Fodder Beet Feeding in Late Lactation

Feeding up to 5-6kg of Fodder Beet (FB) in late lactation has multiple benefits.

• It allows the round to be extended, with a relatively cheap supplement.

• Is very good for encouraging condition gain.

• Cows are partially transitioned before heading off farm for the winter.

Providing that there is still a significant quality grass portion in the diet (9 kg plus), it is unlikely that at 5-6kg/DM of FB that cows will be protein deprived. However, at 5-6kg of FB in the diet, a lactating cow still producing 1.7kg of MS will be in a negative balance for Calcium. She will be drawing on bone stores and have a higher chance of clinical milk fever. Calcium supplementation (~150g lime-flour cow/day) is important to maintain health and production, and reduce bone calcium exhaustion before the next lactation.

One problem that we repeatedly see with FB transition is the creation of space for cows to get onto the crop. Creating a headland in the crop by using a Beet bucket and feeding this in the paddock initially works very well. Once on a crop, a herd needs 1 linear metre/cow on the face and 6 square metres (minimum) of room/cow on the headland.

Cows should start on an allocation of not more than 1-2kg/cow/day. Maintain this for 3 days until all cows are eating and then increase by 1kg every second day. Cows are best to go onto the crop hungry to encourage shy eaters.

Using an ‘increasing time allocation technique’ and using a big, long break (6-7m2/cow) to enter a paddock can be risky. Those that use it usually start with 15 minutes (precisely!) and increase the time by 5 minutes every 3 days. Once a long headland is established (fully eaten), then move to using accurate measured daily allocations. Use a stop-watch and wait with the cows!

When setting an allocation, it is easiest to calculate if the fence is shifted parallel to the rows. Cows will graze 12-18 inches under the wire so will effectively always be eating the next row.

Train the cows to stay and eat their allocation. Even if most is eaten in 20 minutes, cows should stay on the break for 2-3 hours so they all learn that they need to eat.

Never allow beet to build up in a break. You have over allocated and need to pull back. Day 7-10 on crop is where problems often occur when cows will suddenly click and eat the accumulated surplus.

You must accurately measure your crop yield to enable accurate per cow allocation!

Small Changes for a Big Impact in Lameness Reduction

Daily lame cow numbers aren’t quite up there with Omicron cases, but they’re certainly not reducing. With the nature of the weather this year, neither the cows, nor farm staff, are getting a break when it comes to lameness. While the weather has played a large part in the increased numbers, lameness is of course multifactorial. It is hard during the milking season to make infrastructure changes to tracks, so remembering the impact humans have on lameness is important in keeping numbers as low as possible even with other on-going issues:

1. Walking distances – older, heavier cows should ideally be walking the least distance on the farm. With many people on 16 hourly or similar the distance cows are walking is already reduced, but still consider trying to keep at risk cows in paddocks closer to the shed. As ever, cows in a lame mob should be as close as possible.

2. Standing times – starting milking as soon as is practically possible after cows have been collected is a good tool in reducing lameness. Decreased pressure on feet means smaller chance of white line separation and subsequent lameness

3. Feed management – do lame cows go skinny or do skinny cows go lame? This could be an article in itself. Keeping cows in good body condition will maintain a good fat pad in the foot which protects the bone in the foot from damage and lameness

4. Pushing cows – maintaining distance and bringing cows in at a relaxed pace will allow the cows to be a bit more selective on where they walk on deteriorating tracks. Cows will naturally slow down walking on poor tracks so allowing a bit more time than normal when bringing in cows and not getting frustrated at a slower pace could save a case or two of lameness every day.

5. Cow flow – hopefully at this stage in the season cow flow in and out of the shed should be good. Keep top gate use to a minimum or not at all. Backing gate shouldn’t be used in the first 20 minutes of milking and should either be set on a timer thereafter or moved a small amount after a certain number of cows have been milked. The backing gate should only ever be used to close space on a yard – never to physically move cows.

6. Collecting yard – make sure the collecting yard is properly hosed down after each milking and ready for the next. Lots of stones are being brought on to yards just now and getting rid of them is a huge help in reducing lameness.

7. Treatment –early, effective treatment of lame cows is still the most powerful tool in helping reduce future lameness. Using blocks or cow slips gives the damaged hoof chance for repair. Administering an anti-inflammatory (such as ketomax) will help decrease chances of permanent change within the hoof and also provide pain relief to lame cows.

Lameness in a season like this can certainly be overwhelming and it’s a depressing sight to see big numbers in the lame cow mob. If you need help with treating cows, please don’t hesitate to ring us.

Correctly Identifying the Lame Claw

Over the years I have witnessed multiple occasions where farm staff have attacked hooves with knives, grinders and hoof trimmers before correctly determining the site of lameness. This will have frequently resulted in an exacerbation of the overall lameness in the cow.

Before putting any lame cows into the crush, it is important to determine which leg is affected. Our vets tend to record these on a recording sheet. Look for:

• obvious swelling (and hoof shape)

• weight bearing while standing still (the lame foot will be positioned so not to carry as much load)

• a head nod while walking in the case of front leg lameness

• the stride length and speed (the lame leg will have a short stride before taking weight, then the sound leg swings through with a longer stride and is weight loaded for longer.

Once you have determined the lame leg, have tied it up, washed it down and checked for footrot, use hoof testers to confirm where the lameness is located. This simple tool works by squeezing and putting pressure on the claw. Watch for a repeatable pain response which is easy to recognise in the hind legs by a tensing of the ‘hamstring’ muscles and the front legs by a tensing of the shoulders. Cows with sole bruising will often have very soft hooves and you will see that the testers easily depress the sole. If there is no response to either claw to hoof testers, then chances are you either have the wrong foot or the cause of lameness is located further up the leg.

Yersinia in Calves

In December we start to see outbreaks of Yersinia in weaned calves, typically from post-weaning through to about May. Yersinia bacteria are found in the intestines of most calves – 85% of herds (calves) have Yersinia as a normal gut resident. Stress/immunosuppression associated with parasites, nutrition, trace element deficiencies and BVD may result in an overgrowth of this bug in the intestines. Overgrowth results in a severe scour. Because of a constantly irritated bowel, faeces are often seen dribbling down on to the back legs.

As infection spreads, so does infection pressure and faecal-oral transmission then occurs. Large percentages of a mob are often affected severely checking growth rates. Mortality rates of 5-10% are not uncommon. Faecal culture confirms the diagnosis; however, a presumptive diagnosis can often be made on history and clinical signs. Isolation of affected animals to reduce the spread and treatment with oxytetracycline antibiotic for 3-5 days is an effective treatment/control.

Rare Presentation of an Acute Severe Aspiration Pneumonia

Earlier this month the after-hours team received a rather unusual call to examine a bloated cow struggling to breathe. Although this initially did not sound too out of the ordinary, across the district we had been seeing a few cases of bloat with the lush spring grass. However this case was different with the farmer was reporting the cow to have a face like a bull and be looking like a hippo.

Upon arrival it was quickly apparent this was no regular bloated cow. This cow had a large amount of air trapped under her skin extending across her whole body, including under her eyelids, over the hocks and udder. She had quite literally been turned into a walking drum, where tapping her skin would make a sound.

With there not being any possible treatment course to remedy this cows situation she was euthanized. A post mortem examination performed to allow for diagnosis and an explanation of how such a situation had occurred. The entire subcutaneous tissue (under the skin) has been filled with air creating a bubble wrap like appearance. A large majority of the lung tissue had been destroyed creating large air pockets between normal lung tissues. With the help of histology testing through the laboratory it was determined that the process had been started by aspiration of feed material causing a degree of airway blockage. This would have then allows the secondary complication of air leaking into/around the lungs. With each breath in, air would have traveled down into the lungs, then the air would have been escaping out of the lungs in to the chest. Then every breath out would have acted like a foot pump pushing air out the neck and under the skin, essentially blowing up the cow like a balloon from the inside.

It is not unheard of for this process to occur, in which damage to lungs allows air to escape under the skin. However this particular case was rather severe example of this due to the degree of damage resulting in such a severe presentation. Typically aspiration pneumonia presents as a sick cow, off milk/losing condition, she may have a fever and abnormal lung sounds and on post mortem examination often abscess formation within the lungs. This particular case did not have any abscess within the lungs, this is likely due to the rapid time line not having time for abscess to have formed.

The proper diagnosis would be an acute severe aspiration pneumonia with obstruction of bronchioles/broncholi leading to severe interlobular and pulmonary emphysema and secondary severe generalized subcutaneous emphysema. All in all, a very unlucky cow and a very interesting case. If you or someone on your farm finds an interesting case you would like to discuss, or investigate further, please do not hesitate to get in contact with one of our experienced team.