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Y4 Farm - Production diseases > Mineral deficiencies and toxicities > Flashcards

Mineral deficiencies and toxicities Flashcards

1
Q

What nutrition do cows need?

A
  • energy and protein
  • water
  • minerals and vitamins
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2
Q

What are minerals and vitamins essential for?

A
  • allowing chemical reactions in body to take place - important for growth, fertility, health and immunity
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3
Q

where is copper stored in the body?

A
  • liver
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4
Q

How is vitamin B12 synthesised in ruminants?

A
  • made in rumen by microbes, using cobalt from the ration
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5
Q

What two types of disease may mineral/vitamin deficiencies cause?

A
  • subclinical, eg poor performance
  • clinical, eg grass staggers
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6
Q

What type of food will ensure a better mineral and trace element supply?

A
  • more varied feed in base ration
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7
Q

function of vitamin A

A
  • eye function and growth, reproduction + immune response
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8
Q

function of vitamin D

A
  • absorption of calcium and phosphorus
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9
Q

function of vitamin E

A
  • biological antioxidant, protects cells against oxidative damage
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10
Q

What vitamin deficiency causes cerebrocortical necrosis?

A
  • thiamine (B1)
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11
Q

which animals have the greatest demand for trace elements?

A
  • young, pregnant + lactating
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12
Q

What causes trace element levels to vary in pasture?

A
  • vary due to soil type, pH, drainage and fertilised application
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13
Q

Why are Texels more susceptible to copper toxicity?

A
  • heightened ability to absorb dietary copper
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14
Q

What is the most common mineral condition seen in cows?

A
  • hypocalcaemia (milk fever)
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15
Q

CS of lead poisoning?

A
  • anorexia
  • rumen stasis
  • colic and constipation followed by diarrhoea
  • neurological signs with progression
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16
Q

A farm keep a flock of sheep. They are extensively grazed and only housed ready for lambing in March. They have started lambing. Start of the year wet with 30% more rainfall than previous so sheep brought in earlier and fed bale silage harvested from improved grassland. Some lambs have recently been born with an ataxic condition manifesting as paralysis and severe weakness in the hindlimbs.

What is your top differential and why?

What else should be ruled out?

A

copper deficiency - hind leg weakness and paralysis indicating potential spinal cord lesion (swayback if ewes became deficient in copper mid way through pregnancy)

rule out selenium/vit E deficiency

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17
Q

Why might high levels of sulphur in forage lead to weak lambs with swayback?

A
  • copper binds to sulphur which makes copper less available if sulphur levels high
18
Q

why are enzymes useful in comparison to simple concentrations for mineral deficiency/toxicity blood data?

A
  • helps to determine that the minerals we are interested in are biologically available + takes into account mineral that is bound/being transported and utilised
19
Q

What do plasma selenium concentrations show?

A
  • The short term (<1 week) selenium content of the blood
  • An indicator of recent selenium intake rather than body stores.
20
Q

What is plasma selenium bound to that may mean it is affected by nutritional status?

A
  • lipoproteins
21
Q

What is superoxide dismutase (SOD) a measure of?

A
  • a medium term (approx 6 weeks) measure of functional copper through enzyme activity
22
Q

What is caeruloplasmin (Cp) a measure of?

A
  • a short term (<1 week) measure of functional copper via enzyme activity
  • Can also be elevated during acute phase responses
23
Q

What is plasma copper a measure of?

A
  • concentration reflects the short term (<1 week) copper content of the blood but does not indicate that this copper is biologically functional
24
Q

What is glutathione peroxidase a measure of?

A
  • a medium term (approx. 6 weeks) measure of functional selenium through enzyme activity
25
Q

How might you tx multiple cases of swayback?

A
  • supplement silage with copper or supplementation of ewe with copper mid-gestation
26
Q

How might you prevent swayback from occurring in the first place?

A
  • regular monitoring of silage mineral concentrations alongside monitoring of liver copper concentrations from cull animals
27
Q

What is silage cut from improved pasture often high in?

A
  • sulphur
28
Q

What causes high iron in silage that could lead to copper deficiency?

A
  • high rainfall prior to ensiling
29
Q

Why might you not supplement Texel breeds with copper, and instead manage swayback through grassland management and monitoring of silage?

A
  • texels more sensitive to copper toxicity
30
Q

You visit a cattle farm. They have been wintered indoors before being turned out to pasture a few months ago. The grazing is perennial ryegrass and the fields are looking lush. This morning, one of his best cows 7 weeks into lactation was found dead - only sign was scuffing of the ground around her feet + head pulled back on her body.

You rule out anthrax as no evidence of bloody discharge from orifices and farmer would have witnessed changes prior. There is no obvious bloating or illness.

What do you suspect problem is and why?

What should we rule out that could also cause sudden death?

A
  • magnesium deficiency
    – lush grass = less magnesium
    – scuffing around feet = paddling seizures
  • rule out copper deficiency
31
Q

What mineral do cows need to be supplied with daily?

A
  • magnesium
32
Q

why might calcium also be low if magnesium is low?

A
  • low levels of magnesium = can affect calcium absorption
33
Q

Are microminerals required in more or less abundance than macrominerals?

A
  • less
34
Q

what is often the first sign of magnesium deficiency on farm?

A
  • dead cow
35
Q

how might cows in early stage of magnesium deficiency appear?

A
  • like down cows with milk fever but will be nervous, trembling, overly excited or staggering
36
Q

How might you determine magnesium deficiency?

A
  • test blood magnesium live cows
  • test pasture magnesium levels
  • vitreous humour in dead cows (or CSF)
37
Q

Why does lush grass cause magnesium deficiency?

A
  • rapidly growing so low in magnesium with greater water content which will increase transit and lower uptake
38
Q

What management of pasture increases risk of grass staggers?

A
  • heavy fertilisation in spring with nitrogen and potassium
  • high potassium and nitrogen and low sodium = interfere with magnesium absorption from rumen
39
Q

Why might early lactating cows be more at risk of grass staggers?

A
  • calcium deficiency as in higher demand = more severe cases of grass staggers when coupled with magnesium deficiency
40
Q

Which animals suffer most with grass staggers?

A
  • beef cattle in peak lactation ->need constant source of magnesium to replace large amount lost from body in milk.
  • even when feed levels of Mg low, milk levels remain the same
41
Q

why is testing blood of dead cows for magnesium levels not useful indicator?

A
  • levels return to normal after death

Y4 Farm - Production diseases (18 decks)

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