Disease o' the month - JIT this one is for you!!
- Thread starter DL
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knabe
Well-known member
with no practical knowledge or insight into symptoms, BVD
justintime
Well-known member
By the swelling in her brisket and what appears to be fluid build-up under her jaw, I would be suspectious of Conjestive heart failure. I am not sure if this is a disease or a condition.
Other than that I may need some more clues. Could it be a real bad case of uglyitis? She looks like she has a major case of this really bad disease???
Other than that I may need some more clues. Could it be a real bad case of uglyitis? She looks like she has a major case of this really bad disease???
Jill
Well-known member
I'm with JIT on the uglyitis, I was actually going for the A3's noassitis, but I didn't think that was a disease just a breed trait (clapping). Don't really have a clue.
knabe
Well-known member
i forgot there were so many forms. the reason i chose it was because she looks like i feel after about a 3 days of diarhea. i can really start to feel it in my ribs. it seems like a lot of DL's favorite diseases are lurkers that don't manifest themselves, but which can be detected, and controlled through management either by innoculation or culling. i'm going to assume this version has a name, so i'll choose Bovine pestivirus.
Well I suspect you are all pretty much right - the cow is not pretty, is suffering from the A3 disease but more importantly this cow is persistently infected with bovine viral diarrhea virus (AKA BVD PI).
This cow is interesting for several reasons - the most important of which is that the vast majority of BVD PIs die within the first year of life - most before 6 months of age. A small percentage go on to calve once or twice. Rarely do they live this long.
At the time of the picture the cow appeared "perfectly healthy" did not have diarrhea and had no evidence of disease, however as with all BVD PIs she was like typhoid Mary spreading virus everywhere - to unsuspecting pregnant cows creating more PIs etc
BVD PIs can only result from in utero infection - that occurs during the first half of pregnancy - basically the fetus is "immunotolerant" to the virus - that means it does not recognize the virus as foreign so these animals have tremendous viral load - they are born infected with BVDV.
A BVD PI cow will ALWAYS have a PI calf.
Only BVD PIs can develop mucosal disease (not common - topic for another time)
A PI in your herd can create havoc with your breeding program - abortions, mummies, stillbirths, deformed calves, etc
yes knabe it is a Pestivirus!
more later but of course we sill entertain questions ;D
This cow is interesting for several reasons - the most important of which is that the vast majority of BVD PIs die within the first year of life - most before 6 months of age. A small percentage go on to calve once or twice. Rarely do they live this long.
At the time of the picture the cow appeared "perfectly healthy" did not have diarrhea and had no evidence of disease, however as with all BVD PIs she was like typhoid Mary spreading virus everywhere - to unsuspecting pregnant cows creating more PIs etc
BVD PIs can only result from in utero infection - that occurs during the first half of pregnancy - basically the fetus is "immunotolerant" to the virus - that means it does not recognize the virus as foreign so these animals have tremendous viral load - they are born infected with BVDV.
A BVD PI cow will ALWAYS have a PI calf.
Only BVD PIs can develop mucosal disease (not common - topic for another time)
A PI in your herd can create havoc with your breeding program - abortions, mummies, stillbirths, deformed calves, etc
yes knabe it is a Pestivirus!
more later but of course we sill entertain questions ;D
Jill
Well-known member
You guys and your diseases are going to give me nightmares, like we don't have enough to worry about. yuck!
Jill said:
an informed cattle person is a smart cattle person - many progressive feedlots and bull test programs are requiring testing for BVD PI prior to entry. Denver is requiring it!! The smartest thing you can do is test any cattle that you buy - it is an ear notch - it is cheap and quick and great insurance. Sleep well! (To make sure you are well rested I'll wait a while for another disease) (lol) (lol). ;D
showcattlegal
Well-known member
I did my cows a few years ago because a bull I bought was a carrier with no signs or symptoms. He was from a big time breeder so I learned to test everything no matter who it comes from. I do my calves every year, show and sale barn ones. In our part of the country the buyers are paying more for the calves that have been tested already.
red
Well-known member
What are the other types of BVD?
Red
Red
Jill
Well-known member
Ok. I guess we have been really naive, and have never tested for anything. What are your recommendations on what to test for when you purchase an animal.
I can understand why people have closed herds, all this testing can nickle and dime you to death.
I can understand why people have closed herds, all this testing can nickle and dime you to death.
Jill said:
Yeah and not testing can ruin you! ANd there certainly are advantages to a closed herd.
OK bare minimum I would test all incoming cattle for BVD PI - I would quarantine (isolate) any new arrivals until the test returns negative - I would especially keep any new arrivals and show cattle away from pregnant cows. A show calf that picks up an acute BVD infection can infect a pregnant cow resulting in a PI calf - what you really don't want is a PI calf. You can ear notch the animal yourself and submit the samples - it runs from 4 to 8 dollars a head.
I personally wouldn't buy anything from a herd that doesn't test for Johne's disease - it is a disease I do not want. An individual test on a younger animal is pretty meaningless. In a perfect world you would like to buy from people who are knowledgable about the disease and test annually - that is coming slowly
Those are the 2 biggies that come to mind that can basically sneak up on you and ruin your operation. Some states are now requiring bulls be tested for Vibrio prior to entry into the state (South Dakota and Montana - others I am sure) - if you buy bulls this may be an issue
Red Ill answer your question about types of BVD a bit later....
knabe
Well-known member
dl, so do you recommend testing show cattle that you want to remix with your herd before they go back "in"? in other words, how soon after innculation is the test discoverable? so in an "ideal" world, have a quarrantine pasture for the "required" number of days for the organism to mainfest itself insufficient numbers to be observed by the test? put another way, could one say at some point in the future, that shows may have a quarrantine area, administer a test, and sort at that point? do vets do this test? can they do it while they are on a site visit for other reasons and can they offer something similar to the brucellosis metal tag and tattoo? this is probalby a maintenance issue, so a tattoo isn't going to work, but an official paper trail, ugh, national id bar tag?
knabe said:
A PI calf is born a PI so if it is it is and you need to get rid of it ASAP!
I don't really recommend testing prior to entry of show string into herd - but do like to see a minimum of 2 weeks isoaltion (no nose to nose contact) to make sure they haven't gotten anything contagious they can pass on to the herd. Three weeks is better. There are many many cases of dairy farmers buying some number of cows form a "good herd" bringing them to their herd and dumping them right into the milking string - suddenly all the old cows are sick and some die - the new cows had developed immunity - the old cows were "naiive" to the disease....did I answer you question??
PS If you don't have concrete plans (ie if you find a PI calf you will immediately ship her; if you have a fecal positive cow with JD you will immediately ship her) it isn't worth your time and effort to test ....these animals need to go - if you are unwilling to do it I would consider it a half hearted effort and not productive...
knabe
Well-known member
do you mean 3 weeks is enough time for the organism to be observable by the test? that would be awesome and totally manageable. like you said, not really interested in a "half hearted effort and not productive" even at my herd size. want cows to be around 10 years. since my "herd" is isolated from other cattle, the only thing i worry about is my next door neighbor's sheep who has one that coughs/wheezes with almost any breath. vet said it isn't contractable, but now know that diseases can jump species, unlike how i was taught in college or that the central dogma of DNA is irreversible. AIDs showed that it was possible to go from a protein to DNA with reverse transcriptase. that enzyme did launch a whole industry, similar in scale to what tobacco did for plant biotechnology. and for grins, china tobacco is transgenic and has been for a while, but then they don't have the USDA, but they do execute you if you take bribes and have a similar position, as recently has happened.
knabe said:
OK I think we are talking about 2 different things- things that cattle can contract at shows are generally viral diseases including among them acute BVD...3 weeks is enough time to determine if your animal has an acute infection. from exposure to other infected animals at a show.
PI BVDs are born; the BVD virus is related to Border disease
Generally Johne's disease is contracted as a youngster - less than 6 months -
There are several diseases that cattle can get from sheep - often the sheep are not showing signs - MCF is an important one
knabe
Well-known member
wow DL thanks, man there is a lot to think about
showcattlegal
Well-known member
once you test your cows and they are free, and you give them there shots when they need them, then you only need to test your calves every year after that. the tests aren't that hard to do. we do ours at branding time.
