Treatment of bumps on the body of a cow
Full-fledged breeding of cattle requires understanding the specifics of many diseases. Sometimes it happens that bumps appear on the body of a cow, and therefore farmers are very interested in the question of where they came from. The most common disease is lumpy dermatitis, or tubercle. Such an ailment leads to the fact that the animal even has bumps on its head 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 rash on the skin of an animal indicates the development of the disease, and so that the disease does not turn into a chronic form, you need to start treatment as early as possible. Some farmers make smallpox vaccines, but they don't always prevent smallpox.
You can see in more detail what a tubercle looks like in a photo or video.
Symptoms of lumpy skin disease
- temperature about 40 ° C;
- lethargy and passivity;
- discharge in the eye area;
- poor appetite or refusal to eat;
- profuse salivation;
- the appearance of bumps all over 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 became widespread not so long ago. Until the middle of the twentieth century, tubercle 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 skin disease.
Lumpy skin disease 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 bump on a cow's body can appear anywhere. Bumps can be both throughout the body, and in some separate area. Both an adult and a calf can become infected.
How to identify lumpy skin disease
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 get a closer look at the animal and first of all notice dry bumps on the leg, udder, nipple, abdomen, side. A bump 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 oral cavity and pharynx.There are times when the rash is 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 depression, on which, after a few days, you can remove a cork with a diameter of at least one centimeter. If the subcutaneous bumps hit the udder of the cow, then the milk may take on a pink tint. A person cannot become infected with such a disease, but it incurs losses for farmers, since milk yield decreases.
Treatment of the disease
As soon as the first signs of tubercle have become noticeable, it is required 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 are separated from the general herd during milking and are quarantined. If there are purulent wounds on the udder, then such milk is no longer subject to use, 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.
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. You can find out if a calf has tubercles by the fact that immediately after birth, without visible signs, the calf begins to vilify. In this case, the skin of a newborn calf most often does not have any rashes.
Disease prevention
Recovered cows can become infected with tubercles from the breeding bull through his sperm for about 2 more months, so it is very important to inspect your herd, detect illness in time and keep cows and bulls in different corrals. 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 adherence to the rules for the care and maintenance of cattle, the recovery of animals occurs in 90% of cases. It takes time and costs for farmers to identify and treat such a disease, milk yield is significantly reduced, this undermines the economic side of cow breeding.
Milk from a farm where there are sick cows cannot 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 preventive measure, 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 the Neethling lyophilized culture vaccine is used, the result lasts up to 3 years.
Helpful hints and tips
If you want to vaccinate your herd, you need to know that after the first vaccine, they re-put the same vaccine after 45 days. The dosage is increased by 5 times, based on how much was delivered 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, to overprotect the livestock, all prevention can be based on ensuring the animals have a proper existence in comfortable conditions. There should always be fresh air in the barn 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 the disease, where it is more profitable to prevent it. Close to cells (either near cells, or not far from cells, or close to cells).