*5 Ask the
■ VMD jm
Leon Riegel
If yon have a question yon
would like answered by the
team from Valley Animal
Hospital, send it to Ask the
VMD, Box 386, Lltitz, Pa.
17543. Questions will be kept
anonymous on request
Shots for Shipping Fever
A reader asks:
Every year I buy feeder
cattle and I always lose
some to shipping fever. Is
there a shot I can give to
save my animals?
Dr. Trayer comments:
Shipping fever had been
traditionally thought of as a
disease process that oc
curred when calves were
weaned from the cows,
shipped to feedlots, and upon
arriving were running
fevers.
Today, shipping fever is
better understood as bovine
respiratory complex which
causes a pneumonia-like
condition in cattle.
Stress, along with a
bacterial component and a
viral component act together
in the development of the
bovine pneumonia complex
inthefeedlot.
A stressful situation was
previously thought of as
moving the calf weaning
it, putting it in a truck, and
dumping it in the feedlot. In
that situation, the young calf
that only the day before was
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sucking on its mother’s milk
is not confronted with silage
and a trough just above nose
level that contains
medicated water.
Nowadays the defination
of stress is not as strict. It is
anything that changes from
the normal for the animal
simply the separation of the
calf from the cow by a fence
can be stressful enough to
set up the complex.
The practice of running
calves through a chute to do
multiple procedures on
them, like castration,
delousing, de worming,
dehoming, and vaccination,
can also stress the animals
and lower their resistance to
the bacterial and viral
components of shipping
fever.
The bacterial components
are usually of two common
types: Pasturella
hemolytica and Pasturella
multocida. Under normal
conditions, these bacteria
can be found as common
residents in the bovine lung
or trachea.
These bacteria are not
considered to precipitate
pneumonia but are con
sidered to be secondary
invaders. When the animal is
stressed and has a viral
component where its body
temperature is elevated and
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its resistance is reduce,
these bacteria kick in and
produce a whitish discharge
from the nose.
This mucous indicates that
in the lungs there is a body
reaction to the bacterial
infection. The white blood
cells are in there fighting a
battle and hopefully win
ning.
One of the key pneumonia
causing component is the
viral agent that the animal is
exposed to and has not
developed a full immunity
to. The most common one is
Infectious bovine
rhinotracheitis.
So, it is the stress, bac
teria, and virus working
together that creates the
environment for a full-blown
pneumonia.
There is no single shot
available that works all the
time to combat pneumonia.
And there is no antibiotic
that is economical for
common use in fighting viral
pneumonias.
Even if you used all the
antibiotics you wanted, they
would have no effect on the
elevated body temperature,
105-107 degrees Farenheit,
caused by the virus. This is
where the aspirin therapy
comes into play.
The antibiotic therapy is
indicated where the bac-
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Needed antibiotics can be
either administered through
the water and/or in the
muscle. This will have to be
determined by how stale the
animal is how many sales
bams has it been through?
how farm down has the
pneumonia taken it?
Too often the veterinarian
is only called in three weeks
after the pneumonia has
started. Animals that came
on the feed lot and seemed to
be doing alright suddenly
appear to be hanging back
and not doing well.
What has probably hap-
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terial component is strongly
interacting with the lung.
Then, an effective antibiotic
is needed at the proper
dosage and at the proper
time.
The most common
mistakes in treating bovine
respiratory complex are:
using the wrong antibiotic,
using the wrong dosage level
and using it for two short a
time.
My recommendation is
that the animal be treated at
least three days (better if
five) with an effective an
tibiotic at the right dosage
level. Talk to your
veterinarian for recom
mendations and don’t skimp
on the medication. Bacterias
and viruses can develop
resistance to antibiotics if
used improperly. '
Treatment of shipping
fever should be multiple
course.
If the animal is running a
high temperature, indicative
of a viral infection, aspirin
should be administered
orally.
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Lancaster Farming, Saturday, October 18,1980—A13
pened was the animals were
given a single shot of an
tibiotic along with
medicated water for two
days, and were supposedly
cured. In the meanwhile, the
bacterial component was
smoldering and abcessmg in
the lungs.
After three weeks, the
animals’ lung capacities are
greatly reduced and signs of
shipping fever are visible in
the puffing livestock, just
barely able to move around.
At this stage there is very
little that can be done
because the damage in the
lung is too severe.
What can be done to
prevent shipping fever?
On arrival of feeder
animals, I recommend they
be given only fresh water, no
medication, for twenty-four
hours. They should be fed a
bulky ration rather than high
concentrates oats and
timothy hay, or some type of
hay mix. Gradually work
into the steamed up rations
with additives, and all.
The ideal way to purchase
feeder stock is to find a
cow/calf operator and work
out a financial contract for
the calves to be started out
properly.
Two to three weeks prior
to shipping, the calves
should be weaned, castrated,
deloused, dewormed,
dehorned and vaccinated for
shipping fever. They should
also be put on a ration and
introduced to the hunk
feeder and waterer
backgrounding.
Six clear days
speed work
HARRISBURG - Penn
sylvania farmers took ad
vantage of six days of dear
weather to continue field
work and harvest activities
during the week ending
October 12, according to the
Pennsylvania Crop
Reporting Service.
Harvest continued in
vegetables, fruit, potatoes,
com, soybeans and silage
com. Other farm activities
included baling hay, seeding
wheat and barley, filling
silos and general farm
chores.
Apple and grape harvest
progressed, with the apple
crop rated as good to fair.
Potato harvest is now 89
percent complete, ahead of
the 84 percent complete last
year. Northern potato far
mers reported harvested at
86 percent complete, central
growers at 88 percent, and
southern growers reported
harvest at 95 percent
complete.
Silage com harvest stood
at 88 percent complete
statewide, compared to 68
percent a year ago.
Throughout the Com
monwealth, corn for grain is
now 64 percent mature and
27 percent harvested,
compared to 61 percent
mature and six percent
harvested last year.
A five-year average shows
com for grain to be 61 per
cent mature and 12 percent
harvested at this time.
Soybean harvest stands at
18 percent, compared to less
than five percent last year.
Northern farmers report 27
percent of soybeans har
vested, central farmers
report 12 percent harvested
and southern fanners report
ten percent harvested at this
time.
In states other \than
Pennsylvania, background
ing the calves is a certified
program with veterinary
supervision guaranteeing
that the extra cost of the
feeder calves is justified
because all of the health
plans were followed.
This does not mean,
however, that these certified
cattle never get bovine
respiratory complex. But
data from other states in
dicates the problems are less
less death loss and
shrinkage.
It is important to plan
ahead and keep your
veterinarian involved and
informed when purchasing
and moving cattle so that the
needed antibiotics can be on
hand.
Dairy cattle can also
experience pneumonia.
However, exposure to the
virus can be reduced by
keeping young animals, less
than six months, away from
adult dairy cows.
Calves should not be ex
posed to moisture and
droplets coming from
respiratory tracts of mature
animals. These droplets may
contain bacteria and viruses
that the adult cow is immune
to but that the calves have no
defense against.
Protecting against this
exposure is why calf hutches
have become such a big
bonus in the operation of the
big dairy producer,
providing a healthier en
vironment for calves.
Fall plowing is now 87
percent completed, on a par
with last year. Plowing is 88
percent complete in nor
thern and central areas and
83 percent complete in the
south.
Wheat planting increased
to 75 percent, two percent
behind last year’s progress.
Northern areas are now 95
percent planted, central
region farms are at 79
percent and southern farms
stand at 47 percent planted.
Barley planting is now at
93 percent complete, com
pared to 92 percent last year.
Northern and central
regions reported 97 percent
planted, while southern
farms reported 86 percent of
the barley crop planted.
Third cutting of alfalfa is
Virtually complete, ahead of
last year’s 94 percent at this
time. Fourth cutting ad
vanced slightly to 57 percent
complete, behind the 72
percent of fourth cutting
completed a year ago.
The qualify of hay made
during the week was rated as
fair to good throughout the
state. Feed from pastures
was rated as below average
to average. A few farmers
reported above average feed
from pastures.
Pasture in the north was
rated as 50 percent below
average, 38 percent average
and 12 percent above
average. Central pastures
were rated 78 percent below
average and 22 percent
average, while southern
pasture feed was rated 60
percent below average, 20
percent average and 20
percent above average.
Soil moisture levels were
rated as mostly short to
adequate statewide.