CARRICKVETS.ie
JUNE 2013
NEWSLETTER
Carrick Veterinary Centre,
Unit 11, Steadfast Industrial
estate, Carrickmacross, Co. Monaghan.
THE COUGHING
COW.
IBR virus causes pneumonia in
adult cattle mainly but it can affect
cattle of all ages. It usually presents as
a high temperature, the animal may be
dull and empty. Sometimes you may
see white snots in the nose and you
may hear roughness in the upper
airways. The virus effects the upper
airways so don’t be concentrating on
finding a blow. A word of warning
about IBR, once cattle are infected
they become carriers for life and in
times of stress the virus can be shed
from the carriers infecting others. One
case of IBR can affect 7 other cattle in
an outbreak. Vaccination reduces
shedding dramatically and were
vaccinated cattle are exposed to IBR
virus they have pre-formed antibodies
which will kill the virus minimising
clinical signs of the disease and
minimising formation of the carrier
state.
BVD is important and
widespread in Irish herds.
Approximately 1% of cattle are
persistently infected with the disease.
These cattle will shed virus 24/7. In a
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confined area this virus will spread up
the shed causing immuno-suppression
and allowing other viruses like IBR to
be shed more easily.
The principal virus involved
with dairy herd pneumonia is IBR. As
I said earlier if you have dull cows
going back in their milk with high
temperatures. Suspect IBR. If you have
white snots and coughing suspect IBR.
IBR theoretically causes inflammation
of the ovaries and fallopian tubes of
the cow’s reproductive tract leading to
embryo loss. It is difficult to quantify
this problem. We can now measure the
level of exposure to IBR in the milking
herd through a bulk milk sample test.
You should request a BVD virus bulk
sample test when you are doing it.
Nasal swabs are useful as the
technology has improved in the labs.
Rispoval IBR live and bovilis
IBR live vaccine are given every 6
months. The vaccine is due now if you
used the vaccine in December. It is due
in July if you used it in January.
There have been a significant
number of dairy herds in Ireland which
are presented from mid-summer right
through the autumn as coughing. The
cows may have white snots in their
noses and there may be a significant
drop in milk yields associated with it.
Many vets felt it was IBR virus but
nasal swabs failed to prove it. The
current thinking is that these herds
have lungworm infections. It is felt that
these herds have failed to obtain full
immunity to lungworm due to overuse
of worming during the first and second
grazing seasons. The lessened
immunity allows the larvae to develop
in the lung. The cow attacks the larvae
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with white blood cells and antibodies
leading to inflamed lungs. The cow is
presented as coughing with white snots
present. There may be a noticeable
drop in milk yields particularly in
younger herds.
Dung samples will not
diagnose this problem as there is
sufficient immunity in the cow to
prevent adult lungworms developing in
the adult cow which produce the larvae
in the dung.
The current thinking is dose
your calves well in the first grazing
season and then aim to give them 2
doses in the second grazing season to
allow immunity to develop.
Ironically the treatment for the
coughing cows is dosing. Traditionally
eprinex was given in May/June now
there are generics of eprinex available.
We are stocking Robonex pour on.
This product is licensed for dairy cows
and has no milk withdrawal.
Giving Robonex pour on to the
milking herd in June makes economic
sense. There is a slight lift in milk
yield in the herd which is sustained
over a period of time. Research has
demonstrated a slight reduction in herd
calving intervals. The improvements
are more noticeable in younger herds.
We have a great introductory
offer on Robonex. Robonex is priced
well and offers real value for our
customers. Eprinex has been reduced
in price lately due to the loss in patent.
5 litres of eprinex pour on can be
bought for €420.
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RUSTY COATS IN
COWS AND CALVES.
Stand back and look at your
cattle. If they have dull rusty coats and
are slow to loose their winter coats
consider stress, worms, copper
deficiency and in calves coccidiosis.
The principal stress cattle have
endured is a long hard winter with poor
nutrition.
Stomach worms cause ill-thrift.
Last year was extremely wet and there
are cattle with greater fluke burdens
about also. I recommend closivet pour
–on or closamectin injection in the
second grazing season when cattle are
10 weeks out on grass.
Copper should be given orally
in the bolus form if cattle are not being
fed meal. Copper injections raise
lumps. Two boluses are given to cattle
over 350kg. Copper boluses are ideal
for cattle during the second grazing
season particularly if these cattle are
being grazed without concentrates.
All trace boluses provide
copper, selenium, iodine and cobalt for
6 months. They are beneficial to
suckler farmers during the breeding
season were meal is not being fed.
Dairy calves can have subclinical coccidiosis. They have dung
stuck around their tails, rusty coats,
their eyes may appear dull. These
calves can respond well to baycox for
coccidiosis. Farmers may have treated
calves at 3 weeks for coccidiosis with
baycox or veccoxan. Most of the time
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this works but calves may require a
second dose of baycox 45 days after
the first treatment and 30 days for
veccoxan.
DOSING ADVICE.
Cydectin LA injection is ideal
for young calves during the first
grazing season. It kills lungworm and
stomach worms for 120 days. Cydectin
LA will suit farmers who have poor
handling facilities on out-farms. Calves
can be treated once now and that will
cover them the whole grazing season.
Cydectin LA will suit farmers that are
time poor during the summer such as
those that have off farm jobs, silage
contractors, fragmented farms etc.
Cydectin LA is given subcut behind
the ear. The dosage is 1 ml per 100 kg.
It costs around €2.75 per calf weighing
100kg.
Cydectin pour on or injection
can be given at 10 week intervals in the
first grazing season. Dectomax has
returned as Zearl. Zearl works for 8
weeks killing lungworm and stomach
worms.
Cattle in their second grazing
season need only to be dosed twice.
Closivet pour on or closamectin
injection is ideal now for second
grazers. It contains ivomec as well as a
flukacide which kills 2 out of 3 stages
of fluke. It also has a residual killing
effect on fluke it leaves behind. All in
all fluke burdens are dramatically
reduced in these cattle before the year
end allowing these second grazers to
thrive better on grass.
FACE BOOK.
Carrick vet centre has set up a
face book page. It can be accessed
through our website carrickvets.ie. It
will be updated regularly giving
advice, special offers and commenting
on special cases. You can ‘like’ the site
and in that way you will be notified
when the face book page has been
updated.
SCHMALLENBERG
TALK.
I attended a talk on
Schmallenberg virus in Mullingar
recently. A summary of the talk is as
follows. Schmallenberg virus was first
isolated in the German village of
Schmallenberg sometime in 2011. The
virus affects cattle and sheep. It affects
cattle in an acute and chronic form.
Cattle with the acute form of the
disease are presented with high
temperatures, scour, inapetance and
reduced milk yields for 2-7 days. The
chronic form is presented as deformed
calves at birth with bent and stiff
necks, swollen and stiff joints. The
calves are presented in a flexed
position and may be difficult to calf.
The calves may be born alive but will
need to be euthanized. Calves may also
be born with brain abnormalities. Part
of the brain can be missing leading to
dummy calves which cannot suck.
Sheep only have the chronic form of
the disease with deformed lambs. The
virus does not kill the adult cattle or
sheep.
The disease is spread by
infected midges. The midge season is
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April to November. The disease has
moved gradually over Europe
westwards towards Ireland. Last year it
reached Irish shores. It primarily hit
the south and east coast of Ireland. It
hit Louth significantly and was found
in 13% of cattle sampled for the
disease in Co. Monaghan. The disease
was not found in Co. Cavan. The virus
affects pregnant cows between 40 and
140 days leading to deformed calves.
Although it hit Co. Louth the cows I
believe were mainly past 140 days in
calf when the infected midges hit. The
infected midges produced infected
pupa which hibernated over the winter.
These infected pupae have produced
many infected midges this year. These
midges are currently biting our cattle
and sheep.
The disease causes sporadic
disease with some farmers being hit
worse than others. The infected midges
will be hitting cattle in the vulnerable
period of 40-140 days this year. Once a
cow is bitten by an infected midge it
will develop immunity against the
disease. The disease is new so we do
not know if the immunity is life long
or not. There were only 13% of cattle
possibly bitten by infected midges in
Co. Monaghan last year so there is a
lot of naïve cattle which if bitten
between 40-140 days in calf this year
could have deformed calves in the
spring of 2014. There is a vaccine now
available it should have been given
before the breeding season started but
it has only been introduced lately.
Sheep need only one shot and the
vaccine is effective 2-3 weeks after the
first shot. Cattle require 2 shots one
month apart. The vaccine is effective
2-3 weeks after the second shot. The
vaccine is possibly too late for spring
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calving. It is suitable for sheep and
autumn calving this year. It will have
limited affects in spring calvers. The
vaccine will have a limited affect
shortly after the first shot. Will it be
enough to stop the effects of
Schmallenberg virus this season in
spring calving is difficult to say. The
vaccine was reported to cost €3.30 a
shot on the night.
The disease has been reported
to cause 2-5% foetal abnormalities on
farms last year. This figure cannot be
trusted farmers with problems are not
always reporting it. When they figure
out they have schmallenberg they may
just get on with it and some are afraid
of people talking.
A lot is not known about the
disease. Why it hits one farm hard and
leaves it’s neighbours ok is difficult to
figure out. Bio-security doesn’t work
midges don’t respect boundaries. I
don’t believe fly repellants may be that
effective. Although the fly repellent
will kill the midge after it bites. I think
the infected midge will have already
infected the cow or sheep with the
virus.
The disease may lead to foetal
absorption increasing the number of
empty cows and ewes at the end of the
season.
We have calved cows with
deformed calves and taken blood
samples for serology. Samples have
come back positive to schmallenberg
virus this was in March 2013.
Turnout for the Mullingar talk
was poor. The organisers have held
them all over the country. In towns on
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the south coast and east coast were
Schmallenberg virus hit turnout was
huge. I believe there is a lot of
complacency in Co. Monaghan with
regard to this disease.
The vaccine is available. We
can get it for you within 24 hours. The
vaccine is out under special licence and
work is being carried out on the
vaccine to check how long it works,
safety issues etc. In my opinion the
vaccine is too late for next year spring
calvers.
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Schmallenberg virus.
Carrick Veterinary Centre has
diagnosed Schmallenberg locally.
Diagnosis is based on a positive result
from a blood elisa test and were there
is a history of a deformed calf.
An infected midge injects the
virus into the host animal. If the cow is
20-80 days in calf, the virus affects the
central nervous system leading to brain
damage, many calves infected at this
stage appear normal but are unable to
suck. If the virus affects cows 80-160
Scooping and scanning.
We are currently scooping and
scanning spring calving herds prebreeding and during the early breeding
period. We scoop cows to identify
dirty cows. Tail paint the herd and
return 25 days later and recheck the
dirty cows and scan cows that have not
removed the tail paint. We have a
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specific regime for treating ‘whites’,
metritis, non-cycling cows, cystic cows
and phantom cows. The aim of
scooping, scanning and treatment is to
maximise the number of clean and
cycling cows at the start of the
breeding season.
All herds to some degree have a
percentage of dirty and non-cycling
cows at the start of the breeding
season. Addressing these cows can
have dramatic economic benefits for
the herd. If you can reduce the calving
interval of 100 cows by 5 days. It is
worth €4,500 in positive cash flow.
(100 cows x 5 days x 6 gallons x €1.50
a gallon). If you reduce the calving
interval by a multiple of 5 days and
reduce culling rate at the end of the
year then you are making dramatic
money.
Teagasc advise a submission
rate of 85% in the first 3 weeks of the
breeding season. A pregnancy rate in
the first 3 weeks of 55%. 100% of your
cows should be submitted in the first 6
weeks of the breeding season and the
overall conception rate of 75% aimed
for in 6 weeks. Farmers in the past
waited for cows to come into heat and
then hoped for a good conception rate.
It is better to actively promote a good
submission rate by forcing problem
cows to clean faster and cycle faster.
Many times the conception rate to
treated cows in the first 3 weeks can be
disappointing but many of these cows
go back in calf in the second cycle.
WORMING STRATEGY.
Worms require soil
temperatures of +10 degrees celsius to
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become active on pastures. It is
conceivable that cattle may not need to
be dosed until 6 weeks after turnout
due to the late spring.
Pfizer has launched Cydectin
L.A.. This injection is given at the
back of the ear and will kill worms for
120 days. It may be beneficial to first
grazers reared on out-farms.
Norbrook has launched a
generic of eprinex pour on. Robonex
kills worms in dairy cows for 8 weeks
and has no milk withdrawal. In the past
dairy farmers have used eprinex in
May. Due to the late spring June is
more than adequate. Eprinex is still the
qualified original. Generics such as
eprizero and rabonex have different
carriers than eprinex. Eprinex has the
field work done whereas the generics
have not.
Dairy farmers tend to push
thrive in first and second grazers so
that they are fit for bulling at 2 years
old. Many dairy farmers tend to
overdose their calves in the first and
second grazing season. This practice
can prevent a strong immunity
developing to lungworm in cattle.
Consequently if adult cattle are
exposed to lungworm their immune
system is sensitised to the lungworm
over-reacting flooding the lungs with
antibody and white blood cells leading
to the ‘coughing cow’ syndrome. There
are a number of dairy farmers with a
large number of dairy cows coughing
in the summer. Many of these farmers
think that it is an outbreak of IBR.
Ironically the treatment is eprinex.
Dairy farmers may need to take a
simpler view to dosing. In the first
grazing season they could dose with
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Ivomec Super at 3, 8 and 13 weeks
after turnout. In the second grazing
season give them two doses.
Closamectin given at 8 weeks
after turnout kills 2 stages out of 3 for
fluke. Closamectin also has a residual
killing effect therefore it still keeps
killing and stunting fluke for weeks
after it has been used. The overall
effect is to reduce the fluke burden at
the end of the year improving thrive
throughout the grazing season.
BAYCOX
Coccidiosis is a disease of
calves between 3 and 12 weeks of age.
Clinical cases are presented with a
blood scour and pining. Where one calf
has coccidiosis you can be sure that
there are many other comrade calves
with sub-clinical disease. These calves
are presented with dung caked to their
tail region and slight ill-thrift. Calves
with coccidiuosis tend to eat at
bedding and lick walls.
Monensin is an ionophore and
promotes the population of bacteria
which makes proprionic acid.
Proprionic acid is the main
driver of energy in dairy cows.
Monensin makes best use of the feed
that is available to dairy cows. We
have data sheets for this product.
I see kexxtone as a tool for high
risk Holsteins such as first calf heifers,
high yielding dairy cows, Holstein
cows with a long dry period and cows
with a previous history of metabolic
disease. It could be used in 15% of the
herd closing the energy gap which is
naturally there in the first 75 days after
calving and reducing energy deficits 3
weeks before calving. It is an exciting
new idea. It has only been launched
and may be used in autumn calving
herds initially.
Baycox reduces shedding of
coccidia 50% longer than veccoxan.
Baycox can be given to calves at 3
weeks of age but it is best given at the
first signs of coccidiosis in calves.
Baycox is given orally at 3ml
per 10kg orally.
INTRODUCING KEXXTONE.
Elanco has launched a very
interesting bolus called kexxtone. It
consists of a drug that has been banned
from Europe this last 30 years called
monensin. Monensin familiar name to
farmers was rumensin.
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