STOCK VETS VOICE
A healthy cow drinks up to 50l/session, and sick cows also need hydration, but how do you make them drink? Make sure you have an oral fluid pump and have been trained how to use it.
Toxic mastitis – saving cows takes time Be prepared to act quickly and give focused attention to sick cows, advises Lisa Whitfield.
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ost people who have owned mastitis causing her illness you need to cattle will have seen a cow make a decision – do I have the time sick with toxic mastitis. available over the next few days to treat This is the cow which is sad, this cow properly? If the answer is no, then slow and “moribund”, with one or more ending her suffering immediately is the quarters severely affected by clinical humane choice. mastitis. What is proper treatment and If you are lucky, you will how much time does it take? find them before they are Toxic mastitis cases are down cows – look out for the usually caused by one of two cow that is not maintaining common bacteria – E coli or her position in the herd, Staph aureus. Other mastitisparticularly when they are being causing bacteria can cause a cow shifted. Lisa Whitfield to become sick, but the profoundly Many toxic mastitis cows are sick cows are usually either of the already down when they are first noticed. above mentioned two. Leaving these cows to see if they survive is Differentiating the two bacteria by not an option. Get some help – call your looking at the cow is challenging – they vet! often present with the same clinical As soon as you know that it is toxic symptoms in the early stages of the disease. 70
Severe dehydration, elevated or depressed temperature, off feed and off milk – all of these are common symptoms with either bacteria.
Considering all of the requirements in therapy, you need to be prepared to spend at least 30 minutes, twice a day, caring for a toxic mastitis cow. When it comes down to it, when you first discover that it is mastitis that is causing the cow to be gravely sick, it
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | November 2020
