Cattle AHW Flashcards
What are the meanings of the following terms:
- Herd
•Bull.
•Bullock, steer
•Heifer.
•Cow
•Cull.
Collective name for cattle
Male, Entire
Male, Castrated
Female, not calved
Female, calved
Removed from herd
How should you place a kick bar
One end under flap of skin under on hind leg, then hook other end over spinal processes
Explain how you would gate trap/ halter
- Approach from behind shoulder and place ears, furthest ear first
- Guide under the chin and tighten
- Wrap rope round bar twice for more control
Tied using a quick release knot
Explain how you would do nosing for cattle
- Stand next to shoulder and reach over the neck to reduce upwards movement of the head
- Hand placed in front of far eye
- Use knee to prevent animal dropping head to the floor
Grab nostrils using thumb and middle to fingers, to pull head back towards you (similar to first step of casting)
What is calf drenching and how do you do it?
It is used to administer colostrum to calves that can’t suckle
Use stomach tubing, in oesphoguys not trachea
Can check its in the right place because you would hear gurgling, and shouldn’t be able to feel tubing in neck
How quickly do calves need colostrum
4 litres within 2 hours after birth
What are the rules surrounding tagging cattle?
- BEEF —> both tags before 21 days old
- DAIRY —> primary before 36 hrs old, secondary before 21 days.
How/ when do you obtain passport for cattle?
Newborn cattle get passport when birth is registered
Must register before cattle reach 27 days old
What is a burdizzo?
Method of closed castration
Proceed to clamp one spermatic cord halfway between the testicle and the belly wall. While the cord is clamped, feel to make sure that the cord has not slipped and hold the clamp for 10 seconds. Repeat this procedure with the other spermatic cord approximately 1 cm below the crush line of the other cord. Should not be in direct line with each other, as this damages scrotum
Testes will shrivel up over time, but scrotum will remain intact .,m
What is an emasculator?
Method of open castration
Scrotal skin is cut with a scalpel
Crushes and cuts spermatic cord
Generally used for slightly older calves
What is disbudding and why is it used?
Uses a disbudding iron to damage/burn skin around the horn.
Local anaesthetic must be used
Used as cattle with horns could damage people or other herd mates
How does tuberculosis testing work within in cattle?
Uses McLintock syringes
Avian tuberculin is red
Bovine tuberculin is blue
Avian- above
Bovine- below
Skin is measured using callipers to see if any swelling has developed
What is the function of rumen cannulas and how do they work?
Used to release excess gas from the rumen
Spike is driven through left paralumbar fossa
What are the 8 different methods to restraining a cow?
- Chemical sedation
- Trapping in crushes
- Nosing
- Haltering
- Gate trapping
- Casting
- Kick bars
- Lifting the tail
What are the natural behaviours of cattle?
Herd animals with a predominately linear hierarchical group structure.
•Social interactions are important
•Creatures of habit that like routine
•Learn and adapt quickly
•Inquisitive and curious1
•Ranging herbivores prone to attack by predators
Whar is the normal rectal temperature of a cow?
38.5C
Over 39.5C could be a sign of infection
What is normal heart rate of a cow?
48 to 84 bpm
When is a beef cow culled?
12-36 months
What is a busk calf?
A calf sold at weaning: 6-10 months old.
What is a dry cow?
A dairy cow that is in a stage of their lactation cycle where milk production ceases prior to calving
Name 8 different dairy breeds?
Jersey
Guernsey
Brown Swiss
British Friesian
North American holdstein
Ayrshire
Montbeliard
Holstein Friesan cross
Name 8 different beef breeds?
Simmental
Aberdeen Angus
Hereford
Charolais
Welsh black
Belgian blue
Limousin
Belted Galloway
What is the benefit of dairy- beef crossbreeds?
The advantage of dairy-beef crosses is that they tend to inherit the beef muscle and conformation and the good milk production traits which ensure they produce plenty of milk for their calf
What age are dairy bull calves weaned
5-10 weeks
What age are dairy bull calves sent to slaughter for meat
13-14months
What are the advantages and disadvantages of spring calving?
Sucklers (calf) will not require any additional feed, as cows will produce enough milk due to the cows having enough grass and forage
However, weather is a problem and may need to be housed indoors which causes health problems. Contraception rate is lower in summer.
Prices aren’t as good
What age are beef cows weaned in spring and autumn calving seasons?
Spring- 6 months
Autumn- 9-10 months
What is the slowest growing cow for meat?
Beef heifer
What is the barley beef system?
Barley beef is an intensive beef production system. They are housed continuously and fed a diet of rolled barley, with a small amount of protein and a little roughage. They are then sent for slaughter at around 12 months old
What affects the purchase price of cattle?
weight, sex, breed, and age
What affects the price of milk?
milk volume,
supply pattern (everyday collection vs every other day collection),
milk composition including the content of milk solids (fat and protein),
hygiene,
Somatic cell count (SCC); the number of white blood cells per ml of milk,
the number of bacteria per ml of milk (Bactoscan),
antibiotic contamination,
and water contamination
When is a dairy heifer weaned
10-12 weeks
How old is a dairy heifer when it first is mated?
15-20 months
How long after calving do the dairy cows continue lactating
10 months
What is dry period
Point where cow doesn’t produce milk as she prepares for calving
How long is dry period
6-8 weeks
What does mastitis milk look like?
Watery, discoloured or clotted
What is the legality of castrating with a rubber band in UK?
Must be done within 7 days of birth
What are pros of castrating bulls?
Uncastrated males tend to have a much stronger flavoured meat, not good
The meat is also generally leaner and drier, leading to decreased tenderness
Entire males are more aggressive to humans as well as their own species.
removes the risk of unwanted sexual activity and accidental mating where males and females are housed together.
What are the three methods of castrating cattle and their legailities?
Rubber ring - this cuts off the blood supply to the testes and scrotum, which dry up and drop off. Calf has to be done less than 1 week old
Bloodless castration (using a device such as a Ritchey nipper or Burdizzo) - these are used to crush the spermatic cord, the tube leading from the testes to the penis, and the surrounding vessels which leads to loss of blood supply to the testes. Only under 2 months old
Surgical castration - where the scrotum is cut to reveal the testes which are then removed by twisting, cutting or tearing. Must be done with a vet and anaesthetic
When is disbudding done
2-6 weeks old
What are the two methods of disbudding?
Chemical disbudding- using caustic coda, can cause tissue damage if spreads- only under 1 week calves
Hot iron- must use anesthetic
What are common causes of lameness in cows?
digital dermatitis, White Line Disease, sole haemorrhage, ulcer, interdigital necrobacillosis (Foul in the foot).
What are the causes of calf scour in calves
Age of calf Clinical signs Possible diagnosis
Young calves 1-5 days Acute yellow / white colour E. coli (Bacteria)
1-2 weeks, old 5-14 days Severe scour Rotavirus/Coronavirus
Few weeks old, 5-21 days Variable/intermittent scour
Zoonosis Cryptosporidium (PARASITE)
Any age High fever
Scour with blood
Death, Zoonosis Salmonella (Bacteria)
Older calves > 18 days Scour with blood/mucus
Straining Coccidiosis (PARASITE)
What is calf scour>
Poor growth rates
Damages the cells lining the gut, reducing absorption of nutrients and increased fluid loss
What is calf pneumonia
Calf pneumonia or Bovine Respiratory Disease (BRD) is a complex, multi-factorial disease which results in inflammation and damage to the tissues of the lungs and respiratory tract. It is the most common reason for poor performance and death in growing calves1
How to treat calf scour
Give oral electrolytes
With sodium, chloride, potassium and glucose
How to treat calf pneumonia
use anti-inflammatory injections plus an antibiotic.
What are the four parts of the cows stomach called?
rumen, reticulum, omasum and abomasu
Why should sudden diet changes be avoided for cows?
microflora and fauna (bacteria) in the rumen take 2 weeks to adapt to changes and won’t be able to break it down; resulting in diarrhoea.
What is the optimum ph of the rumen
6.5
What is important when planning the diet of a cow?
you should not overestimate the dry matter intake, and ensure that there is suffient protein and energy in the diet, as well as minerals and vitamins.
What is the Effective rumen degradable proteins (ERDP)
the amount of protein degraded (broken down) in the rumen.
What are the digestible undegradible proteins (DUP).
Proteins that are digestible but not degraded in the rumen
Why do cows lose weight in the last trimester?
Cows eat less in the last trimester of pregnancy as there’s less space in rumen to digest food due to the size of the foetus. This means they lose weight as energy is being taken from fat scores instead.
Why is it important cows get a mixture of straw, cereal, grass, pasture etc.
they range from long fibres and different energy concentrations. Straw sits longer in the rumen and takes up more space than leafy pasture, but gives energy over longer period of time and maintains rumen ph.
What is milk fever and signs/ treatment?
Calcium deficiency
Usually presents as extreme muscle weakness in young calves and often results in sudden death. Treated by advimistering calcium salts via IM or SC.
What are signs and treatment for magnesium deficiency?
Signs of magnesium deficiency include a staggering gait and often caused by adding fertilisers to the pasture.
What are the different types of grazing?
Paddock grazing- • divide a field into smaller paddocks
* frequently rotate livestock around the paddocks
* rest each paddock from grazing, to allow the grass to recover
Continuous grazing- animals are in field constantly grazing, but number of animals is changed depending on condition of pasture
Zero grazing- no animals are in field, so no grazing takes place
Set stocking - has unrestricted access to a wide area throughout the grazing season
Strip grazing- having moveable fences to allow animals to move and be contained, based on the quality of the pasture.
How long post partum can dairy cows conceive?
50 days
What is the maximum somatic cell count (white blood cell) allowed in milk>
400,000 per ml
What are the main two types of lameness?
Disorders of sole and hoof horn
Infectious diseases on skin adajevent to hoof
What is a locomotive score?
qualitative index of a cows ability to walk normally. Visually scored on a scale of 1 to 5 (Table 1), where a score of 1 reflects a cow that walks normally and a score of 5 reflects a cow that is three-legged lame, a locomotion score is made in a few seconds per cow.
When is sole bruising most common and what causes it?
120 days post calving and is normally caused by too much walking on hard surfaces or ineadequate foot trimming.
What causes foot rot?
an infectious disease caused by either standing in wet, muddy conditions or going straight from wet to dry conditions very quickly.
How can digital dermatitis be prevented?
Closed herd status
Boot and equipment disinfectant facilities
Dedicated foot trimming equipment that hasn’t been used on other farms
How can you spot a cow with digital dermatitis
usually easily spotted by the way they behave: they appear to walk on their toes and they shake their feet while stood.
What is rumen acidosis and what causes it?
Caused if a diet of cattle has too many rapid digestible carbohydrates and proteins, but not enough fibre it will lower pH of rumen, which will kill important microbes. Can also disrupt horn formation and hoof formation, causing lame
What is important about conditions for cattle?
Housing needs enough space for them to lay down, and not wet muddy conditions. Good genetics. Regular foot trimming and foot bathing
Why do cows need calcium?
Lots of calcium is needed for cows, especially when first lactating as lots of calcium goes for milk production, but not muscle contraction so can cause paralysis.
What causes bloat in cows and how can it be treated?
caused by gas from rumen fermenting becoming trapped in rumen. Which causes rumen to begin to crush other lungs and abdominal blood vessels. Control pasture or use needle to release air
Why is colostrum so important and when should calves get it?
Provides main source of immunoglobulins for newborn calf = help maintain animal’s health, reduce mortality rates
Immunoglobulins do not cross placenta therefore calf is dependent on antibodies obtained through ingestion of colostrum
All calves need to be fed 2 litres of colostrum within 1 hour of birth, second 2 litre feed 4 to 6 hours later
Immunoglobulins are not absorbed after 24 hours but still provide local protection in intestinal tract
What are the signs of salmonella in cows?
Mainly caused by Salmonella dublin
Wide range of antibiotic resistance
Important cause of human food poisoning
Blood-stained diarrhoea
High temperature >40 degrees celsius
Reduced feed intake
Can become infected as early as 2nd day of life
Prevention highly dependent on ensuring calf receives adequate colostrum after birth
When is BRD most common and what causes it?
Outbreaks common in late autumn early winter when young animals are brought indoors
Most common in herd 2-6 month old animals
Adequate colostrum intake, prevention of co-mingling of different age groups, avoid stressful procedures eg, weaning, castration, dehorning during high risk periods
Vaccines - live/killed antigens. Live= quickly induce long lasting immunity
Difficult to successfully vaccinate young calves, colostral antibodies block the vaccine = maternal antibody interference with vaccination