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Acidosis

Acidosis is a bad stomachache that is caused by a significant and sudden increase in the grain ration for feeder cattle. Prevent it by increasing grain rations slowly and gradually over a period of a couple of weeks. If an animal is kicking at its belly, goes off its feed, or shows other signs of distress, call your veterinarian. Untreated acidosis can progress to fever, diarrhea, and laminitis, a dangerous inflammation of the hooves.

Birth Defects

Calves are occasionally born with any number of malformations, from extra toes to crooked legs. Their causes range from genetic defects to the cow’s consumption of poisonous plants during pregnancy.

Occasionally, a calf will be born with hooves that knuckle under. You can wait for a couple of days to see if they straighten out. If they don’t, the calf may have to be culled. For all other birth defects, consult your veterinarian about the calf’s prognosis.

Bloat

Bloat is caused when gas builds up in the rumen because a mass of feed is blocking the exit to the esophagus, preventing the animal from belching. Bloat usually occurs when cattle are switched too rapidly to a very rich diet, such as young, lush pasture high in legumes or a lot of grain. Bloat can also occur after a frost or even as the result of heavy dew on rich pasture.

Bloat occurs rapidly and can kill cattle if the gas is not released. In the early stages, release of the gas may be possible by putting a tube down the animal’s throat, but in the late stages it may be necessary to punch a hole in the rumen. If you see one of your herd looking like a swelled-up balloon, call your veterinarian immediately.

Colds

Cattle can catch head colds just as humans do, complete with a cough and runny nose. As long as the sick animal is eating well, breathing normally, and not showing any obvious signs of discomfort, you can allow the cold to run its course. But if symptoms worsen, call your veterinarian. Especially in young calves, a cold can turn into pneumonia.

Diarrhea (Scours)

Most often seen in young calves, scours is caused either by a bacterial infection or a virus. In older calves or feed-lot steers, it’s often caused by a coccidiosis (bacterial) infection. Knowing the cause is not as important as treating the resulting dehydration, which is the primary killer of calves with scours. If you see a calf with watery diarrhea, call your veterinarian.

Foot Rot

Caused by a bacteria and most common where cattle are kept in muddy or wet areas, foot rot makes cattle lame. The area just above the hoof or between the toes may swell, and often the animal will lose its appetite. Untreated foot rot can affect joints and tendons and may cause permanent lameness. Foot rot is treated with antibiotics.

Hardware Disease

Cattle often consume some weird stuff along with their hay and pasture, including fencing nails, sticks, bits of wire, and other small metal objects. Usually the junk winds up in the animal’s reticulum, the second chamber of the stomach, and causes no harm. Occasionally, a sharp piece of metal will work its way into and even through the wall of the stomach, sometimes as far as the adjacent heart sac and diaphragm. This can cause infection and death.

Many times, a cattle owner will feed an animal a cow magnet (available at farm-supply stores) if he or she suspects hardware disease, hoping that any stray metal will stick to the magnet and stay in the stomach. If you notice that an animal has gone off its feed and is acting abnormally, hardware disease is a possibility. Call your veterinarian.

Laminitis (Founder)

Laminitis is a severe inflammation of the hoof that can cause the hoof wall to separate from the underlying structure of the hoof and lead to permanent lameness and deformity. Any animal displaying sudden severe lameness should be examined for laminitis.

The causes of laminitis range from the aforementioned acidosis to other shocks to the system, such as having to suddenly walk a long way over rough ground or taking a too-big drink of cold water. Fortunately, laminitis is uncommon in beef cattle, but if a case occurs among your cattle, call your veterinarian.

Lumpy Jaw

The fungus that causes lumpy jaw, actinomycosis, is naturally occurring in the environment and usually does no harm unless it gains entry to an animal’s mouth tissues through a cut or sore. An animal with lumpy jaw will have a painful swelling on either the upper or lower jaw. As the swelling increases, chewing becomes painful, and the animal loses its appetite, which then results in weight loss. Treatment of lumpy jaw should be handled by a veterinarian.

Mastitis

A bacterial infection of the udder, mastitis causes abnormal-looking milk as well as a painful udder and sometimes fever. A nursing cow with an udder that is abnormally swollen on one side or one quarter should be examined for mastitis. Untreated mastitis can turn into a dangerous systemic infection. Prevent mastitis by keeping cows on clean bedding or pasture.

Navel Infection

When a newborn calf’s navel is contaminated with feces or mud, a bacterial infection can result. Symptoms are swelling around the navel, followed by loss of appetite, diarrhea, and fever over the course of a few days or weeks. The infection may eventually affect the calf’s joints or form abscesses in other parts of the body.

Treatment of navel infection is difficult, so prevention is the best policy. See that calves are born on clean bedding or pasture. If calving conditions are less than ideal, navels of newborn calves should be dipped in iodine as soon after birth as possible.

Pinkeye (Infectious Bovine Keratoconjunctivitis)

Pinkeye is a contagious and painful eye infection that causes swelling, mattering (discharge), and watering of the eyes. Pinkeye is carried by face flies.

Most cattle recover from pinkeye without treatment within about three weeks, but some cases can cause permanent eye damage or even blindness. Serious cases can be treated with antibiotics on the advice of your veterinarian.

Pneumonia

Pneumonia is a respiratory disease that often follows a period of high stress or another illness that has lowered an animal’s resistance. Symptoms are labored breathing, coughing, fever, and listlessness.

Pneumonia is a primary killer of young calves, and any calf showing symptoms should be immediately moved to somewhere warm and dry and given plenty of water to drink. Pneumonia affects all ages, and any sign of it should prompt a call to your veterinarian.

Poisoning (Toxic Plants)

There is a long list of plants found in pastures that are poisonous to cattle. Fortunately, cattle usually won’t eat these toxic plants, but if you recently moved your cattle to a new pasture or started feeding them hay from a different source and some of them suddenly take sick, suspect plant poisoning.

Symptoms of poisoning vary widely, depending on the plant that caused it, and can run the gamut from constipation to diarrhea or from extreme nervousness to total collapse. Call your veterinarian if you suspect poisoning. Obtain a list of problem plants that are common in your region from your local agricultural extension agent and be sure to get those plants out of your pastures.

Tuberculosis

A respiratory disease, tuberculosis is contagious to people, and infected cattle must be destroyed.

Cattle infected with tuberculosis often show no symptoms at all, but watch for a chronic cough and labored breathing. Stay informed of any tuberculosis cases in your area through your veterinarian or your extension agent.

Warts

Cattle warts are most common on the head, neck, and udder but can appear anywhere on the body. Treatment generally isn’t necessary or recommended, and most warts will eventually disappear on their own.