Farming Chit Chat

1chippy

whelan1 wrote: »

would your vet not do a pm?

no, he always gets them sent away. sending away dung samples ourselves. i thought it would be a waste to send the calf off tomorrow, do they not have to be fairly fresh to get any sort of conclusive results. i'm hoping we have nearly every angle covered at this stage.

levafas diamond should cover the rumen fluke, but it was only done today.

Username John

bradachu wrote: »

My dad alway used a good smear of marking fluid on the breastbone of the ram as raddle. I bought a harness and block raddle. Any opinions on which lasts longest? ( I know I'll find out soon enough, but outside info never goes amiss!)

Harness and raddle better job in my experience. It will mark more sheep and last longer...

Be careful that the harness is on tight enough that it doesn't drop on the ram (if it drops it will rub and he will get blisters on the inside of his legs) you'll prob need to check it again after a few days as it'll work it's way into the wool a bit...

Best o luck, let us know how you get on.

mf240

1chippy wrote: »

We couldnt get the calf into lab this morning so we still headed north and got levafas diamond and multi trace boluses

weanlings were dosed for worms with panacur around 6 weeks back
everything was dosed for fluke with tribex around 5 weeks back
everything got vacinations 4 weeks back ibr,bvd, etc
everything was dosed with levafas diamond for rumen fluke today

we are going to give everything a multi trace bolus next week.

Now whats missing at this stage or what are other peoples opinions, am i wasting my time here, overdoing or under doing anywhere.

i was thinking of maybe giving the whole lot an ivermectin in a couple of weeks.

some of the weanlings have actually failed since i was away, some were very skittery around the back end. most of the cows seem tight enough but like that the ones that are bad are bad. all the weanlings are coughing badly and we put in another one thats failing today.
any opinions. cheers chippy

Well you certainly have them well dosed.
As well as the bolus I would give them all a shot of multivit it will help there liver after all the dosing.
Only other thing I can think of is u said one of the calves you lost had bvd.
Could there be a bit of transient infection in the cattle? Is the mother of bvd calf around, was she tested aswell?
Anyway as others have said best of look and keep us posted.

Muckit

If it were me, I'd hold off on the bolusing until you've the other thing diagnosed and sorted.

From what you've described, sounds like it'd be out their backend of a shot.

redzerologhlen

FarmerWatch

Winter is really coming in now guys eh? First morning I had to defrost the car. Hope ye are all prepared!

Username John

redzerologhlen wrote: »

Sorry Redzer,
But these pranks annoy me... I don't understand why people think its funny to ring someone up, and make a fool of them?

bradachu

Thanks for that.

1chippy

Another dead one today and two gone weak. we dropped the fresh one straight to lab and they started straight into him.Vet opened up another one in front of us and all seemed ok. said their seemed to be something slighty off about the stomach lining, but could be from lying up for the day.
A couple of the others had a slight blow on the lungs, so everything within the age group of animals that are dying (april-june) got draxxin, vit b, blackleg shot and a bolus. on vets recomendation.
She said to make sure to bolus everything (as in cows and all) in case it was a mineral dificiency. at this stage were just throwing sh1t at a wall and hoping it sticks.
speakin of above that levafas definatly cures any constipation in cattle. i doubt we will need to agitate the tanks this year.

whelan1

fook, what age are these animals?

1chippy

whelan1 wrote: »

fook, what age are these animals?

All the late calvers april- june and one random july calf.
but i was talking to another guy at the labs seems hes callin regular with 1-11/2 yr olds seems like he had a pair every week for the last month or so and still no answers.

mf240

What are they eating chippy. silage/grass/ meal?

1chippy

all are getting some meal, although ones that died lately were only on it a couple of weeks. some are getting silage, small bit of straw and meal, some are on grass and meal (3 different locations).

mf240

Jaysus I

whelan1

whats the silage like? did they get the second blackleg jab?

1chippy

whelan1 wrote: »

whats the silage like? did they get the second blackleg jab?[/QUOTE
some had got it. there was a few i know were missed so we done all of them again from that batch.

whelan1

they out of the same bull?

Black Smoke

Is there any possibility of lead poisoning? Access to a battery or batteries dumped / stored somewhere!

Juniorhurler

Black Smoke wrote: »

Is there any possibility of lead poisoning? Access to a battery or batteries dumped / stored somewhere!

We had this maybe 12-14 years ago. They were biting paint off an old gate. Turned out it was lead paint. We lost three weanlings the same day from it. I hope it is something easy cured 1chippy.

1chippy

checked for lead everywhere and cant find anywhere or even suspect problems.
they are from 3 different bulls, one of the weak ones are from another, only difference is we seen nothing wrong with the last two. the one this morning was grand between 5-7 this morn, went for a cuppa and dead when i got back.

whelan1

fook again.. just trying to elliminate things, would rumen fluke affect them so young? pnuemonia, i dont think so , as it was so cold around here last few days... blackleg etc covered... dosed to the hilt... where these overdosed?

pakalasa

I was thinking lead-poisoning too. What about water supply? Is it mains or your well?

1chippy

pakalasa wrote: »

I was thinking lead-poisoning too. What about water supply? Is it mains or your well?

its well. hope its not that i'm drinking it too.

Black Smoke

Ragwort? Cut and left in field? Pulled and left in a pile, where they dried and became palatable?
I know, unlikely, unlikely, but all possibilities should go on the table!

Richk2012

1chippy wrote: »

its well. hope its not that i'm drinking it too.

Did you look in the ring feeders when empty to see that there was any remains of what looks like a battery that was baled up in silage ???

whelan1

Black Smoke wrote: »

Ragwort? Cut and left in field? Pulled and left in a pile, where they dried and became palatable?
I know, unlikely, unlikely, but all possibilities should go on the table!

Long , painful, slow death

1chippy

pit silageprecision chop, there would be some bang if battery went through. all barrier fed. ragworth wouldnt be an option either wouldnt have had access to areas with it.

L driver

1chippy wrote: »

all are getting some meal, although ones that died lately were only on it a couple of weeks. some are getting silage, small bit of straw and meal, some are on grass and meal (3 different locations).

where do you store the meal? Could that be a cause?

Bizzum

I dunno what to say to you Chippy. It almost defies logic. Best of luck getting to the bottom of it.

just do it

1chippy wrote: »

Got back aswell today. got off the plane and home to stick in the last of the cows. found nearly all the weanlings coughing badly so dosed a share of them and i'll get the rest on Monday.

1chippy wrote: »

Dont think its blackleg. seems to be no swelling above normal for a dead animal. seen him last night and no bother on him at all. noticed a couple of the other weanlings snotting at the nose this morning aswell. all were vaccinated in september so ay call vet out just to be on the safe side. we went extreme on dosing and vaccinating this year, so i'm hoping theres no serious underlying problems.

1chippy wrote: »

maybe you shouldnt jump to conclusions. thats 6 out of 45 this year. i'm up at anytime between 5.30 and 6.30 at anytime of the week.
two cases were pneumonia (both on twins), one bvd, one blackleg and the last two i dont know. do you really think you have the right to put it down to laziness when you dont have a notion how i work.

1chippy wrote: »

We couldnt get the calf into lab this morning so we still headed north and got levafas diamond and multi trace boluses

weanlings were dosed for worms with panacur around 6 weeks back
everything was dosed for fluke with tribex around 5 weeks back
everything got vacinations 4 weeks back ibr,bvd, etc
everything was dosed with levafas diamond for rumen fluke today

we are going to give everything a multi trace bolus next week.

Now whats missing at this stage or what are other peoples opinions, am i wasting my time here, overdoing or under doing anywhere.

i was thinking of maybe giving the whole lot an ivermectin in a couple of weeks.

some of the weanlings have actually failed since i was away, some were very skittery around the back end. most of the cows seem tight enough but like that the ones that are bad are bad. all the weanlings are coughing badly and we put in another one thats failing today.
any opinions. cheers chippy

1chippy wrote: »

Another dead one today and two gone weak. we dropped the fresh one straight to lab and they started straight into him.Vet opened up another one in front of us and all seemed ok. said their seemed to be something slighty off about the stomach lining, but could be from lying up for the day.
A couple of the others had a slight blow on the lungs, so everything within the age group of animals that are dying (april-june) got draxxin, vit b, blackleg shot and a bolus. on vets recomendation.
She said to make sure to bolus everything (as in cows and all) in case it was a mineral dificiency. at this stage were just throwing sh1t at a wall and hoping it sticks.
speakin of above that levafas definatly cures any constipation in cattle. i doubt we will need to agitate the tanks this year.

1chippy wrote: »

All the late calvers april- june and one random july calf.
but i was talking to another guy at the labs seems hes callin regular with 1-11/2 yr olds seems like he had a pair every week for the last month or so and still no answers.

1chippy wrote: »

all are getting some meal, although ones that died lately were only on it a couple of weeks. some are getting silage, small bit of straw and meal, some are on grass and meal (3 different locations).

1chippy wrote: »

checked for lead everywhere and cant find anywhere or even suspect problems.
they are from 3 different bulls, one of the weak ones are from another, only difference is we seen nothing wrong with the last two. the one this morning was grand between 5-7 this morn, went for a cuppa and dead when i got back.

1chippy wrote: »

pit silageprecision chop, there would be some bang if battery went through. all barrier fed. ragworth wouldnt be an option either wouldnt have had access to areas with it.

Chippy
Just putting all the post here together to see if anything stands out.

My thoughts - there's a possibilty BVD is causing immune suppression. It's a particularly tough year on stock, particularly for the later calves. Did you do a herd follow-up after the BVD+ve earlier in the year?

Sounds like could be severe weanling pneumonia. I know you've vaccinated but if there is BVD lingering in the background, and given the year that's in it, possibly worms and coccidiosis at higher than normal levels, the vaccine is fighting an uphill battle. Maybe the strain that is causing the problem isn't covered that well by the vaccine. Any one of the main causes of pneumonia (RSV, PI3, IBR, pasturella) can cause sudden death.

Have they gotten antibiotics? Brown powder mixed in the meal should help (tetracycline). Bacterial infections always like to jump in on top of other causes.

What's your vet think? Poisoning of some form appears to be ruled out as they are in 3 separate locations.

S**T chippy, my heart goes out to you. You've done everything right and this is what greets you on arrival home from your honeymoon. I hope you've had the last fatality and what ever the f**k is causing it disappears.