Recently we vaccinated our cattle against BOTULISM. Botulism in cattle is caused by toxins produced by Clostridium botulinum. Typical signs include hind limb weakness progressing to paralysis, collapse and death. Botulinum toxin is extremely potent and minute doses can be lethal. The toxin interferes with the connections between nerves and muscles, causing paralysis. Handling affected cattle is not a risk to humans. Some clinical signs of botulism include: • Cattle of all ages can be affected • Uncoordinated, stumbling and knuckling when walking • Weakness or flaccid paralysis of the hind legs, then progressing towards the head • Paralysis of the muscles of the face, jaw and tongue • Unable to eat or drink • Tongue hanging out of mouth and unable to control or withdraw the tongue • Drooling • Paralysis of the eye lids or drooping eyelids, animals otherwise alert • Shallow, abdominal breathing • Sudden death with a high fatality rate Botulism in cattle occurs throughout Australia and outbreaks of botulism in cattle are associated with: • Bone chewing — cattle chew on bones and decaying carcases when deficient in protein and phosphorous. This is usually seen during the dry season and in late autumn and summer. • Contaminated feed — contamination of feed rolls by carrion carcases. In these areas botulism occurs quite commonly as cattle chew bones and carrion containing botulism toxin to satisfy their craving for phosphorus and/or protein. In good seasons Botulism cases out here are very rare and during the dry times the feeding out of lick supplements helps prevent cattle from wanting to chew bones. We try to either bury or burn all carcasses on our stations to help prevent the bone chewing. Another measure we undertake to help prevent Botulism is to vaccinate our cattle (we use SingVac 3 Year). We put the cattle up the race of the yards and while holding the vaccination up in the air with one hand (to stop air bubbles forming in the line) and needle gun in the other hand; you needle each beast in the neck. A person comes along behind you and ‘bang tails’ the cattle that have been vaccinated. ‘Bang Tailing’ is when the brush part of the tail is cut off (just like getting your hair trimmed). The point of this is so you can easily identify which cattle have been vaccinated and which still need to be vaccinated, ideal for when you deal with large mobs. It costs, just for the vaccine alone, $2.50 per head. You can do the math on what the vaccine cost alone is for a couple of thousand head of cattle. Also please leave a dot (.) or an actual comment to ensure this page continues to show up in your news feed. Please share too.
Posted on: Mon, 13 Oct 2014 05:22:57 +0000
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