Vets Don't Always Know!

I had a couple strange cases over the last week or so. The first case was a group of heifers that escaped the fenced in pasture. They spent the night gallivanting around the neighborhood before being rounded up in the morning by the farmer.  There were about 20-30 animals in the group. One animal was found dead in front of a near-by hardware store. Once the farmer had put them all back in the pasture and fixed the fence, he went about his morning routine of preparing their feed. As he was driving the tractor down the feed alley, delivering the feed, two more animals, standing side by side, dropped dead. Strange, and upsetting to say the least. He called us to perform a necropsy on the two that died at the feed bunk. A necropsy is the animal term for an “autopsy.” We perform necropsies on a pretty regular basis for situations where there is more than one animal dying. I’ve spared you the pictures of them, since there really is no pretty way to perform a necropsy.

We start by laying the animal on its left side so the giant rumen is not the only thing you see when you open up the abdominal cavity. An overall evaluation of the animal from the outside is done to check for blood coming out the nose, bloating, broken skin, etc. We then cut back the front and back leg, allowing access to the abdominal and chest cavity.  Trying not to puncture any intestines or stomach compartments, we check the abdominal organs for any discolorations, twists, bumps, lumps or blockages, etc. Then we move on to the chest cavity, to evaluate the heart, lungs and rib cage.  As in this case, there were no obvious signs of cause of death. Samples can be taken to be sent to the lab for various tests such as bacteriology and virology. Also, they can be then checked by a pathologist under the microscope for any cellular changes.

As I said, there were no obvious signs for cause of death in these cases. The farmer was concerned about something they could have eaten that caused toxicity. The stomach contents looked normal to me, and without at least an idea of what they could have gotten into, it’s really an expensive wild goose chase to just submit samples for anything and everything.  I presume these heifers may have suffered from a heart attack or exhaustion. Cows are not racehorses by any stretch of the means. I didn’t have a definite answer for the farmer, and also didn’t feel that sending samples in, for a few hundred dollars, would result in a definite cause either.  It’s very frustrating for all involved. As the farmer, he just lost $3000 and some quality animals for his farm and as a veterinarian, who is supposed to have answers, I don’t.  

My second case was a cow that was fresh about a week and was off feed. Normally these cows are our typical DA cows. However, upon her physical exam, I found a normal temperature, normal heart and lung sounds and a slow moving stomach. The cow was also ketotic.

Ketosis is common in cows that are in a negative energy balance, which means that can’t eat enough to meet the energy demands their body is requiring. So, the body breaks down fat, and through the Krebs Cycle, produces ketones. Unfortunately the brain cannot use ketones for energy- it must have sugar. A cow with ketosis is very inefficiently providing the body with energy and can become very sick if not supplied proper sugar.  We often supplement ketotic cows with dextrose in the vein. This is like eating a lot of candy. The blood sugar increases rapidly, but then will crash about 30 minutes later. Propylene Glycol is another energy source that we give to cows that is a more prolonged and sustained blood sugar increase.  Glycol is something that we can give orally. This cow had already received two doses of glycol.

As I mentioned, this cows stomach was also moving really slowly.  I decided to pump her stomach with an energy mix, to help fill the rumen and provide the bugs in the rumen with some microbes and feed to start working better.  It’s very important that when you pass a tube down the cows stomach, that you are 100% sure the tube went down her esophagus rather than her trachea. If you pump 10 gallons of fluid down the trachea of a cow, you will have a dead cow within minutes.  I double and triple checked my tube placement before I started pumping the fluid in. The cow doesn’t particularly like the feeling of a tube stuck down her throat so they like to chew on it, burp up what is going down and throw their head around a bit. This cow was doing all that. She started breathing really heavy and seemed to start bloating all at the same time.  Being worried I did get into her lungs, I checked AGAIN. Still I knew I was in the stomach.

 

Normally cows will take 10 gallons of fluid with no problems. This cow was having a hard time.  After the fluid was in her stomach and I was able to see how bloated she was, I passed a different tube to release the gas/air that she had accumulated. As I’ve mentioned before, when cows bloat, it puts lots of pressure on their lungs and makes breathing difficult. This cow was no different.  She appeared in respiratory distress. I was able to relieve some of the gas.  Again, I’m not sure what was wrong with her. I suspect she had some nerve damage, or old scaring from pneumonia that may have placed some stricture on the stomach.  Her stomach was not moving things through like they normally should.  Frustration again as being the doctor, I’m supposed to have an answer, and I don’t. This cow was acting really weird and there was nothing I thought I could do.  I had some calves to look at on the same farm, and by the time I was done with them, I went back to check on her. She had calmed down and was picking at some of the hay in front of her.  I have not heard back from the farmer to know how she is doing now.  

I’m sure with time; I will gain experience and may have a better answer for these weird cases. But for now, it’s frustration.  As the doctor, the farmer expects you to know. I’d rather be honest with the farmer and tell him I don’t know, than make up some random far-fetched explanation.

Debunking the "Evils" of "Factory" Farming

Last week was one of my heavier weeks as far as herd checks go. I had herd checks on 10 different farms, a few DAs to do, a few other sick cows to look at and a couple of sick calves. It was a pretty routine week for me, but as I was considering what to write about this week, I realized that most of the farms I was on this week, would be considered “Factory Farms” in the general public’s eyes.  This is the most frequently used and most flawed description of agriculture I have yet to come across in over 30 years of being in agriculture.

Just to see what is out there, I googled “What is a factory farm?” The first hit was a very popular Animal Rights website.  This is a direct quote:

“A factory farm is a large, industrial operation that raises large numbers of animals for food. Over 99% of farm animals in the U.S. are raised in factory farms, which focus on profit and efficiency at the expense of the animals’ welfare. “

So my question is as it relates to the dairy industry: what is considered large???? 100 cows? 1000? 5000? 10,000? Every single client of mine, whether they milk 50 cows or 2000 cows, is owned, operated and managed by one family. So when people use the term “Factory Farm,” realize you are most likely talking about a “Family Farm.”

Website: “Factory farms pack animals into spaces so tight that most can barely move. Many have no access to the outdoors, spending their lives on open warehouse floors, or housed in cages or pens. Without the room to engage in natural behaviors, confined animals experience severe physical and mental distress.”




Stalls with deep sand for ample cushioning

I’m not sure how many freestall barns members of this animal rights organization have been in, but I’m in them every day of the week, pretty much all day long.  Cows that live in barns do spend time on concrete. Many farms put rubber mats down in areas where cows spend the most time, so that they do have cushioning, while standing. The stalls that are in the barn are specifically designed by agriculture engineers to best fit the cows that are in them. They are lined with mattresses (some even have water beds) or deep sand. Cows have ample space in the stalls to stretch out and sleep comfortably. If a cow gets hungry, she can get up and walk over to the feed bunk where a completely balanced meal is sitting there ready to eat, whenever she wants it.   The alleys in these barns provide ample room for cows to meander about and perform natural socialization behaviors. 



A mountain of fresh, nutritionally balanced food deliverd daily.







Curtains that rise and lower based on outside temps



Many freestall barns have curtains on the outside of the barn that are raised up and lowered, automatically, based on the temperature outside. Cows are protected from the snow, rain, wind and scorching sun with these curtains. Many farms even have fans and sprinklers in the barns to try to keep the cows as cool as possible during the summer.  Cows that are too hot or too cold are stressed. When cows are stressed, they don’t make milk. It is counter-productive for a farmer, to not have their cows as comfortable as possible, ALL THE TIME!



Fans to keep cows cool during hot summer days

















According to this animal rights organization, there are several “Standard Factory Farming Practices.”  The statements in red are direct quotes from their website. The statements in black are the truths about agriculture from someone who lives, works and breathes it every day.

Unclean air: Waste piles up in the animal sheds, creating ammonia and dust. The ammonia irritates and can even burn animals’ eyes, skin and throats.
TRUTH: Large farms use alley scrapers, which act as a squeegee cleaning the manure. These scrapers run continuously so the cows are rarely walking in their own waste. Farms that do not have alley scrapers use a tractor to clean the barn every time the cows are out of their pen and at the milking parlor. This is 2-3 times a day! Also, when the cows are out of their pen, someone is cleaning, scraping and freshening up the stalls in the pen so that when the cows come back from the parlor, they have a clean place to lie down.  They get completely new bedding at least once a week and sometimes up to 3 times a week. Do you wash your sheets 3 times a week???

Unnatural lighting: Factory farms simulate unnatural day lengths to promote fast growth and desired behaviors.
TRUTH: There are several studies that have shown that when milking cows have longer lighting periods (16 hours of light vs. 13), they will spend more time eating and will produce about 8% more milk than with less lighting.  It also provides a safer environment for the people handling the cows, and the cows themselves.  If you think about it, you yourself spend 16-18 hours a day with “unnatural light” and are sleeping in darkness for 6-8 hours. How is this different???

Unnatural growth: Fast and disproportionate growth and production due to selective breeding causes ailments including chronic pain, mobility problems and heart problems.

TRUTH: Dairy cows reach maturity much faster than humans. So yeah, they do grow fast. So do dogs and cats. Dairy cows and heifers have their very own nutritionist that plans and evaluates their meals on a weekly to monthly basis ensuring that animals have a completely balanced meal, with every bite.  Let’s think about this logically… if cows are in chronic pain, are sick, uncomfortable or stressed are they going to be able to perform at their best??? No. Again, it’s counter-productive!

Non-therapeutic medicating: So that they can survive the filthy conditions and grow even faster, some industries feed their animals antibiotics and/or hormones.

TRUTH: Cows are not fed hormones and antibiotics to grow faster. Monensin is the common culprit in this statement. This is a feed additive that boosts the metabolism of the animal to better utilize the food they are eating. A property of this feed additive is that it does have the ability to help slow the growth of coccidia (a parasite found in the environment) in animals. Because of this added bonus, it is often fed to younger animals as part of their complete diet. Garlic is a food that humans often eat that has additional benefits, such as “antibiotic” properties to it. Does that mean if you are eating garlic you are “non-therapeutically medicating” yourself????

Unnatural reproduction: Many female farm animals spend virtually their entire lives pregnant, putting them under chronic strain.

TRUTH:  I’ve discussed this before in a previous post. Cows are mammals. In order to produce milk, they have to have a baby.  If they don’t have a baby, they stop making milk, get fat, have other metabolic issues and are no longer productive animals.  So yes, mature cows do have a baby every year.  Heifers don’t get pregnant until they are of a mature size and their uterus is sexually mature and ready to have a baby. It’s nature. Even if animals weren’t in confinement, they would still have a baby every year.

Absent veterinary care: Most factory farms deny animals individualized veterinary care, including humane euthanasia.

TRUTH: Now this statement is just ridiculous. I am on these farms every week, for at LEAST an hour a day, if not up to 4-5 hours a day. As a veterinarian, I am trained to be observant. My patients can’t talk to me and tell me what’s wrong. As I walk through the barn every week, I have to pick up on subtle clues to see that something is wrong.  Large farms also have a staff that specializes in cattle care. These employees spend all day, every day working with these cows, examining them and treating them as needed. If their sickness requires veterinary attention, I am called and am on the farm within hours to attend to the sick animal. Some farms that are larger than the farms that I go to, even have a veterinarian on staff, that is on site every day, taking care of issues and sick animals on the farm.  

As far as the euthanasia goes, there are several methods of approved humane euthanasia techniques as described by the American Veterinary Medical Association. Attached is the link to these methods, feel free to read them and realize that these methods are very commonly used on large farms.  Euthanasia Guidelines

Surgical mutilations: Many farm animals undergo painful mutilations to their tails, testicles, horns, toes or beaks, without painkillers, to make their behavior more manageable.
TRUTH: I’ve also written about this in previous posts. For the most part, cows do get pain medication when certain procedures are being performed. Other procedures listed, really aren’t painful procedures, and feel more like you are cutting your fingernails, not performing surgery. This is an area that the agriculture industry continues to try to improve on. Most of which, is training employees of the farm, the techniques to use, so that pain mitigation is achieved.  I can assure you that none of these procedures are done with malicious intent. There is still plenty of room for improvement, but progress is being made every day to ensure that cows really are pain free.

Shortened lives: Factory farmed animals are generally slaughtered at “market weight” well before the end of their natural life spans. In fact, most are still babies.

TRUTH: This applies more to the pig and chicken industry of which I am not practiced in. I encourage you to find resources from the American Association of Swine Veterinarians, and the American College of Poultry Veterinarians.  There is relevance to the beef industry where steers are fed to market weight and then slaughtered for beef.  This is part of the food chain. This is the purpose that farm animals serve and have served for thousands of years.

Just like there are bad lawyers and bad doctors, there are some bad farmers. I won't deny that. There are advantages and disadvantages to the 50 cow farm and the 5000 cow farm. I visit many farms that I am proud to call my clients. They take wonderful care of their animals and are rewarded with healthy cows that make a lot of milk. The more people try to actually understand how a cow lives, what their needs are, and how hard farmers work to provide them these needs, the more ridiculous these ulterior-motive media outlets sound. Still have questions? Find a local farmer or large animal veterinarian and ask!!!

Uggh! I have a stomach ache!!!

I was on call this weekend and was concerned with how much attention Nemo was getting and how much snow we were actually going to get. Luckily, this part of New York faired quite well and only 6-8” fell. That’s just a ‘dusting’ for these parts…  Overall it was a quiet weekend. I had 3 DA’s, and another lambing call. The lambing call came in at 11pm on Sunday night. Anyone who personally knows me, is well aware that my head hits the pillow at about 9-9:30. So, yes, the 11pm page woke me up. I was grumpy thinking that they woke me up to drive an hour one way to pull a lamb. The best way to get some of these out is with tiny hands, of which I do not have. But, if the ewe had to have a C-section, that’s kind of my territory…. 

The ewe had twins, the first of which was dead. The second was alive and a little boy! It really wasn’t that hard to get the lambs out, without a C-section, which makes it even more frustrating to be called out in the middle of the night.  But then you see these cute faces, and it make it a little easier…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The other calls I had were for three different cows with a displaced abomasum. This is probably the most common surgery we perform in the dairy world, and I realized I have yet to explain it to you! A displaced abomasum (DA) is commonly seen in cows that have just had a calf, or “freshened.”

Cows are like a finely tuned machine. They love routine and if there is anything that drastically messes with their routine, it causes them stress. They like the same group of cows, the same food, the same timing of going to the milking parlor and even the same people handling them. For various management reasons, some of these things need to be altered or changed throughout a cow’s lactation. Having a calf is one of those “stressful” events in a cow’s life. Yes, it’s part of nature, and yes, they calve every year, but even still, it’s quite an “event” to go through.

So what is a DA? It’s when the fourth compartment of the stomach, which normally sits on the bottom right portion of the abdominal cavity, fills with gas and floats either to the left side or the right side of the abdomen.   When the abomasum floats to the right, it has a higher potential to rotate on its own axis and cut off all blood circulation to the stomach.  This is a much more serious situation then when it flips to the left.  Of all the DA’s that can occur 80-90% of them are left DA’s.

There are several risk factors that pre-dispose cows to getting a DA. Anything from how fat/skinny they are, how much they eat before/after calving, how finely chopped the forage they eat is, to how much grain they get. Like I said, they are like finely tuned machines and when you mess with it, it can have a huge impact on them.  To try to prevent DAs from occurring, farmers really try to keep cows as comfortable and stable as they can from the 2 months before they calve (dry period) until they are well into their lactation and about a month after they’ve calved. 

So, on to fixing them…  DA surgeries can be performed on the left or right side of the cow, and can even be done with the cow upside-down on her back. There are advantages and disadvantages to each approach. I personally don’t know too many cows that voluntarily lay upside-down or know of any that enjoy being upside-down when forced, so I opt for the standing right-side approach. As with all surgeries we do, the cow is sedated and the area is clipped, surgically scrubbed and blocked with lidocaine. I then surgically scrub my own arms and put on sterile surgery gloves.  An incision is made in the side of the cow. When performing the surgery on the right side, I then have to reach around the inside of the cow, around all the intestines, over the rumen to the left side and deflate the abomasum, using a long tube. Once the abomasum is deflated, I then come back to the right side of the cow, reach down underneath the giant rumen and pull the abomasum back to the right side. I then find where the abomasum attaches to the small intestines and suture that connection to the wall of the abdomen. This is so the DA doesn’t return in a future lactation.  I then suture her abdomen close in three different layers and she’s good to go!

The whole surgery from start to finish takes me about 45 minutes.  We certainly try to be as clean and “sterile” as possible, but we do perform these surgeries in a barn, rather than in a sterile surgery suite, so we generally put the cow on antibiotics after the surgery.  Most of the time, these cows will start munching on hay or feed halfway through the surgery.  This is one of the “routine” surgeries we do, and cows recover quite well within a day or two.

Help! I'm Kidding!!!!

It’s kidding and lambing season!!! This means we get a lot of calls from people at very random times of the day. This week, I had three calls from owners that were a bit overwhelmed with the birthing process.  "Dolly's" owners called about 10:30pm on my night on call. She was one of two ewes that were suffering from a prolapsed vagina.

Prolapses are a bit of a confusing thing for owners that do not have a lot of experience with sheep. The call usually comes in as a prolapsed uterus or a ewe that has “cast her withers.”  The first question I always have to ask is; “Has she had her babies yet?”  Many times, it’s just the wall of the birth canal prolapsing out. This is certainly not normal, but not as severe as the uterus being prolapsed.  In order for the uterus to be prolapsed (turned inside out, outside the body), there has to be a lamb or kid (or a calf, in the cow world) on the ground.  No baby yet= no prolapsed uterus.

As normal labor commences, the muscles and ligaments of the hind end start to relax, allowing the birth canal to open up.  As the ewe starts to push, the wall of the vagina can protrude out and will block the birth canal, causing a road block for the lambs.  In order to assist the ewe, we have to push the wall of the vagina back in place and reach in to deliver the lamb. This is a bit tricky when you can only get about two or three fingers inside the ewe. After the lamb is delivered, we place a stitch in the vagina of the ewe so that if she continues to strain after lambing, she does not actually push the uterus out. We then give oxytocin and calcium to help with the muscle contraction of the uterus, so it starts to “involute” and shrink down.  Dolly had been in labor all day and was exhausted by the time we were done. Seeing as it was 11:30pm by the time we had finished, I did not take any pictures of Dolly or her baby, but she had a healthy baby ram.   I know you all get very excited to see cute baby pictures of lambs and kids, so I promise I'll take some the next goat/sheep call I get....

Another issue I had was with a goat that had triplets named “Jamaica.” It’s common for goats to have twins, but triplets can put quite a strain on a doe. Often times, there is a drain of calcium on the doe and they can have pregnancy toxemia. Calcium is needed for muscle contractions, so a doe will often times get weak, act “drunk” and have trouble kidding.  If they do manage to have the kids, they may not drop the entire placenta. “Jamaica,” suffered from what we commonly call a “retained placenta”. She had lost her appetite, was not making any milk for her kids and was lethargic. When she arrived at the clinic, her temperature was normal, but she still had placenta hanging from her vagina. The rest of her physical exam was normal.



The black is the fetal portion of the placental attachment.

If the placenta does not drop on its own, the body will naturally start to break down the placenta. The placenta can also act as a wick for bacteria from the environment to enter the uterus. To prevent a doe from becoming sick, they are often started on antibiotics. The placenta can be manually removed, but has to be removed with extreme caution, so as not to rip off the maternal placental attachments.  Cow, goat and sheep placenta is attached to the uterus similarly to each other, but drastically different from cats, dogs, horses, pigs and humans. The harder the birthing process was for the animal, the greater number of babies born and the nutritional status of the mother all play an important role in whether or not the placenta drops on its own after the baby has been born.   

Jamaica received calcium directly into the blood stream (in the jugular vein), was started on an antibiotic and an anti-inflammatory and was sent home with some additional calcium to be given later that evening. If she still has no appetite, the owner was instructed to start her on an electrolyte solution and to entice her to eat with whatever she can. Hopefully the meds start to work quickly and she will perk right back up to her normal self.

Keeping your food safe

Another busy week causes me to be a bit delayed on my blog post for this past week.  I usually write on Thursday afternoons as I have the day off and the time to sit down and type.  Last week I was invited to a Young Farmers meeting hosted by Farm Bureau. This was my first Young Farmers event in this area and I was quite impressed with the number of attendees.  It’s another one of the things I love about this area. There is so much young enthusiasm for agriculture around here; a sign of an exciting future!

In my first post, I mentioned that I wanted to educate whoever will read, on how we as veterinarians ensure a safe and wholesome food supply.  One of the ways we do this as a veterinarian is to perform “regulatory work.”  In order to perform regulatory work, a veterinarian must be federally accredited, which means that we have to be “certified” by a USDA veterinarian and maintain certain educational requirements.  Not only do we have to be federally accredited, we have to be accredited in every state we want to perform regulatory work in.  Currently I am accredited in Vermont and New York, and am still working on Massachusetts.

So what is regulatory work? It includes giving Rabies vaccinations, writing health charts (intrastate, interstate and international), performing specific tests on animals such as Tuberculosis and Brucella vaccinating and others.  This week I Brucella (also known to farmers as BANGS) vaccinated a group of animals on one of my routine herd checks.  This farm sells and markets a large number of animals, so vaccinating is an important part of the import/export process.  

Brucella is a disease caused by the bacteria Brucella, which has several different sub-species.  It mostly affects, cattle, bison and swine, but can affect others as well.  Some of you may have heard about the bison in Yellowstone that are infected with Brucella.  The contagious disease causes abortions (term used for “miscarriage” in animals), infertility, lameness, and decreased production in these animals and is the causative agent of undulant fever in humans. The bacteria can be found in milk, reproductive organs, and the placenta and fetus of an animal that aborts (miscarries).

Years ago, Brucella was endemic throughout the country and there was a federal program in place to try to eradicate the disease.  Testing and vaccinating of animals was a common procedure done on all farms. Female animals 4-8 months of age were vaccinated with a brucella vaccine.  In order to identify animals that were vaccinated against those that may have contracted the disease, animals receive a metal ear tag and a specific ear tattoo, in the right ear, at the time of vaccination.  As of 2000, there were 44 states that were considered Brucellosis free.  If you are from a Brucellosis free state, it is no longer required that you vaccinate the animals. However, before any animals are sold or leave a brucellosis free area, most buyers still require a blood test to see if they are truly negative.

So what does this all have to do with keeping a safe food supply and what does it mean for you?  Well because Brucella is found in milk, it is up to veterinarians to keep an eye out for animals that are possibly infected with the bacteria. There is no cure for the disease, so these animals must go to slaughter and the herd is placed under quarantine.
 
Since the discovery of pasteurization of milk, the numbers of cases have been reduced in humans.  Let me be really clear here; PASTEURIZATION KILLS THE BACTERIA AND MILK IS SAFE TO DRINK!!!!! The risk lies in the milk products that are not pasteurized, such as certain yogurts and cheeses, and if you drink RAW milk.  Because the majority of the country is Brucellosis free, the risk for contracting brucella is MUCH less than what it was 70-80 years ago. There is concern with the increased interest in drinking raw milk; especially in areas that are close to states where Brucella is still found, and not only for brucella,  but for other bacteria such as Listeria and E. Coli. The farms that sell raw milk must test their herd for Brucella and these farms are closely regulated by the state to ensure public safety.

Like I said in a previous post, farmers and veterinarians understand these risks and really do try to make sure the food you consume is safe. It’s a big job, but someone has to do it… J