Dairy Farm and Feedlots

Janine and I began our day with a beautiful sunrise and drive to the practice in Lobatse to meet up with Mark and Anthony.

 

 

 

 

We started off our day by driving out to a dairy farm.  Apparently, two of the cows had been injured upon transport, and the farm owner wanted us to take a look at the injuries.

On the drive over, I took a picture of a firetruck here for my mom (she is a firefighter!).

We arrived at the dairy farm, which had a strong characteristic dairy farm smell (namely cow manure), and were greeted by the farm owner, as well as a couple of chickens!

We were then shown over to three Holstein breed dairy cows that were in a nearby crush.

The first two cows in the crush were the ones that had been injured upon transport.

Mark first asked the farm owner how long it had been since the cows had been injured.  The farm owner explained that it had happened probably around a month ago, and that the farm owner had been trying to treat the wounds with a “silver spray that kills maggots” and with terramycin (an antibiotic).  Upon inspection of the cows, what we saw was shocking.

One of the cows had a huge open wound over her back withers, all the way down to the bone (WARNING: pictures of the wound to follow!).

 

 

 

The other cow had a large open lesion over its right hind hip, again all the way down to the bone.

These cows were going to need a lot of veterinary treatment, which hopefully would help these severe wounds heal.  I had never seen such severe injuries in cows before, and I guess I was a little appalled that the farm owner had chosen to wait 1 month before calling a veterinarian in.  I guess this farmer chooses to treat things himself, and only if his treatments aren’t working will he call a veterinarian in.  Perhaps it is for economical reasons, but I felt bad for these poor cows.  At least we would be able to treat these cows properly now, a month later!

Mark put a pair of gloves on and gently peeled off the silver spray on the one cow’s back.

The spray had congealed, and was evidently not helping the wound healing process at all.  Mark explained that the thoracic vertebrae of the spine here were dying on their dorsal aspect, and that they could be cut off at a later time when they died.  Mark also gently debrided any obvious necrotic tissue.  Mark then thoroughly rinsed the wound with water, and applied some acriflavine in glycerine ointment lavishly over the wound (which will act as an antiseptic and encourage wound healing).

 

Mark then inspected the other cow with the open wound on her right hip.  Mark palpated below the wound, and upon pressing below the wound, there was an outpouring of pus from the wound.  The wound had become infected, and in doing so, had also created some dead space (namely via an abscess) below the skin.  Mark washed this wound out and also applied acriflavine in glycerine ointment to it.

We gave both of these two cows penicillin and Pyroflam (containing flunixin meglumine, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug).  We instructed the farm owner to continue giving penicillin and Pyroflam injections to these cows every 3 days for at least 3 doses.  We also gave the farm owner a bottle of acriflavine in glycerine ointment that he could apply to the wounds daily after washing them.

The farm owner also wanted to know if there was anything he could do to keep crows from bothering the wounds.  Mark explained that there wasn’t really much the farmer could do to prevent the crows from bothering the wounds, except to make sure to clean and apply the acriflavine in glycerine ointment to the wounds daily.

Mark asked why the third cow was in the crush.

The farm owner explained that he didn’t know what was wrong with this cow, but she was lethargic and not producing a lot of milk.

Upon physical examination of this cow, we noticed that her elbows were a bit abducted, likely indicating discomfort in this cow’s chest.  Upon auscultation of this cow’s heart and lungs, we found that this cow had a high heart rate and some crackles in her right lung.  Mark then took a metal pole and slid it across the crush under the cow’s abdomen.  With Mark on one side of the crush and Anthony on the other, they both lifted up on the pole to see if the cow arched its back, indicating possible abdominal discomfort.  When they did this, the cow quickly reacted by arching her back, showing that this cow was likely uncomfortable in its abdominal area.

Mark explained that this cow had suspect hardware disease (AKA bovine traumatic reticuloperitonitis).  Hardware disease is when the cow ingests a sharp piece of metal (such as a wire), and this piece of metal settles in the reticulum and can irritate the lining.  Hardware disease can be difficult to diagnose, but the decreased milk production, lethargy, and painful abdomen in this case all point towards possible hardware disease.  We gave this cow penicillin and Pyroflam (containing flunixin meglumine, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug).  This cow would be given penicillin and pyroflam every 2 days for at least 3 doses.

We also noticed that off in the distance, there was a cow that was giving birth.

You could see her placenta hanging out of her vagina (not so well in this picture, I apologize!).  There were also some crows circling this cow, evidently interested in this placenta, so the cow was busy chasing them away.  We could also see that there were two white hooves sticking out of this cow.  I have never seen a cow give birth before, so to see a placenta and hooves sticking out of a cow’s vagina was pretty exciting for me.  The farm owner explained that this cow was a heifer, and thus this cow “doesn’t know what to do, she lies down and then gets back up”, which accurately describes this cow’s behavior.  Eventually, she lay down, but we packed up and left before she gave birth.

I should also mention that before we left this dairy farm, we stopped to take a look at the adorable calves here.

 

 

They were incredibly cute, and appeared to be pretty healthy.  They also suckled on our fingers!

 

So cute!

After looking at the calves, we said our goodbyes to the farmer, and were on our way back to the practice.  On the car ride back to the practice, we discussed bovine malignant catarrhal fever (BMCF), which is a group of gamma herpes viruses that cause fatal disease in cows.  These viruses are wildebeest-associated here in Botswana, as wildebeests act as reservoir hosts, showing no apparent clinical signs of infection.  Mark explained that there is a man here in Botswana who shoots wildebeests to try and prevent his cattle from becoming infected with BMCF.  Interestingly, the incidence of BMCF is actually higher at this man’s farm than at other farms where they don’t shoot the wildebeests.  Mark postulates that he thinks the stress hunting puts on the wildebeests maybe causes them to shed the virus.

We also named all of the different arboviruses we could collectively come up with – blue tongue, African horse sickness, Rift Valley Fever, lumpy skin and pseudo lumpy skin, bovine ephemeral fever, and ORF.   Bovine ephemeral fever is a Rhabdovirus that causes a 3-day stiff sickness.  The vaccine for bovine ephemeral fever is expensive, and is not always effective in preventing infection.  Orf is a zoonotic parapox virus that causes mouth, foot, and teat lesions in sheep and goats.  It is kind of like the sheep and goat version of Foot and Mouth Disease, if you will.  Also, unlike Foot and Mouth Disease, Orf is zoonotic, and Mark explained that you should not mess with it if you can avoid it!  Orf can be treated with antibiotics.  Mark also added as an aside that Chlamydia is the biggest cause of abortion in sheep and goats here in Botswana.

After we arrived back at the practice, we got a call out from a feedlot that wanted us to take a look at one of their cows that apparently had a broken leg.  It was a feedlot we hadn’t been to before, so while we were there, we would do a “walk around” informal inspection.

Janine, Anthony, and I got in Janine’s truck and drove out to the feedlot.

On the way over, we drove by a big stadium here, which is likely where they host the big football (AKA soccer in the US) games.

We also drove by the firehouse here, and I had to get a picture for my mom again!

When we finally arrived at the feedlot, the feedlot owner greeted us and showed us over to the sick pen where the cow with the broken leg was.

After looking at this cow closely, Janine explained that it looked like this cow had sustained a transverse femoral fracture of its left hind leg, and should be emergency slaughtered right away, as this is obviously very painful for the cow (the cow could barely walk).

We then also did a walk through of the sick pens at this feedlot.  One of the cows was lying down and breathing heavily.

The owner explained that this cow had somehow gotten its head stuck in the water trough and had nearly drowned a couple of days ago.  Janine explained to the owner that this cow would likely have a pneumonia and abscesses in its lungs, and could be treated with alamycin (an antibiotic).  However, Janine explained that at this stage, the alamycin may or may not help.  Janine also explained that with the water in this cow’s lungs, this cow is likely very uncomfortable and may not want to eat.  Janine told the owner to treat this cow with the alamycin, and to monitor the cow closely, as it may need to go for emergency slaughter if its breathing does not improve.

There were also a few cows with alopecia around the stumps of their tails, as well as some alopecia in patches along their bodies.

 

Janine and I deduced that the alopecia was likely infectious, as multiple cows were affected.  Mark later explained that this was probably mange causing the alopecia, and could be treated by using “Triatix” dip, containing the active ingredient “amitraz” (effective against ticks, mange, mites, and lice).

There were also three cows with papillomas that were far past their slaughter date.

 

 

Janine said that these cows should go for emergency slaughter, so we recorded their bolus numbers and ear tag information.

We continued our walk through this feedlot – it was a beautiful day for a walk through this wide open feedlot, with sunshine and blue skies.

 

There actually weren’t that many cows at this feedlot to examine.  There were lots of “ox peckers”, which are little birds that pick ticks off of the cattle.

Janine explained to me that Mark actually uses an ox-pecker-friendly cattle dip for ticks, mites, mange, and lice called “Triatix” (containing the active ingredient “amitraz”).  I thought this was really nice – it’s nice to be as wildlife-friendly as you can in practice!

As we were finishing up our walk through the feedlot, we noticed another cow with a wound on the cranial surface of its right hind leg.

It was an open laceration, and the owner explained that he had given this cow alamycin for it.  The cow was weight bearing, and didn’t seem to be in severe pain, so Janine recommended that the farmer continue with the alamycin and give this cow some more time to potentially heal.

We also saw a cow with a large abscess in front of its left shoulder.

Janine recommended that the owner lance this abscess as soon as possible to relieve any discomfort the cow may be having.

Once we were done with our walkthrough of the feedlot, the owner thanked us, and we were on our way back to the practice.  We saw a train on the train tracks on the way back into the town of Lobatse.

I have a little bit of a fascination with the trains here, ever since I read about them in Alexander McCall Smith’s book, “The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency”, which takes place in Botswana.

When we arrived back at the clinic, it was already very late in the day, but Mark explained that there was a feedlot that wanted us to do a postmortem examination on one of their cows that had passed away earlier today.  Janine and I drove out to that feedlot, since it was somewhat on the way back to her place.

Janine and I arrived at the feedlot and were greeted by clouds of dust over the many cattle pens.

As we drove closer, we realized that the cattle were running around and playing with each other!  It was really adorable – unfortunately, the pictures did not come out so great.

Janine and I performed the postmortem examination on the cow in the last hours of daylight that we had.  We soon discovered that it was another case of frothy bloat.  We finished the postmortem examination just as darkness fell.  There was a huge and beautiful moon tonight, as we made our way back to Janine’s house.

We were pretty exhausted tonight from a long day today, so we made a quick dinner, watched an episode of Game of Thrones, and then went to bed.  I am now heading to sleep, I’ll write more tomorrow!  Sweet dreams!