To fully breed cattle, you need to understand the specifics of many diseases. Sometimes it happens that bumps appear on the body of a cow, in connection with which farmers are very interested in the question of where they came from. The most common disease is nodular dermatitis, or tubercle. Such an ailment leads to the fact that even bumps appear on the head of the animal and it becomes completely covered with tubercles.
Bumps on the body of a cow
If bumps appear on the cow's body or on the head, action must be taken immediately. They can occur on completely unpredictable parts of the body: on the udder, navel, neck, abdomen, back, etc. Any rashes on the skin of the animal indicate the development of the disease, and so that the disease does not become chronic, you need to start treatment as soon as possible. Some farmers make smallpox vaccines, but they do not always prevent such a disease.
You can see in more detail what tuberculosis looks like in a photo or video.
Lumpy dermatitis symptoms
- temperature is about 40 ° C;
- lethargy and passivity;
- discharge in the eye area;
- poor appetite or refusal to eat;
- profuse salivation;
- the appearance of tubercles throughout the body;
- decrease in milk yield.
What is lumpy dermatitis or tubercle
The lumpy skin disease virus is carried by blood-sucking insects. Such diseases were previously considered exotic and spread not so long ago. Tuberculosis until the middle of the twentieth century spread mainly in Africa, but in 1963 it was registered in Europe. In Russia, until recently, they did not know anything about such an insidious disease, but every year there are more and more cases of lumpy dermatitis.
Nodular dermatitis is a dangerous virus that results from several DNA viruses similar in structure to goat pox.
Many farmers give smallpox vaccinations to try to keep the animal safe. The causative agents of the virus are so active and resistant that they easily tolerate three levels of freezing and the same number of thawing periods. The fight against such a virus is complicated due to the fact that even if the premises are treated with disinfectants, it will not be possible to get rid of the virus.
A lump on a cow’s body can appear anywhere. The tubercles can be both throughout the body and in some separate area. Both an adult and a calf can become infected.
How to detect nodular dermatitis
The incubation period can last from 3 to 13 days. Basically, the disease can occur in the middle of the incubation period. When milking, most often you can take a closer look at the animal and, first of all, notice dry tubercles on the leg, udder, nipple, stomach, side. A lump in a cow can also be under the skin. Also, most of the bumps may be purulent. If at least a few lumps or rashes become noticeable, you should immediately inspect the entire cow. It is very important to examine the mouth and throat. There are cases when there are rashes on the cheek, inside and under the jaw, in the throat.
The bumps can be small, but after a while larger ones will appear next to them. This will continue until a lot of bumps form a whole canvas, instead of skin, a kind of hard surface appears. The disease progresses instantly, and within a couple of hours after the formation of the first bump, you can see how the whole cow is covered with tubercles. In the center of each tubercle you can see a hollow on which after a few days you can remove the cork with a diameter of at least one centimeter. If the subcutaneous bumps hit the udder of the cows, then the milk may turn pink. A person cannot become infected with such a disease, but it incurs losses for farmers, as milk yield decreases.
Disease treatment
As soon as the first signs of tuberculosis become noticeable, you need to invite a veterinarian to develop further treatment. After taking tests and visual examination, the specialist must confirm or deny the diagnosis, and then prescribe treatment. Animals that have been diagnosed with the disease, during milking, are separated from the general herd and placed in quarantine. If purulent wounds are on the udder, then such milk is no longer to be consumed, since it may contain purulent discharge. It is very important to inspect animals for disease at all times during milking.
The appearance of at least one tubercle is a clear sign of the manifestation of some kind of disease. If, on the basis of analyzes, the disease is confirmed, then treatment is most often prescribed with the drugs Biferon-B, Gentabiferon-B. On average, the disease lasts about a month. The number of injections is calculated only by the veterinarian, taking into account the phase of the disease, the condition of the cow and other factors. Self-treatment at home is completely excluded. Basically, as a prophylaxis, one injection is enough. In advanced cases, sometimes 3-4 injections may be needed. The quality of the injections should be very good, since the introduction of a low-quality drug will not give results.
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Such preparations can only be used in relation to calf cows. If the female is pregnant and the term is already approaching childbirth, then the injection only affects the cow, and the calf will not receive treatment. In this case, the female can transmit the disease to the calf, so experienced farmers believe that it is possible to give the calf an injection on the very first day after birth. It is possible to find out if a calf has tuberculosis by the fact that immediately after birth, the cub begins to vilify without visible signs. At the same time, the skin of a newborn calf most often does not have any rashes.
Disease prevention
Ill cows can be infected with tubercle from the producer bull through his sperm for about 2 more months, so it is very important to inspect your herd, identify the disease on time and keep the cows and bulls in different pens. When breeding cows for sale in an area where an outbreak has occurred, it is not allowed to sell such animals for another year outside this region.
With proper treatment and compliance with the rules for the care and maintenance of cattle, animals recover in 90% of cases. It takes time and costs for farmers to identify and treat such a disease, milk production is significantly reduced, this undermines the economic side of cow breeding.
Milk obtained on a farm where there are diseased cows is not to be used. Since when the disease occurs, cows and bulls begin to lose weight and refuse to eat, the meat orientation also suffers. As a prophylaxis, in order not to incur losses, it is recommended to use a vaccine. To date, this is the only and effective preventive measure against tubercles. A heterogeneous vaccine is able to create immunity in cattle for 2 years. If you use the lyophilized culture vaccine Neethling, then the result persists until 3 years.
Useful tips and tricks
If you want to vaccinate your herd, you need to know that after the first vaccine, the same vaccine is put back in 45 days. The dosage is increased by 5 times, based on how much was put for the first time.
In our country, such a disease is relatively new, so not all veterinarians can visually make an accurate diagnosis the first time. In order to accurately determine lumpy skin disease, you need to take tests. To ensure that the animals are kept in proper conditions, a general cleaning of the barn with disinfectants should be carried out weekly.
If a new individual is acquired in the herd, then first it must be quarantined, and only then, after a month, if no diseases have manifested itself, you can transfer it to the main herd. It is necessary to keep animals in quarantine in a separate room.
It is not necessary to perform many actions, overly protect the livestock, all prevention can be based on ensuring that animals live properly in comfortable conditions. The barn should always have fresh air in the summer, and in the winter, you need to get a good ventilation system. If this is not done, then various viruses, bacteria and insects are formed in the musty air, which can transmit diseases. Than to treat ailment, it is much more profitable to prevent it. Close to cells (either near cells, or not far from cells, or close to cells).