Newborns can also be an exception to the listless rule. For the first week or two of its life, a newborn simply eats and sleeps, and its sleep tends to be very, very deep. Sometimes you’ll see a newborn baby that you’ll think has died, it’s in such a deep sleep, but if you look more closely you’ll realize it’s simply in the black depths of newborn exhaustion. Coming into the world from the safety and warmth of the womb is hard work for a little thing.
One July afternoon, a wicked storm was blowing in. Our cows and their calves came and sought protection from the hard-blowing rain and hail in our open-sided shed. Layla, who had calved the day before, arrived with the rest of the herd, but her new baby wasn’t with her. We mounted a search and finally found the little guy stashed away in some deep grass, sleeping the sleep of the dead. We carried him (all 70 pounds [31.8 kg] worth) up to the shed to join his mama. Layla (sufferer of temporary amnesia) suddenly remembered she had a calf and became quite excited when we brought him in.
In fairness to Layla, I have to say that most cows seem to suffer this memory loss from time to time. The calf is sound asleep when the herd moves off, and Mama moves with the herd. A little while later, you can watch Mama get a look on her face — hey, where’s Junior? Suddenly, she trots off in a display of speed that would warm the heart of a Kentucky Derby fan, bellowing and snorting the whole time, until she finds her calf.
2. Hair and coat. This might be considered a vanity issue, especially if critters were like people, but it’s not. Hair or wool should look shiny and healthy, and it should cover the body fairly evenly (unless you are looking at bison, which are always shaggy looking, or animals that are shedding out their winter coats in spring and early summer). Poor-quality coats can indicate nutritional illnesses, external parasites, or other systemic diseases. Also, the coat shouldn’t be caked with manure.
Manure that’s caked on the side of the body is often just a sign that the animal has been forced to lie in a manure pile, and may not be of great importance. But if the manure is caked around the tail-head and down the backs of the legs, it is a sure sign of diarrhea, or scours. (See more on scours on page 90.)
3. Discharge. Look for suspect discharges from the nose, mouth, ears, or eyes. Sometimes the nose or the eyes may have a little bit of watery discharge, and it isn’t anything to worry about. But if a discharge is pussy looking, if there is crusty stuff built up around the muzzle or eyes, if there is excessive slobber or frothiness around the mouth, or finally, if there is any kind of discharge from the ears, the animal is not well.
4. Hydration. Look at the eyes to see if they appear “sunken.” This is usually a good indication of dehydration. Dehydration often accompanies scours, or illnesses that cause a fever. If you can view the gums and the tongue, typically they should be light pink. If they are gray or white, chances are the animal is in shock, either from an injury or from dehydration accompanying an illness.
5. Breath sounds. Listen for any coughing or wheezing. Healthy animals breathe easily through their noses, not their mouths.
6. Mastitis. The last external check is done exclusively on milking animals. Though most common in dairy cows, mastitis can occur in any female animal that is producing milk in her udder — even a pregnant animal that hasn’t given birth yet. On rare occasions, a young female that hasn’t even bred yet can develop mastitis. A healthy udder should be warm, but not hot; pink, but not red; and soft, but not hard. The milk should flow smoothly and, except for colostrum, should be very liquid with no clots or lumps in it. Colostrum is almost like pudding, it’s so thick, but it shouldn’t have any lumps in it after the first few squirts.
If after making these external observations, you suspect an animal isn’t well, remove it to a quiet and secluded location. This will allow further evaluation and treatment, and hopefully reduce the likelihood of an illness being passed to healthy herdmates. If the animal is tractable, check its body temperature. Animals’ normal temperatures run in a slightly wider range than ours do, but if your animal has an elevated or a subnormal temperature according to Table 8.1, it’s definitely time to make some decisions. Figure 8.4 shows some criteria we use in deciding whether or not it’s time to call the veterinarian. There is, of course, a certain degree of flexibility in applying this, and as your nursing experience and comfort level increase you may wait longer to call. (Some vets or other farmers may disagree with this system, but it has worked for us.)
Table 8.1
NORMAL TEMPERATURE RANGES
Figure 8.4. If you think an animal may be ill, use this flow chart to help determine if it is time to call the vet. Note: An abnormal temperature is above or below the values given in Table 8.1. Also, see page 84 for information on worms and parasites. Improper use of wormers can result in death; always consult a vet before administering wormers.
Common Illnesses
Let me say right up front that there are hundreds of different ailments that can cause problems and thousands of different causative agents for those ailments; I can’t possibly cover them all in this short chapter. As you get more involved in animal agriculture, you’ll need to get at least one or two books that specifically address animal health (see appendix E for a list of recommended books). We have half a dozen “vet books,” and they are some of the most well-worn volumes on our bookshelf! The few illnesses that I’m going to mention here are some of the most common problems that farmers deal with, but even these can be the result of myriad causative agents. Read more, and talk to your professional veterinarian.
Scours
In adult animals, scours isn’t usually fatal. Most often, adult diarrhea is the result of a change in diet or of consuming very lush pasture. Cases of diarrhea caused by diet change will clear up in two or three days, and don’t have many other symptoms than the diarrhea itself. Lush-pasture diarrhea will continue for as long as the high-quality, moist feed lasts; but, like change-of-diet cases, it doesn’t tend to have other symptoms associated with it. If you haven’t adjusted the animal’s diet, or it’s not on lush pasture, the next most common cause of adult scours is excessive parasite loads. Parasitic scours typically isn’t accompanied by a fever, but the animal will appear lethargic, and its coat may be dull. Diagnosis of parasitic scours requires a stool sample to be checked by your vet (unless you actually see worms in the stool). If an adult animal is both suffering from diarrhea and running a fever, it’s probably time to call your veterinarian. The animal is either suffering from a viral or a bacterial case of scours.
Scours in baby animals — say, less than a month old — is always a very serious and life-threatening situation. Normal baby animal stools are yellowish and tend to be kind of gooey, like soft Silly Putty. Sometimes the stools may stick to the tail-head for the first day or two — during fly season this should be wiped away, if possible, to prevent screw flies from laying their eggs in the mess. The eggs develop into maggots, and the maggots don’t stop eating when the manure is gone. In short order, they can do terrible damage to the baby animal, possibly even causing death.
With scours in very young animals, the stool becomes watery, or sometimes slimy, and if left untreated the baby will die within a few days. Scours is quite common in bottle babies — those being fed by humans instead of their mothers. The most prevalent cause of scours in bottle babies is overfeeding, especially of milk. The scours caused by overfeeding is the most easily cured kind, but without treatment it can take an otherwise healthy baby animal out in just a few days. (For information on feeding baby animals, see chapter 6.)
Other causes of scours in babies include the bad guys: bacteria, viruses, and parasites. One of the worst bad guys that we’ve had personal experience with (when we brought in a load of calves) is K-99 Escherichia coli. E. coli is a common and generally beneficial bacterium found in the gut of most animals. There are many strains of E. coli, but the strain that microbiologists have dubbed K-99 is highly contagious in baby animals during the first few days of life, and it’s very deadly. Once we knew
what the problem was, we were able to treat all the rest of the calves that were born that summer with a colostrum supplement of K-99 antibodies. K-99 scours sets in within the first 3 or 4 days of life. Common causes of scours in the 5- to 15-days-of-life range include rotavirus and coronavirus; at 2 to 6 weeks of life, salmonella species of bacteria are the primary culprits.
Treatment
Treatment of scours should be instituted as soon as the problem is recognized. The first thing to do is replace fluids and electrolytes. Electrolytes are basically the “salt” molecules that are normally found in the bloodstream and include such elements as calcium, potassium, sodium, and magnesium. Commercial electrolyte solutions are available at most feed stores, farm supply houses, or from your vet. We always made a homemade concoction (see box on page 92). Electrolyte therapy is good not only for scours but also for any illness that might cause dehydration. With an adult animal, simply provide a pan of water that has electrolytes mixed in.
If you’re treating a baby animal, dilute its normal milk ration by half with water. Between the milk feedings, feed it a comparable ration of your electrolyte solution. For example, if an 80-pound (36.3 kg) calf is receiving 4 quarts (3.8 L) of milk per day (a whole-milk ration that weighs approximately 10 percent of its body weight) during two feedings, mix 1 quart (0.95 L) of whole milk with 1 quart of water at each feeding. Between the two daytime feedings, and again just before bed, feed it 2 quarts (1.9 L) of electrolyte. Don’t feed the electrolyte with the milk, because the digestive process interferes with absorption of the electrolytes into the animal’s system. Babies suffering from the overeating version of scours require no more treatment than this, but you should continue it for 2 to 4 days or until the stools return to normal. If you do suspect that the scours is being caused by a pathogen, antibiotics may be in order — check with your vet.
If the animal you are treating for scours is a ruminant, helping its normal flora return is crucial. The best way I know of, if you can get close up to a healthy herdmate that is chewing its cud, is to reach into its mouth and grab out the bolus of cud before the animal knows what hit it (yes, it’s gross the first time you do it); then insert the bolus as far as possible down the throat of the ill animal, so that it swallows the bolus. The bolus from the healthy animal is full of good bacteria, and acts to recharge the ill animal’s system.
Veterinary Supplies
Over time and as your experience increases, you will accumulate more vet supplies than I’ve listed here, but this is a good starting kit:
Antiseptic and sanitizing fluids. The ones we find regular use for are alcohol, iodine, and peroxide. The alcohol is good for sanitizing thermometers and other supplies, and for cleansing skin prior to giving an injection. Iodine (7%) is a good general wound cleanser and works well for cleaning navels on newborns. The peroxide is the best thing to use for cleaning wounds in which maggots reside.
Aspirin boluses (or the extra-large economy-size bottle of generic people aspirin), for relief of aches, pains, lameness and fever. If you use people aspirin, one tablet per hundred pounds of body weight works well (1 tablet per 45 kg).
Clean blankets, towels, and cloth “rags.” Old towels and blankets come in handy when drying off animals (like newborns) and when warming animals that are in shock. The rags have many uses, including cleaning wounds, cleaning caked manure from young animals’ tail-heads, and other clean-up chores. The ideal rag is cut from old bath towels — 12-square-inches (30 cm2) seems to be a good size. Thrift stores and yard sales are a good source for used blankets and towels.
Needles and syringes. Keep several disposable needles (size 18 gauge–1.5" is the most versatile) and several syringes (6 cc, 20 cc, and 60 cc) on hand at all times. Syringes come in handy for feeding very weak animals (like newborns). To feed with a syringe, slowly dribble milk, electrolyte, or colostrum into the mouth.
Cow magnet. If you plan to keep cattle, keep several cow magnets on hand. Cow magnets are about the size of an adult’s pinky, rounded on both ends, and have no sharp edges.
Stomach tubes. About 6 feet (183 cm) of soft rubber tubing works well. If you are using a tube to force-feed fluids, make sure that you insert it in the animal’s stomach and not its lungs, or you’ll drown the aniimal. To confirm that the tube is in the stomach, blow into the end of it — if you are on target, you’ll see the animal’s side expand.
Thermometer. Absolutely the most important item in a vet box! Purchase a rectal veterinary thermometer with a ring top and tie about 2 feet (60 cm) of string to it. While taking an animal’s temperature, either hold the end of the string or wrap it several times around the critter’s tail. This prevents “losing” the thermometer inside the animal, or having the thermometer fall out, only to be crushed by a hoof.
Homemade Electrolyte Solution
To 1 gallon (3.8 L) of warm water, add and mix well:
4 tablespoons (59 mL) of corn syrup or dextrose
2 teaspoons (10 mL) of table salt
2 teaspoons (10 mL) of baking soda
Bloat
Limited to ruminants, bloat is a hazard when you’re using a grazing system. Bloat is caused when excessive quantities of gas become trapped in the rumen; in extreme cases, it can be deadly within an hour or two. It is usually the result of eating lush, leguminous pasture, and is aggravated by moisture from dew or rain. It is most common on alfalfa, slightly less common on clover, and doesn’t happen on bird’s-foot trefoil pastures. Pastures with a high percentage of grass compared to legumes are the least likely to cause bloat, but even these can do it in early spring.
The most prominent symptom of bloat is a bulge on the animal’s left side, just below the spine and in front of the hip bone. This area usually appears caved in, but in a bloating animal it sticks out. Bloating animals also quit eating, and quit belching.
Ruminants on pasture need to be watched for the first signs of bloat, especially in spring. To avoid it in the first place, limit access to lush pasture first thing in the morning, or right after rain, until the animals are well acclimated to the pasture. Feed some hay prior to turning them onto pasture, and leave them on pastures for short periods of time — 45 minutes to an hour is good to start.
Treatment
We never had a single case of bloat after our animals were acclimated to their pastures, but we did have one or two cases at the start of each grazing season. For cows, we’d administer a mixture of 1 cup (236 mL) cooking oil, 1 cup (236 mL) water, and 3 tablespoons (44 mL) baking soda, mixed well. (A squirt water bottle — the kind bike riders and hikers use — works well, just dribble the contents into the animal’s mouth over a few minutes. They don’t get it all, but they get enough.) Sheep and goats are much less likely to suffer bloat, but if they do, administer about one-fourth of the above mixture. After the animal drinks its “medicine,” tie a stick in its mouth — sort of like a bit. This gets the tongue working, which helps kick-start the belching process.
As soon as the animal begins belching, you can watch its side go back down. With this quick fix, we never lost an animal and never had to move to more extreme treatments. In serious cases, a stomach tube can be passed down the animal’s throat and into the rumen; the gas escapes out the tube. Stomach tubes can be purchased, but in a pinch use 10 feet (3.1 m) of garden hose, with any sharp edges filed smooth.
The last resort, and it should be used only in life-or-death situations, is to cut right through the animal’s side and into its rumen. Vets carry a two-part tool for this purpose, called a trocar and cannula. In lieu of the trocar and cannula, a sterilized knife (boil in water, or soak in bleach, for about 5 minutes) might save the animal’s life. In either case, the animal will need to be placed on antibiotics, because infection is bound to follow cutting into the rumen.
Hardware Disease
Unless you purchase a piece of completely bare land that has never had any buildings on it, chances are that you will, at some point, come up with hardware disease if you have any cows. Even ba
by calves can suffer from it. Sometimes it can happen in other ruminants, but it’s most prevalent in cattle.
Hardware disease is caused when the animal eats a sharp piece of metal, such as a nail or a small hunk of wire. The piece becomes trapped in the reticulum, and can puncture the wall. Symptoms include obvious pain, kicking at the side, a slight rise in temperature, and getting up and lying down repeatedly. If left untreated, death may result.
Treatment
The cure, at least, is simple. Insert a cow magnet in the cow’s stomach to “catch” the hardware. Some cattlemen insert magnets as a matter of course into all their animals; we simply kept magnets on hand, in our vet supplies, and inserted them when an animal showed the signs. If the problem is indeed hardware disease, the animal recovers almost immediately when the magnet is inserted.
Inserting a magnet can be done by hand or with the help of a bolus, or balling, gun. Much like feeding a pill to a dog, the goal is to get the magnet all the way down the back of the animal’s throat so that it swallows the magnet. When done by hand on a full-grown cow, you must insert your arm into the cow’s mouth, halfway up to the elbow! The magnet remains in the animal’s reticulum for the rest of its life and attracts and holds onto any pieces of metal the animal swallows.
Pneumonia and Other Respiratory Disorders
Small-Scale Livestock Farming Page 16