Are ponds helpful?

[CJ95]

Our pasture sits on the side of a hill with a few runoff ponds in the valley. Our pasture unfortunantly has no trees and little shade during the day. Since about June the cows spend most of the day standing in the pond or laying beside it. Then they graze and come up for water early in the morning and late in the evening.
I have heard that when cows continually stand in water foot problem occur. We have had a couple of foot problems so far, one 9 year old with cracked hooves and a 3 year old with a sore rear foot, which hasn't been diagnosed yet. I do not know if these are pond related or just naturally occuring. I have been throwing around the idea of roping off the pond and purchasing shade clothes for the cattle to lay under during the heat of the day. Yet i am unsure if whats best.
Thoughts are appreciated.

 

[kfacres]

we have lots of mastitis and foot problems using ponds.. as well as dead fish, and *sometimes* the EPA throws fits if the contamination levels get huge... That's a long stretch though, and most likely not worth mentioning....

 

[The Show]

We have two ponds, and haven't had a problem with foot rot. I see them in the pond at least once a day.

 

[DL]

One of the problems with ponds is spread of disease - especially Johne's disease - you can have on cow infected - she poops in the pond and the babies (who are most susceptible) drink from the pond and down the road you have a bunch with JD; I am aware of several registered breeders who had this problem  - I would rope it off.

 

[hamburgman]

Blackleg is a big worry, vaccination works really well.  That could be some of the foot problems you were seeing.

 

[CJ95]

thanks very much. Now i'll be searchin for some shade cloth

 

[CAB]

The reason that you see more foot rot troubles with cattle that spend time in the ponds is just like us their feet become softer after they spend time in the water making it easier to get an open wound on the bottom of their feet giving infection a place to start. Try to cut your toenails B4 you take a bath sometime and then again after you finish your bath. Big difference in how they cut. Same principle with cattle's hooves

 

[JSchroeder]

In a lot of regions, they're called stock tanks because 'ponds' are by far and away the most common method of watering cattle.

 

[chambero]

Stock tanks or ponds are the only drinking water source our cattle have available.  We have no groundwater. 

In regards to foot rot, cattle standing in water is not the cause, or at least not a common cause.  We actually have been fighting severe foot rot problems for a handful of years.  In early summer, we would have a calf (500 lbs) or two a day and several cows come down with new cases of it.  Big expense and time drain getting them up to be doctored.  We had it in wet years, we had it in dry years.  In 2010 it got so bad we started bringing in people to help us figure out - I was beginning to wonder if it was genetic.  Our neighbors did not have the same trouble we were having.  We had a couple of people tell us it was mineral deficiency. Of course we've always fed minerals - most recently the Cargill Right Now product.

There is a vet in San Angelo, TX that has his own mineral company.  He custom mixes minerals for commercial cattlemen and sells some to some of the ranches in our area.  One of our neighbors introduced him to us and we discussed our issue.  He swore it was an iodine deficiency.  I figured it was just a sales pitch, but we decided to start buying our mineral from him - which had a much higher iodine concentration than mass-produced mineral products.

We never had a single case of foot rot this year.  I was beyond amazed and greatly relieved.  And as hot as it is down here, our cows spends lots of time standing in the tanks.  We have native grasses in our pastures - lots of blue stem.  In years it actually rains, we have a LOT of grass because we stock really low.  Some of it gets pretty tall and tough.  My theory is we were having trouble because the cattle were irritating the soft tissue between their toes when moving through our really tall, tough bluestem patches and giving a route for the bacteria causing foot rot to enter.  We don't have tall grass this year.  Whether its that or the use of more iodine, our problem went away.  But I know its not tank water that caused it.

 

[Freddy]

ThE ONLY THING you want to watch on high concentrations of Iodine is they told me it can hinder your rate of gain ...People in this area used to use more Iodine
than they do now... My mineral company uses three different types of zinc for the foot rot protection .....The mineral we use has ALBION chelates an I guess I'm
a big follower of their chelates ....

 

[kfacres]

Stock tanks or ponds are the only drinking water source our cattle have available.  We have no groundwater. 

In regards to foot rot, cattle standing in water is not the cause, or at least not a common cause.  We actually have been fighting severe foot rot problems for a handful of years.  In early summer, we would have a calf (500 lbs) or two a day and several cows come down with new cases of it.  Big expense and time drain getting them up to be doctored.  We had it in wet years, we had it in dry years.  In 2010 it got so bad we started bringing in people to help us figure out - I was beginning to wonder if it was genetic.  Our neighbors did not have the same trouble we were having.  We had a couple of people tell us it was mineral deficiency. Of course we've always fed minerals - most recently the Cargill Right Now product.

There is a vet in San Angelo, TX that has his own mineral company.  He custom mixes minerals for commercial cattlemen and sells some to some of the ranches in our area.  One of our neighbors introduced him to us and we discussed our issue.  He swore it was an iodine deficiency.  I figured it was just a sales pitch, but we decided to start buying our mineral from him - which had a much higher iodine concentration than mass-produced mineral products.

We never had a single case of foot rot this year.  I was beyond amazed and greatly relieved.  And as hot as it is down here, our cows spends lots of time standing in the tanks.  We have native grasses in our pastures - lots of blue stem.  In years it actually rains, we have a LOT of grass because we stock really low.  Some of it gets pretty tall and tough.  My theory is we were having trouble because the cattle were irritating the soft tissue between their toes when moving through our really tall, tough bluestem patches and giving a route for the bacteria causing foot rot to enter.  We don't have tall grass this year.  Whether its that or the use of more iodine, our problem went away.  But I know its not tank water that caused it.

Interesting, can I get his contact info?

Also interesting that you think genetic.  In the sheep world, Austrailia has actually developed a genetic test for foot rot resistance.  It's not as cut/ dry yes no; such as TH or PHA, but more of a scale of 1 to 5.  5 being extremely resistant, 1 being extremely susceptible.  in any regard, they have found it to be genetically linked...