SALMONELLA DUBLIN: A surge in cases
Just a heads up: There have been a surge in local (and national) cases of Salmonella. Here's a bit of a reminder about what to look out for.
Salmonella is a bacteria that causes a significant impact on productivity and welfare in infected cattle herds. Importantly, the organism also has zoonotic potential so humans can become infected by contact with muck, milk and secretions from affected cows.
Signs of Salmonella can be very different on different farms and with different strains. On some farms we see abortions in the adult herd, on others diarrhoea that can affect all ages, sometimes infections shows as swollen painful joints and septicaemia. Just lately we've seen infections in calves and cows showing as a severe pneumonia that's unresponsive to the usual pneumonia meds, with some severely affected calves developing meningitis and resulting in some deaths.
Infections can also be less severe and show as poor growth rates, ill-thrift and increased susceptibility to other calf diseases like cocci or viral pneumonia. Occasionally we see the loss of skin at the ear tips as a side effect of the sepsis.
There is a bit of seasonality with Salmonella infections - with a spike usually seen in Autumn
Salmonella dublin:
Infection starts when susceptible calves ingest the bacteria shed by infected cows or calves. After colonising the guts, S. dublin can spread through the bloodstream into lungs, liver, spleen, joints or lymph nodes. The most common presenting sign of S. Dublin infections is pneumonia in calves between 2 to 12 weeks of age. These calves have high temperatures with severe pneumonia but don't seem to respond to the usual pneumonia treatments. Calves that survive the infection have a high chance of becoming carriers for life.
Carrier Cattle:
The carrier status is a well-recognised complication of Salmonella dublin infection. Infected cattle may shed the bacterium constantly, temporarily or may become a latent carrier. Latent carriers can temporarily shed the bacteria in faeces during times of stress (e.g. at calving) and infect naïve animals. Active carriers will also shed in higher numbers around periods of stress.
What can we do in an outbreak situation?
- Isolate infected individuals
- Treat affected individuals quickly with antibiotics, anti-inflammatory and fluids
- Make sure calves have a good start with colostrum, and are reared in clean, dry, airy calf pens.
- Strict hygiene in place to stop the spread to healthy calves and cows: always feed youngest to oldest and then poorly ones last.
- Improve hygiene in calving yards: infected cows shed the bacteria and infect calves at calving so plenty of clean straw in there 24/7
- Vaccination - start ASAP to get some immunity into the remaining healthy cattle
- Stop the spread to humans: make sure everyone is reminded about wearing gloves and hand washing
- Buying in cattle is a significant risk: make sure you discuss and plan herd biosecurity and quarantine protocols
HFV BULK MILK TESTING:
All our dairy herds have 2 free bulk milk Salmonella tests per year which we build into our quarterly infectious disease testing program - but given the local situation all herds will have an extra FOC bulk milk test in December just to double check. We will be collecting these on our rounds over the next week or so.
You know where we are if you have any concerns about calves not doing as they should, or not responding as you'd like to pneumonia treatments. Salmonella can be quite subtle in the early stages.
ORAL FLUIDS IN COWS: Why? Who? What? How?
As vets we often use oral fluids as part of our treatment protocols for poorly cows - correcting dehydration makes a huge difference to their recovery. Increasingly more and more of you have a stomach pump on farm to use too - so here's a reminder about how to use the pump for best results.
WHO?
Any sick cow would benefit from oral fluids, but in particularly:
- Freshly calved cows
- Sick cows
- Toxic mastitis cases
- Post-op
- Diarrhoea
- Ketosis
- Poor appetite
- Poor rumination on tags or collars
WHAT?
There are a lot of different sachets and liquids you can add to the water you pump into the cow - we stock the whole Selekt range. If you are going to pump a freshly calved cow, make sure you use a Fresh Cow 500 sachet as this one doesn't contain Potassium. Potassium supplementation is very important in sick/inappetent cows, but blocks the uptake of calcium so don't use Off-feed or Restore in the first 48 hours after calving.
Make sure the water you add to these sachets is warm and there's at least 20 litres of it.
SELEKT RESTORE:
- use for dehydrated & toxic cows
- purely rehydration
- DO NOT USE IN FRESHLY CALVED COWS
SELEKT OFF FEED:
- use for cows with reduced appetite
- rehydration + potassium + gentian root + yeast to help rumen bugs
- DO NOT USE IN FRESHLY CALVED COWS
SELEKT ANTACID:
- use for cows with scour, undigested muck or acidosis
- rehydration + bicarb + yeast + ispaghula husk to protect rumen surface
SELEKT FRESH COW 500:
- use for milk fever cows, or freshly calved cows
- contains no potassium which could interfere with calcium uptake
- rehydration + calcium + mag + energy + yeast
SELEKT GLYCEROL PLUS:
- use for cows with ketosis
- two forms of energy + yeast to support rumen bugs
- needs to be dissolved in at least 10 litres of water to activate the glycerol
HOW?
Here's a video with Tom Pemberton showing how to pass a stomach tube into a cow safely:
The single most important thing to remember is to feel and see the tube go down the left side of her neck - we can demonstrate this next time we're at yours so everyone is happy with the procedure.
THE PUMP:
There are a few different pumps available - the one below is the Selekt pump which comes with a lifetime of free servicing. These cost £256 ex vat.
The other option we have is a Bovivet Stomach pump which is the one our vets use - this has a separate metal pump and flexible piping and costs £280 ex VAT.
MILK FEVER: is low phosphorous keeping them down?
Milk fever prevention is key to getting freshly calved cows off to a good start. Most of you will be controlling milk fever well with your dry cow ration, but the occasional case still gets through.
If you've got a milk fever case that hasn't got up after calcium supplementation it could be low phosphorous that is now the problem, not a shortage of calcium.
What does a low phosphorous cow look like?
- Freshly calved cow
- Can't get up despite calcium supplementation
- Weak on hind legs
- "Crawler" cows
Vigophos:
Vigophos is our treatment of choice for low phosphorous in a treated milk fever cow. Cows should respond to 30-50ml given into the vein (can be added to the calcium bottle). Vigophos also contains vitamin B12 which is an appetite stimulant and useful alongside treatments in sick cows, ketotic cows and post op too.
HFV Meds Update:
Footvax is back in stock!
For those of you who have been waiting on stock for Footvax - it's back in good supply and in all bottle sizes.
Kriptazen replaces Halagon
Some of you have been using Halagon to good effect over the past 12 months to control crypto in young calves. We've made a swap over to Kriptazen - same product, same dose rate, same price - but the dosing pump is much better quality and gives a more accurate dose. Kriptazen comes complete with the dosing pump or as a refill 980ml bottle.
UbroStar Red stock shortages
You might have heard there are some national shortages of UbroStar Red dry cow tubes - we've still got plenty in stock to cover this month in both the herd packs and the 20's. Stock should start filtering back mid December so don't worry about the January dry offs just yet!
Zactran now available in 250ml bottles
Christmas Meds Orders:
If you could do with a restock before Christmas, please send across your drug orders as normal via WhatsApp, text or give your vet a call and we will get them dropped off as usual. Some of the wholesalers will be on limited deliveries between Christmas and New Year but we'll cover this with extra stock held in our pharmacy at HFV.
Merry Christmas!
We'd like to take this opportunity to thank all our clients for their continued support and wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
As always, we will be just at the end of the phone if you need anything at all over the festive period.
01630 810016
Paula, Tom & Amy
GET IN TOUCH:
Paula: 07764 747855 paula@haywoodfarmvets.com
Tom: 07837 291097 tom@haywoodfarmvets.com
Amy: 07507 656747 amy@haywoodfarmvets.com
Enquiries: mail@haywoodfarmvets.com
Website: haywoodfarmvets.com
Open hours: M-F 08:30 - 16:30
Out of Hours: 01630 810016