Contents

Chapter Page

1 A CONCEPT OF DISEASE, IMMUNITY AND TREATMENT 1

2 THE YOUNG CALF 21

3 THE WEANED CALF 61

4 REARING DAIRY HEIFERS 83

5 THE COW AT CALVING 115

6 METABOLIC DISORDERS 153

7 MASTITIS AND CONDITIONS OF THE UDDER 175

8 FERTILITY AND ITS CONTROL 231

9 LAMENESS AND FOOT TRIMMING 279

10 DISEASES OF THE SKIN 329

11 NOTIFIABLE DISEASES, SALMONELLOSIS AND ZOONOSES 347

12 MINERALS,TRACE ELEMENTS,VITAMINS AND WATER 371

13 MISCELLANEOUS DIGESTIVE, RESPIRATORY AND OTHER CONDITIONS 389

14 ROUTINE TASKS AND DEALING WITH POISONS 427

APPENDICES 453

INDEX - MENU

A CONCEPT OF DISEASE, IMMUNITY AND TREATMENT

Causes of disease: infectious agents; nutritional deficiency and excess; metabolic disorders; poisoning; physical injury; congenital disorders.

Defences against disease: physical and chemical defences; the immune system; stress and the immune system; inflammation and hypersensitivity.

The balance of disease.

Principles of treatment: specific drug treatment; supportive therapy; nursing.

THE YOUNG CALF

Housing.

The importance of colostrum: absorption of antibodies, inadequate colostrum intakes; frozen colostrum; stored colostrum.

Feeding systems.

Digestion: the oesophageal groove closure reflex; achieving good groove closure; the abomasal milk clot; problems with milk substitutes.

Diseases of the calf: scouring; causes of calf scour; rotavirus; coronavirus; cryptosporidium;

E. coli; salmonellosis; treatment of scour; prevention and control of scour.

Navel problems: navel structure; navel ill; umbilical hernia; joint ill.

Other calf diseases: meningitis; middle ear disease; calf diptheria; heart defects.THE WEANED CALF

Digestive problems: pot bellies; chronic diarrhoea; rumen bloat; colic; coccidiosis; salmonellosis; necrotic enteritis.

Calf pneumonia.

Deficiency diseases: muscular dystrophy; tendon rupture.

Nervous diseases: lead poisoning; cerebrocortial necrosis (CCN).

Urolithiasis.

rearing dairy heifers

Common causes of failure to thrive.

Stomach and intestinal worms: ostertagia; lungworm.

The viral diseases: IBR; BVD; MCF; BPS.

Eye disorders: the normal eye; New Forest eye; foreign bodies; IBR, irritation caused by flies or ultra-violet sunlight; tumour of the third eyelid; physical injury and hyphaema; bovine iritis.

The clostridial diseases: tetanus; blackleg; black disease; botulism; ryegrass staggers.

THE COW AT CALVING

Gestation length and dystocia: the birth process; structure of the placenta; freemartin calves; calving facilities; signs of calving; stages of labour; manual examination; births needing assistance; calf resuscitation; calves born dead; the post calving check; calving aids; abnormalities requiring correction.

The ‘downer’ cow: causes of the ‘downer’ cow; care of the down cow.

Other post calving complications: retained placenta; metritis; vaginal infections; rectovaginal fistula; prolapsed uterus; prolapse of the cervix and vagina.

METABOLIC DISORDERS

The nature of metabolic disease; metabolic profile tests; milk fever; hypomagnesaemia (grass staggers); acetonaemia; fatty liver syndrome; acidosis; factors affecting milk quality.

mastitis and conditions of the udder

Mechanisms of milk synthesis.

The control of milk production and let-down.

Teat and udder defences: teat defences; udder defences.

What is mastitis?

The control of mastitis.

The milking routine and mastitis conrol: teat preparation; use of gloves; mastitis detection.

The effect of the milking machine: unit alignment; liner slip and teat end impacts; the importance of pulsation; removal of the cluster at the end of milking; liner and other rubberware; overmilking.

Milking the mastitic cow.

Post milking teat disinfection: potential disadvantages of post milking teat disinfection.

Dry cow therapy.

The environment and mastitis. Continued on next page...

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Treatment of mastitis: choice of antibiotic; taking a milk sample for bacteriology; antibiotic sensitivity testing; factors affecting treatment efficacy; inserting an intramammary tube; other mastitis treatments.

Mastitis records and targets.

Somatic cell counts.

Total bacterial count of milk.

Antibiotic residues in milk.

Summer mastitis.

Uncommon causes of mastitis: Corynebacterium bovis, Staphylococcus epidermidis and micrococci; mycoplasma; yeasts; leptospira hardjo; pseudomonas, klebsiella, bacillus species; gangrenous mastitis.

Disorders of the teat and udder: milking machine damage; blackspot; cut teats; udder oedema and necrotic dermatitis; pseudocowpox; bovine herpes mamillitis; udder impetigo; teat warts; teat chaps; milk let-down failure; blind quarters; blood in milk; pea in teat.

FERTILITY AND ITS CONTROL

Costs of a missed heat: extended calving intervals.

The components of the calving interval.

The oestrus cycle: physical changes; hormonal changes; recognition of pregnancy detection; action of fertility cycle drugs; embryo transfer; cystic ovaries; failure to cycle.

Pregnancy detection: milk progesterone tests; ultrasound scanning; bovine pregnancy associated glycoprotein; rectal palpatation; oestrone sulphate.

Heat detection: measurement of heat detection.

Synchronisation of oestrus: prostaglandin; progesterone releasing devices; effective synchronisation.

Conception rates.

Causes of low conception rates: poor embryo recognition, serving too soon after calving; poor heat detection, timing of insemination, endometritis; fatty liver; genital and other infections; stress; poor handling facilities; operator technique; semen quality; nutrition.

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The repeat breeder cow: adhesions; use of GnRH; use of embryos; dosing individual cows.

Abortion.

Stillborn calves.

Preventive medicine and herd facility management: the costs of disease; use of records.

LAMENESS AND FOOT TRIMMING

The structure of the foot: the hoof, the corium, the bones.

Correct weightbearing.

Hoof overgrowth: effects of overgrowth.

Foot trimming: lifting the foot; equipment used; trimming technique.

Sole ulcers and white line disease: coriosis; sole ulcers; heel and toe ulcers; white line diseases; causes and control of sole ulcers and white line diseases.

Other causes of foot lameness: foreign body penetration of the sole; slurry heel; haematoma in the heel; vertical fissures; hardship lines; horizontal fissures; interdigital necrobacillosis; digital dermatitis; interdigital skin hyperplasia; mud fever; fracture of the pedal bone; pedal bone tip necrosis; pedal arthritis.

Nursing, footbaths, dressings and blocks: nursing; footbaths; foot dressings and blocks.

Lameness due to leg disorders: knocked down pin bone; split H-bones; dislocated hip; fractures; spinal abscess and osteomyelitis; arthritis and stifle ligament rupture; capped knee and hocks, cellulitis; radial nerve paralysis; spastic paresis; contracted tendons.

DISEASES OF THE SKIN

Parasitic causes: ringworm; lice; mange; warble fly; fly strike.

Infectious causes: lumpy jaw; wooden tongue; jaw abscesses; malignant oedema; warts; skin tumours, skin TB.

Toxic causes: photosensitisation, urticaria, septicaemia, scouring, poorly mixed milk substitute, alopecia.

Traumatic injuries: haematomas, bursitis, abscesses, sterile abscesses; cellulitis, ingrowing horns, burns, tail injuries.

NOTIFIABLE DISEASES, SALMONELLOSIS AND ZOONOSES

Notifiable diseases: anthrax; foot-and-mouth disease; brucellosis; warble flies, enzootic bovine leucosis (EBL); tuberculosis (TB); bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE); salmonellosis; zoonoses.

MINERALS, TRACE ELEMENTS, VITAMINS AND WATER

Minerals and trace elements: calcium; phosphorus; magnesium; sodium; potassium; copper; cobalt; iodine; manganese; zinc; iron; selenium.

Ways of improving trace element status.

Vitamins: vitamin A; vitamin D; vitamin K; B vitamins; vitamin C.

Drinking water.

MISCELLANEOUS DIGESTIVE, RESPIRATORY AND OTHER CONDITIONS

The digestive tract: the teeth; choke, vomiting; bloat; overeating syndrome; the cold cow syndrome; rumen impaction; wire; vagus indigestion, forestomach obstruction; left-sided displaced abomasum; right-sided abomasal dilation and torsion; abomasal ulcer; intestinal obstruction; winter dysentery, dilation and torsion of the caecum; Johne’s disease; liver fluke.

Respiratory diseases: fog fever; pulmonary haemorrhage; allergic respiratory diseases.

Tick-borne diseases: redwater; tick-borne fever.

Disorders of the heart and circulation: endocartitis, congestive heart failure.

Disorders of the urogenital system: hydrops of the uterus; abscesses, tumours and polyps; cystitis and pyelonephritis.

Disorders of male reproduction: damage to the prepuce; balanoposthitis; orchitis and testicular swellings; fracture of the penis; corkscrew penis.

Leptospirosis.

Miscellaneous conditions: listeriosis; blindness; Aujeszky’s disease, the PPH syndrome; bovine immunodeficiency virus (BIV); lightning strike and electrocution; bovine influenza A.

ROUTINE TASKS AND DEALING WITH POISONS

Responsible use, storage and disposal of medicines.

Giving a drench.

Disbudding calves.

Removing supernumerary teats.

Castration.

Taking a temperature.

Dealing with wounds.

Putting on a halter.

Applying nosegrips.

Casting a cow - Reuff’s method.

Ringing a bull.

Hormone implants and growth promoters.

Dealing with poisons.

appendices

APPENDIX 1: Normal values - temperature, pulse, respiration, rumination, sleep.

APPENDIX 2: Lists of clinical signs

DIAGRAM: Diagram of the skeleton and internal organs of a cow