Metabolic Disease: Acidosis Flashcards
What are production diseases caused by?
The metabolic demands of production and/or the unsuitability of conditions provided
Examples of production diseases
- Acidosis
- Ketosis
- Bloat
- Milk Fever
- Tetany
Metabolic disorders
- A number of conditions exist that are influenced primarily by feeding management and diet formulation (nutrition)
Examples of metabolic disorders
- Acidosis
- Subacute acidosis (SARA)
- Liver abcesses
- Laminitis
- Bloat
- Ketosis
- Milk fever
What type of cows is acidosis most common in?
- High- producing dairy cows
- Given their high level of DM intake and the high proportion of cereals included in diets during lactation, it is quite common
- Also in intensive beef systems: mortality from acidosis in feedlot cattle is secondly only to that from respiratory diseases
Animals at risk from acidosis?
- Intensive finishing cattle on high concentrate diets
- Dairy cows and first calved heifer in early lactation
Subacute ruminal acidosis (SARA)
- Rumen pH: <5.5 in 3 out of 12 animals by rumenocentesis
What percentage of grazing dairy cows is SARA present in?
10-15%
What percentage of cows in confined high production systems is SARA present in?
20-40%
High quality grazed pasture
- Low DM concentration
- High digestibility
- High DM intakes from pasture eg 18kg of Grass DM per day = 2.3 kg of sugar (especially for high yielding dairy cows)
Sward management
- Low sward heights presented to grazing cows
- Pastures managed to maintain high digestibility
- Swards not permitted to become long or fibrous
What is acidosis?
A condition in ruminants that is associated with feeding highly fermentable feed or poor feed management
What is lactic acidosis syndrome?
- Associated with large increases of lactic acid in the rumen
- Lactic acid accumulates in the rumen when the bacteria that synthesis lactic acid outnumber those that utilise lactic acid
What diets so acidosis result from?
- Diets that are high in ruminally available carbohydrates
- Forage that are low in effective fibre
Clinical signs of rumen acidosis
- Loss of appetite
- Death
3 effects of a fall in pH in the rumen
- Rumen movement stops and becomes atonic (loss of muscle strength) which depresses appetite and production
- Change in acidity alters the rumen microflora with lactic acid bacteria proliferating
- This leads to more acid being produced and increasing acidosis
At what pH is the rumen fluid too low>
< 5.5
Why does the pH drops?
- Fermentation of CHO produces acids which lower ruminal pH
- Buffer systems (saliva) normally keep pH between 5.8 and 7
- If pH drops below this, acidosis occurs
- The lower the pH, the worse the problem
pH for subclinical acidosis
< 5.5
pH for acute acidosis
< 5.0