The Cattle Health Handbook

680 Pages·2009·9.32 MB·English

by  Heather Smith Thomas

The Cattle Health Handbook

The
Cattle
Health
Handbook
Preventive care, Disease Treatments
& Emergency Procedures
for Promoting the Well-Being of Your Beef or Dairy Herd
HEATHER SMITH THOMAS
The mission of Storey Publishing is to serve our customers by
publishing practical information that encourages
personal independence in harmony with the environment.
Edited by Rebekah Boyd-Owens, Sarah Guare, and Deborah Burns
Art direction and book design by Dan O. Williams
Text production by Liseann Karandisecky and Ponderosa Pine Design
Front cover and spine photographs by © Lynn Stone. Author’s photograph by
Andrea Hansen
Interior photographs by the author, except for © Lynn Stone, page ii; © Matt
Pound, page
158; courtesy of Dr. Dan Casteel, University of Missouri, page 202 top;
courtesy of
Dr. Marlin Rice, Iowa State University, page 299
Illustrations by © Elara Tanguy
Additional maps and infographics by Ilona Sherratt
Indexed by Christine R. Lindemer, Boston Road Communications
© 2009 by Heather Smith Thomas
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced without written
permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief
passages or reproduce illustrations in a review with appropriate credits; nor may
any part of this book be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted
in any form or by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording,
or other – without written permission from the publisher.
The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our
knowledge. All recommendations are made without guarantee on the part of the
author or Storey Publishing. The author and publisher disclaim any liability in
connection with the use of this information. For additional information, please
contact Storey Publishing, 210 MASS MoCA Way, North Adams, MA 01247.
Storey books are available for special premium and promotional uses and for
customized editions. For further information, please call 1-800-793-9396.
Printed in the United States by Versa Press
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Thomas, Heather Smith, 1944–
The cattle health handbook / by Heather Smith Thomas.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-1-60342-090-7 (pbk.: alk. paper)
ISBN 978-1-60342-095-2 (hardcover: alk. paper)
1. Cattle–Health–Handbooks, manuals, etc.
2. Cattle–Diseases–Handbooks, manuals, etc. I. Title.
SF961.T46 2009
636.2'089–dc22
2009001484
DEDICATION
This book is dedicated to all my cattle – every individual animal I’ve been
privileged to know, starting with my very first cow in 1956 when I was 12 years
old. She was a pregnant Hereford heifer in the first group of cows my father
purchased after our family bought a small ranch. I named my heifer Bovina and
earned her purchase price by working summers for my father, irrigating the
fields, digging postholes, and helping to build fences. I kept all of Bovina’s
heifer calves and their babies (selling only the steers) and had a small herd of
cows by the time I went to college.
Later my husband Lynn and I had a dairy for a short time and then began
raising beef cattle. Even after raising more than 6,000 calves and watching
many of them grow up to be cows, I remember most of them (and their names)!
Each one was a unique character; some had very endearing attributes, and
others had not-so-endearing traits.
My cattle have been my passion, my addiction, my lifework. Learning how to
care for them properly and how to deal with the problems that occasionally
arose led me to share that knowledge with others, writing articles for livestock
publications and then books about raising cattle. My cows taught me many
lessons in life, not only in animal husbandry but also in larger matters regarding
things like patience, courage, endurance, determination, and persistence, for it’s
not always easy to care for them in harsh weather or to save one that suffers
from a challenging disease. I am grateful to my cattle for helping to forge the
person I’ve become.
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
PART I: Health Management
1. Preventive Care
Disease Resistance Immunity • Prevention Practices • Minimizing Stress
2. Treatment Fundamentals
Detecting Signs of Illness • Treating Sick Animals • Giving Injections • Oral Medications and
Fluid Therapy • Restraints
3. Seasonal Health
Hot-Weather Problems • Cold-Weather Problems
PART II: Common Diseases
4. Bacterial Diseases
Brucellosis • Leptospirosis • Campylobacteriosis • Anthrax • Clostridial Diseases • E. Coli •
Navel Ill and Joint Ill • Salmonella • Tuberculosis • Johne’s Disease • Listeriosis •
Thromboembolic Meningoencephalitis (TEME)
5. Viral Diseases
Infectious Bovine Rhinotracheitis (IBR) • Parainfluenza 3 (PI3) Bovine Respiratory Syncytial
Virus (BRSV) • Bovine Viral Diarrhea (BVD) Bluetongue • Bovine Leukemia • Rabies • Viral
Diarrhea in Calves
6. Protozoal Diseases
Coccidiosis • Cryptosporidiosis • Sarcocystosis • Neosporosis • Trichomoniasis
7. Parasites
Internal Parasites • External Parasites
PART III: Body System Disorders
8. Digestive Problems
Normal Digestion • Acidosis • Bloat • Impaction • Hardware Disease • Digestive Tract
Blockage • Ulcers • Choking • Calf Scours • Use of Probiotics
9. Eye Problems
Eye Injuries • Pinkeye • Foreign Material in Eye • Cancer Eye
10. Skin Problems
Hair Loss and Bald Spots • Photosensitization • Allergies • Warts Ringworm • Sunburn
11. Respiratory Problems
Upper Respiratory Challenges • Pneumonia • Shipping Fever • Emphysema
12. Foot Problems
Foot Rot • Heel Warts • Sole Abscesses • Puncture Wounds • Laminitis • Stress Can Cause
Foot Problems • Hoof Cracks • Fescue Foot • Preventing Foot Problems
13. Mouth Problems
Lump Jaw • Bony Lump Jaw • Wooden Tongue • Mouth and Th roat Lesions Tooth Loss •
Choking
14. Metabolic Problems
Milk Fever • Grass Tetany • Phosphorus Deficiency • Ketosis • Brisket Disease
15. Udder Problems
Teat Injuries • Chapped Teats • Winter Teat-End Lesions • Frostbite • Mastitis Udder Edema •
Pseudocowpox • Teat Warts
PART IV: Other Ailments, Accidents, and Injuries
16. Mineral and Nutritional Problems
Selenium-Related Illness • Copper Deficiency • Iodine Deficiency • Calcium Deficiency •
Phosphorus Deficiency • Vitamin A Deficiency • Thiamine Deficiency Importance of Salt •
Urinary Stones • Water Requirements of Cattle
17. Poisoning
Poisonous Plants • Weeds in Harvested Hay • Blister Beetles • Hydrocyanic Acid Nitrates •
Pesticides and Chemicals • Lead
18. Accidents, Injuries, and Wounds
Porcupine Quills • Snakebite • Fallen Cows • Broken Bones • Junk Hazards Getting Stuck •
Hoof Injuries • Facial Paralysis • Hernia • Dehorning Complications Wounds • Digestive Tract
Injuries • Back Injuries • Hind Leg Paralysis • Burns Lightning • Frostbite
19. Miscellaneous Diseases
Cancer • Mycoplasma Bovis • Vesicular Stomatitis • Foot-and-Mouth Disease Mad Cow
Disease
Epilogue
Appendixes
Determining the Age of Cattle by Teeth
Disease Characteristics
Anatomy of the Cow
Reproductive Tract of a Bull
Illnesses Passed from Cattle to Humans
Glossary
Resources
Index
Preface
My husband and I both grew up on ranches raising cattle, and together we’ve
been taking care of cattle for more than 40 years. After our wedding in March
1966, we went home to his dairy in southern Idaho to milk the cows — you can’t
explain time off for a honeymoon to a dairy cow. Lynn had a small dairy herd, as
it was easier then for a young person to obtain financing for renting a farm and
buying dairy cows than to try to start up a beef-cattle ranch. Our experiences
with dairy cows and their calves augmented our youthful knowledge about
caring for cattle and keeping them healthy.
At the end of that year we sold the dairy cows, moved back to our
mountainous country roots near Salmon, Idaho, and started our own cattle ranch.
It was tough trying to make a living and pay for a ranch and cattle on what can
only be called marginal land. We have many acres, and it’s beautiful country,
but it’s steep, rugged, high-desert rangeland with very little rainfall and only a
few acres that can be irrigated to grow hay for winter feed. But we were
persistent. We struggled hard to make it work, developing a hardy, unpampered
herd of crossbred cattle that thrive in harsh conditions.
Part of our financial survival depended on not losing any animals; we couldn’t
afford to lose any. We learned all we could about taking good care of the cattle,
and early on we became excellent “cattle doctors,” because each animal had to
be healthy and producing or fit to sell in the fall. But we also love our animals.
Each one is a unique personality — even after our herd expanded to 185 cows,
every cow and calf had a name! If one of them was injured or sick, we were
diligent in our efforts to treat him and correct the problem. We are poor losers;
there’s nothing we hated more than losing an animal — partly because we could
not afford the financial loss but also because each was a cherished character.
Learning everything we could from each adverse situation and medical case
that needed treatment or intensive care, we became excellent cattle caretakers.
Over the years, we learned from our local veterinarians and other ranchers and,
for unusual cases, sometimes even picked the brains of university veterinary
specialists. But our cattle taught us the most.
In my research as a freelance writer, I interviewed many veterinarians and
professors for articles that appeared in horse and cattle publications. I’ve written
more than 7,000 magazine articles and now write regularly for about 60 horse,
farm, and livestock publications. For 30 years I’ve written a regular column on
ranch life for a Canadian farming newspaper. Much of what I write deals with