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Running eyes and chronic cough

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gberry

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Oct 27, 2005
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Hello. I just wanted to get some opinions on how to deal with a problem we are having. My father and I have about 50 head of brood cows. It seems that about 25-30% of our herd (mostly calves and older cows) have a chronic hacking cough. They don't cough constantly but will have 1 or 2 hacking coughs and then may go some time (5-20 minutes) without coughing. An even larger percentage have running eyes. Admittedly, our management in the past has been lacking and most of our cows/calves have only been vaccinated for blackleg. Besides our bulls, we have only bought a few head of cows from off the farm (about a year ago) but the problem seems to have started sometime before they were brought here. Our vet has been out several times (for other issues) and we have mentioned it but he doesn't give us any specific recommendations. For the most part the calves and cows are doing well and none of them would be considered unthrifty, but we can't help but wonder if performance would improve if this problem was treated. does anyone have any ideas about what might be causing this and a treatment recommendation? Am I worrying about nothing?

Thanks for any ideas.
 
Just curious; what is your insect/parasite control program?
In Florida I doubt you have dust issues, but maybe from the hurrricane breezes?
 
We treat our calves with ivermectin twice ayear (April and July/august) and will worm any cows that aren't thriving. For fly control we spray and use dust bags. For most of this year we've had plenty of rain so dust hasn't really been a problem and the cough doesn't seem to go away when its not dusty.
 
gberry,

Just wandering do your cows eat grain everyday, and if so is it a dry dusty feed? I am not real sure what you may be dealing with, but if I had to take a wild guess(and that is all it is) I would say it is nothing that a good vaccination for PI3 wouldn't fix. Have you ever treated one cow with Nuflor just to see what happened?
 
angus breeder,

We haven't fed any grain this year. We do use whole cottonseed as a protein supplement when feeding hay but we won't start that until mid December or later. We haven't tried any empiric treatments but I think trying to treat 1 or 2 would be a good idea.
 
Sounds like Bird Flu to me. :wink: Better keep it quiet.
 
gberry said:
Hello. I just wanted to get some opinions on how to deal with a problem we are having. My father and I have about 50 head of brood cows. It seems that about 25-30% of our herd (mostly calves and older cows) have a chronic hacking cough. They don't cough constantly but will have 1 or 2 hacking coughs and then may go some time (5-20 minutes) without coughing. An even larger percentage have running eyes. Admittedly, our management in the past has been lacking and most of our cows/calves have only been vaccinated for blackleg. Besides our bulls, we have only bought a few head of cows from off the farm (about a year ago) but the problem seems to have started sometime before they were brought here. Our vet has been out several times (for other issues) and we have mentioned it but he doesn't give us any specific recommendations. For the most part the calves and cows are doing well and none of them would be considered unthrifty, but we can't help but wonder if performance would improve if this problem was treated. does anyone have any ideas about what might be causing this and a treatment recommendation? Am I worrying about nothing?

Thanks for any ideas.
No, you are not worring about nothing! Chronic cough that is through your herd is serious, and if your vet can't or won't investigate for a Differential Diagnosis - get another vet. You need to know IF there is a problem and WHAT it is.

DOC HARRIS
 
Almost sounds like summer pneuomia...or A.I .P.

Have you tried feeding any medicated feed or pellets for a few days.
 
We haven't tried any medicated feeds but I think we will and also get our vet back out to see if we can come up with definite diagnosis.
 
I second Doc on this one. Track it down. Insist on it, especially if it's been going on that long.

Have you lost any calves? Or worse yet, cows? How about abortions? There are a lot of things it could be, and some are more serious than others. It's worth checking out because whatever is going on, it is bound to be cutting productivity at the very least, even if they are still looking good to the eye.

At today's prices, even an extra 10 pounds on your calves could sure pay for the vet pretty quick. 8)
 

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