Diseases and Parasites of Beef Cattle Steven M. Jones Associate Professor - Livestock University of Arkansas, United States Department of Agriculture and County Governments Cooperating. The Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service offers its programs to all eligible persons regardless of race, color, national origin, religion, gender, age, disability, marital or veteran status, or any other legally protected status, and is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer. The University of Arkansas does not endorse any products or services named or pictured in this slide show.
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Diseases and Parasites of Beef
Cattle Steven M. Jones
Associate Professor - Livestock
University of Arkansas, United States Department of Agriculture and County Governments Cooperating. The Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service offers its programs to all eligible persons regardless of race,
color, national origin, religion, gender, age, disability, marital or veteran status, or any other legally protected status, and is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.
The University of Arkansas does not endorse any products or services named or pictured in this slide show.
Herd Health Plan
• Needed to maintain the overall health of the herd
• Key to success of the plan is the prevention of problems before they start
(BSE): MAD COW DISEASE • Chronic, degenerative disease • Affects the central nervous system • 1 of several brain disease called Transmissible
Spongiform Encephalopathy's (TSE’s) ▫ Some affect animals and some affect humans
• Other TSE’s ▫ Chronic Wasting Disease in deer and elk ▫ Feline Spongiform Encephalopathy ▫ Transmissible Mink Encephalopathy ▫ Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD- ID in the 1920’s) ▫ New variant CJD (nvCJD ID in 1995) ▫ Gertsmann-Straussler-Scheinker Syndrome ▫ Kuru
BSE in the United States and the World
• Rare
• 3 cases in the United States
• First diagnosed in Great Britain in 1986
▫ The US has not imported any beef from Great Britain since 1985
• USDA and the APHIS maintain constant surveillance and enforce import restrictions.
• Not fully known • Available evidence indicates that it is not viral or
bacterial • Related to a prion
▫ A prion is a microscopic protein particle that is similar to a virus but lacks nucleic acid
• BSE may be contracted by ingesting protein in feed that came from an animal source that was contaminated by the agent that causes the disease
• While no direct link has been made there is suspicion that feeding cattle rendered protein from scrapie infected sheep was involved in spreading the disease
• In 1997 the FDA banned using ANY mammal derived protein in cattle feed in the United States
Incubation of and Testing for BSE
• Ranges from 2-8 years
• Death occurs within 2 weeks to 6 months after clinical symptoms appear
• No test to determine if live cattle are infected
• Only a postmortem microscopic examination of the brain can determine if the animal had BSE ▫ Brain tissue in infected animals has a spongy
• No evidence that it can be transmitted by direct contact or consumption of meat or dairy products
• No evidence that eating meat of BSE infected animals can cause CJD
• In 1995 nvCJD was found to be caused by the same agent as BSE but it too was not found in milk or milk—only in the brain tissue, spinal cord, corneal tissue and some other central nervous system tissues
• Moving cattle from range to the feedlot • Extremes of heat or cold • Exhaust fumes • Hunger • Fright • Rough handling • All these things allow bacteria and organisms
already present to attack the respiratory tract
Symptoms
• Vary from mild to acute • Early symptom is fever • Animal appears depressed
with it’s head down and eyes closed
• Drooping ears • Discharge from the nose • Watery eyes • Loss of appetite
• Diarrhea • Weight loss • Difficult breathing • Coughing • Pneumonia • Possibly death • If the animal recovers it
will be slow to gain
Preventing Shipping Fever
• Vaccination may be used.
• Vaccination should occur after 4 mo. of age
• The best time to vaccinate is 3-4 weeks before the animal is exposed to the conditions that lead to the disease
• Reducing stress and exposure also help in prevention
• Good feedlot management and careful handling of new cattle helps reduce shipping fever.
Treatment of Shipping Fever
• Antibiotics
• Sulfa drugs
• Treatment must begin as soon as symptoms are noticed
• Treatment after an animal has developed pneumonia is of little value.
Trichomoniasis
• A venereal disease caused by a protozoan, Trichomona fetus
• The organism infects the genital tract of the bull and is transmitted to the cow during breeding
• Clean bulls can also be infected by breeding “dirty” cows
• The disease can also be transmitted through infected semen, even when artificial insemination is used.
• Abortion in early gestation • Low fertility • Irregular heat periods • Uterine infection • Cows may have discharge from their genital tract • Bulls may not show any symptoms of the disease but still
be capable of transmitting it to the cow during breeding • The organism is identified by microscopic examination
of material from an aborted fetus, the prepuital cavity of the bull or vaginal discharge from the cow
Prevention
• No treatment or vaccination for trich
• Infected bulls should be slaughtered
• Use only clean bulls on clean cows
• Test bulls to ensure they are free of the disease
• Use semen from clean bulls
Campylobacteriosis (Vibriosis)
• Reproductive disease
• Both intestinal and venereal
• Leading cause of infertility and abortion in the cattle industry
• Loss of appetite • Arched back • Fever • Stiffness in moving • Less chewing of the cud • Pain in defecating • Pain in lying down and getting up • Flabby brisket • Bloat