associated with sub-acute laminitis, which is a loss of horn sole and unhealthy exposure of the laminar corium.

Lastly, I view chronic laminitis as an extension of sub-acute laminitis by which hoof damage has become irreversible. Permanent damage to the laminar corium allows complete separation of bone from the horn wall. These dairy cattle have very broad hooves with the classic ridges (associated with high-grain diets). Hoof growth is altered so extensively the cow may walk on her heels rather than normally on her toes.

Feeding program is #1

The lactation feeding program has one of the biggest impacts on the cause and prevention of laminitis in milking dairy cattle. Feeding high-grain diets, low-forage diets or finely chopped forages can lead to sub-acute ruminal acidosis (SARA), a major cause of laminitis. SARA has also been implicated in greater rates of hoof wear, greater risk of physical hoof injury and thus increased potential for viral or bacterial invasion within the hoof.

As a ruminant nutritionist, I balance dairy diets by meeting the nutrient requirements of lactation, while preventing SARA at the same time. This means pH levels in the rumen are maintained above 5.5-6.0 by limiting the amount of non-fibre carbohydrates (NFC) originating from starch enriched grains digested by the cows, and also by feeding enough effective forage fibre that promotes good rumen fermentation and acid-buffering capacity. I target dietary NFC levels between 33 to 38 per cent, while assuring a minimum of 28 per cent dietary neutral detergent fibre (NDF) is fed and with 3/4 of this NDF coming from forages.

With such amounts of limited grain, and adequate forage going into the dairy mixer wagon, I often employ other nutrients that help strengthen hoof hardiness that has been scientifically shown to prevent invading foot-disease.

For example, I instructed a dairy producer a few years ago to add four grams per head per day of zinc methionine to his lactation dairy premix, which in turn was added to his daily milking TMR. After seven months of zinc addition, a successful reduction in lameness was observed and recorded. Even the hoof-trimmer made the comment — the general hardness of the hooves in the cow herd improved.

Cleanliness is key

Aside from these nutritional preventative measures to combat lameness, I am also a big advocate in improving barn sanitation.

A dairy producer operating a 150-cow dairy near Edmonton with three robot stations takes a big firehose, every morning and washes the concrete pad and metal grate under each milking station. I also know he worked with his veterinarian to set up the proper number of footbaths and protocols in his barn. As a result, I find the feet of his cows cleaner than most milking cows from my other barn visits and his farm has experienced a low incidence of ‘alarm’ cows due to lameness.

I guess that my friend figures that when it comes to healthy hooves, dairy cattle need all the help they can get. I can also help him and other dairy producers by setting up the proper dairy diets that keep lactation cows stand on their feed, eat lots of feed and produce lots of milk.

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With many in-house blood testing tools now available at most veterinary clinics several tests may be performed on downer cattle to determine the cause. While “milk fever” is often implicated, deficiencies of calcium, phosphorus or magnesium can resemble one another greatly. With dairy cattle, the true “milk fever” results from a shortage of calcium generally at parturition when the demand for milk and thus calcium is greatest.

Beef cattle can have milk fevers show up at different times, either before calving or late into the lactation. Often poor mineral utilization or improper feeding is the root cause.

Veterinarians now will often take a blood sample to test for levels of those three minerals. If deficient, then the diagnosis is made and treatment initiated to alleviate the situation. In my experience the grass tetany downer from magnesium deficiency is less likely to recover once down. Phosphorus leads to the proverbial “creeper” cow, which can take along time to get up. A producer needs to consider any cattle affected by these mineral deficiencies might just be the tip of the iceberg. The rest of the herd should be closely scrutinized and some cows possibly randomly checked (blood tested) to confirm the herd status and prevent other cases from developing.

Injuries can create a downer

Injuries to the neck or peripheral nerves can also cause downer animals, representing a great diagnostic challenge to your veterinarian. Once an animal is down, performing a thorough clinical exam can be difficult. Ambulation is better to check out severe lameness’s or trauma cases. A blown stifle (knee) or broken leg can present as a downer animal. It is important to proper examine a downer that your veterinarian rolls the animal over and closely examines all four legs closely. Lightning strikes — where the animal has survived — damages the peripheral nerves and a downer may be the end result.

With parturition, a difficult birthing can cause pressure on the obturator nerves where they run through the pelvis resulting in knuckling and weakness to the hind end. If caught early, anti-inflammatory drugs recommended by your veterinarian may help significantly. One must be careful. Bad mastitis, metritis (infected uterus), or cases of tetanus brought on by retained placentas can fool even experienced practitioners. They can occur just after calving. Sick enough cows will be unable to rise simply because of weakness and toxemia.

Any condition, which results in dehydration: septicemias or toxemias may result in downer animals. These may be sudden or occur over several days. If the cattle appear sick and depressed a large number of maladies will cause enough weakness or toxemia to cause a downer situation. Severe electrolyte imbalances (as an example too much potassium (K) in the bloodstream) can cause cattle to go down. Again most of these electrolytes levels can be tested by your veterinarian to make sure the proper ailment is being treated.

If very excitable cattle get out and run for a considerable period they can go down due to muscle damage. It is called “capture myopathy” and happens when zoo animals are captured. Selenium may help, but once down prognosis is poor.

You can see downers are caused by a multitude of medical conditions most with entirely different treatments. With some, treatment results in a very favourable prognosis while other outlooks are poor.

Seek medical advice

The important thing is getting them looked at immediately by your veterinarian to determine the cause. In the meantime, provide soft footing to prevent pressure sores from developing. Roll the downers side to side several times daily to help prevent further nerve damage. Hobble the feet together to avoid splay legging and where indicated, anti-inflammatory drugs may also be in order. Of course the essentials of life, good quality water and feed must be provided. Shade on very hot days is essential. Watch for fly strike around the rectal and vaginal areas.

With broken legs or stifle injuries, it maybe necessary for emergency slaughter so do not rush in and treat unless the exact cause is known. The transport of large downers is really frowned upon from an animal rights issue so it is best to emergency slaughter right on site. We also see some downers related to very thin cows late in pregnancy carrying twins or a large calf. With the increasing nutritional draw in heavy pregnancy cows can get so thin they are simply unable to rise. Hopefully the cow is close enough to full term so calving could be induced to alleviate the cow of all that weight and nutritional drain.

Hip lifters and slings can be employed to lift cattle but I only suggest this if certain criteria are met. Cattle must be trying to rise and when lifted to bear some weight themselves. If the animal is just hanging, there is no point in lifting. Only lift for 15 to 20 minutes twice daily. The hiplifters also cause muscle bruising so you want the benefits to outweigh the negatives. The slings are less damaging but more labour intensive. In certain sectors of the dairy industry tanks are used to float cows with amazing results. I wish these could be more practical and available for the beef sector. Certain practitioners are having some success with acupuncture for the nerve-damaged cases.

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Unfortunately, these dairy heifers and others that live in such quagmire, face a similar predicament as well as negative health consequences. Most producers can avoid most of these problems by practicing a few “mud maintenance” techniques.

Without losing a single rubber boot, Kansas State University researchers confirm that as little as four inches of mud adversely affect cattle. Their specific work showed that four to eight inches of mud reduced average daily gains in growing drylot beef cattle by five to 15 per cent. As this mud got belly-deep, cattle performance was shown to be reduced by as much as 35 per cent. The negative performance could be exploited to growing dairy replacement heifers. Even when mud is not deep, it creates slippery surfaces along the adjacent concrete, which hamper beef and dairy cattle from getting solid footing as they attempt to move up to the bunk to feed.

More particular dairy studies suggest for every one inch of mud, dry matter intake is reduced by as much as 2.5 per cent in lactation cows, which is explained by their reluctance to move in the mud up to the feed-bunk. As a result, cows eat fewer meals and promotes more “slug” feeding, which is speculated to disrupt their otherwise natural flow of good rumen fermentation/feed digestion/natural rumination (cud-chewing) and may underlie other digestion problems such as subclinical acidosis (SARA). Long-term SARA is proven to dovetail into other problems such as displaced abomasums, and lameness in dairy cattle.

Hotbed of disease

Aside from reducing the mobility of dairy cattle the deeper it gets, mud is often contaminated with disease-causing microorganisms from the environment as well as contaminated with cattle manure, urine and other fluids such as blood. When biologically active in warm spring weather, these pathogens can cause a higher incidence of mastitis, lameness, enteritis and even mortality among dairy cattle.

Many reports suggest many types of bacteria that cause mastitis on the milk line are widespread in the cow’s environment. Subsequently, mastitis is inevitable in many lactation dairy cows unless protocols are put in place to prevent these pathogens from entering their teat canals. Mud increases this pathogenic opportunity in two ways; (1) it allows contaminated sources of bacteria to come in direct contact with the udder’s teat and teat-ends and (2) it promotes surface lesions and/or chaffing of the teat skin, which harbours even more bacteria.

In addition to mastitis caused by bacteria living in mud, lameness is a big problem in cattle raised in muddy pens or pastures, which is usually not related to the aforementioned feed intake problems. Instead, more than three-quarters of lameness observed in dairy cattle housed outside are confirmed cases of foot rot microorganisms thriving in mud.

By nature, foot rot is prevalent in muddy conditions, because cattle hooves standing in constant wet mud becomes soft and pliable. The skin of the hoof’s coronary band and inter-digital starts to crack, chap and is eventually opened to infection by anaerobic (lives without oxygen) bacteria called Fusobacterium necrophorum. There may also be other invaders such as strep and staph organisms found in soil, manure and even the rumen microbes of the cows themselves. And sharp rocks and stones found in mud will injure the cattle’s soft hooves and open them up to invasion by foot rot bacteria. Pus and discharge from swollen feet will contaminate muddy ground and healthy cattle can become infected if they walk in the same mud.

Aside from foot rot

Unfortunately, foot rot is not the only microbial threat that can live in mud of drylots and on pastures. Mud is a good home for cattle enteric disease-causing organisms such as crytosporidia and coccidia that cause coccidosis; the organism is shed in the manure of infected cattle, which defecate back it into the mud. Fortunately, coccidiosis in cattle can be controlled by adding monensin sodium to these cattle diets.

The actual extent to which mud contribute to these diseases in dairy cattle is not known, but one can speculate that good “mud management” implemented in muddy drylots and on pastures should reduce the incidence of their adverse health effects and also help dairy cattle move around and up to the feed bunk.

Here are some suggestions to help reduce the effect of mud on outside dairy cattle:

• Scrape down pens — Deal with mud and get rid of it. We are not only getting rid of significant amounts of mud, but in many cases, much of the manure that built up during the winter. Scrape in front of feeding areas or concrete lip in front of the feed bunks.
• Improve drainage in pens — Put in necessary culverts and grade pens with a bit of a slope, which helps carry water away from loafing areas.
• Improve cattle comfort — Extra bedding should be used in drylot areas. While cleaning out pens, a mound in the drylot might be created, which water drains away and keep lying cattle, dry. Clean and slope dirt and manure away from pole barns.
• Improve udder hygiene — For lactation cows with access to outside mud, concentrate on sound pre- and post-milking protocols, which clean and sanitize the teat and teat-ends.
• Manage wet pastures — Avoid keep cattle in the same early pastures for extended periods. Implement more frequent movements of cattle. Move mineral and salt feeders on occasion to assist movement of cattle.

It’s not always easy to keep dairy cattle clean and dry after the winter snows melts and creates lots of mud. It is almost guaranteed to put non-lactation and lactation cattle at a performance and health disadvantage. Therefore, dairy producers should do all they can to lessen mud’s negative effects. Ultimately, protecting cattle from mud might also find my missing boot.

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Made from the plant-based ingredient thymol, Thymox is biodegradable in 14 days. The company says the product is safer for humans, animals and the environment compared to copper sulfate and formalin-based products.

It is the first agricultural disinfectant to receive the UL EcoLogo certification.

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With calves, clinically we need to differentiate between whether the condition involves the lungs (pneumonia), intestines (scours), navel (omphalophlebitis) or a multitude of miscellaneous conditions.

CONFUSING SYMPTOMS

The two main diseases scours and pneumonia often are treated much differently and may not be as easy to tell apart as one thinks. Scours may initially present as a very dopey, heavy-breathing calf. The calf may be quite acidotic and is attempting to blow off the acid through an increased respiratory rate, fooling you into thinking it has pneumonia.

A calf born selenium deficient may have heart issues if the heart muscle is affected. The lungs will start to fill with fluid because of the heart failure and again respiratory rate will be increased. While specific antibiotics have been developed for pneumonia they often are not the same ones we use to treat scours. Also the best initial treatment for scours is to give replacement fluids, as it is dehydration that kills the calf. Many causes of scours are viral in nature against which antibiotics don’t work. You can see making the distinction between which organ system is involved can be a difficult and one your veterinarian may even struggle with at times.

OFF TO A GOOD START

As mentioned many times before, we can never stress enough the importance of good-quality colostrum in giving calves a head start in life. Their ability to fight off disease challenges is much greater. Many cases of pneumonia, scours and septicemias (blood-borne infections) can be attributed to not receiving adequate colostrum, so try and ensure the colostrum is received in the first six hours of life.

The navel area is another area to pay close attention to, as it is a common source for entry of infectious organisms. Again we need adequate colostral uptake. Watch the area for signs of swelling and an arched back and tucked-up calf. If you palpate the navel area and it is painful that is a telltale sign infection is present.

Backwards calves or those derived by C-section have their navels rip off short and are much more susceptible to navel infection. At our clinic any calves born by C-section we purposely separate the navel by hand further down the cord so the calf has a decently long navel cord when it is born. Some producers if they have a problem will even give metaphylactic antibiotics at birth under the supervision of their veterinarian to counteract navel ill. If the navel infection spreads internally it has a good chance of landing in the joints and a severe arthritis ensues. Be sure to differentiate between navel infection and a simple hernia, which may require surgery.

From the Canadian Cattlemen website: Calfhood vaccinations

LAMENESS ISSUES

Lame calves are another common condition with young calves. Again you need to differentiate whether it is arthritis from a navel infection, trauma causing a sprain strain or trauma causing a broken leg. Each condition requires different treatment. The navel infection must be treated with drugs, which will get into the joints, the sprains are usually just left to convalesce and the broken legs need immediate attention by your veterinarian.

If breaks are caught soon enough and are lower on the legs the chances for recovery are very good. The lower the break the better. Fast growing young calves heal and put down bone very quickly so in three to four weeks we often have a complete recovery. Cows will commonly step on calves during heat, so having creep areas where calves can separate themselves from the cow herd will pay dividends in fewer calf injuries.

Creep areas are also very good at getting calves started on creep feed so preventatives for coccidiosis such as deccox can be added to the feed. Calves are naturally inquisitive so products such as diatomaceous earth give calves something to lick rather than dirt, roughage and stagnant water where their odds of picking up something harmful is much greater. Cryptosporidiosis another diarrhea disease of calves’ spreads very similar to coccidiosis so management changes to prevent one may help in prevention of the other. Talk to your veterinarian about prevention for these two diseases especially if they have been previously diagnosed on your farm.

INTESTINAL ISSUES

Older calves become stronger and more resistant to picking up the common calf hood diseases such as scours or pneumonia. The four- to eight-week age is where the intestinal accidents and stomach ulcers develop. These conditions were gone into detail in a previous article but suffice it to say they are generally individual fluke-type cases. It is probably most important to have a postmortem done on sudden deaths to rule out infectious causes, which could spread to herdmates. Otherwise know if it was one of these fluke intestinal conditions you really have no control over.

This spring try and differentiate these different categories of problems with young calves. You will then be treating the right problem and your success rate will improve and if contagious possible steps can be made for prevention of further cases. Always check with your veterinarian to make sure you are diagnosing things properly and this will keep you abreast of new treatments and/or management practices. †

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