heartbroken farmer loses 50 cows to botulism

[llamedos]

James Stephenson likened the scenes in his shed to that of a ‘horror film’, with cows quickly being paralysed, as the disease, which attacks the nervous system, took hold.



Mr Stephenson, from Clitheroe, Lancashire, first saw signs of the disease on a routine lunchtime check of the herd, predominantly Holstein-Friesians, and found one cow dead in the passageway.



He said: “Another cow was floppy and weak. I rang the vet who came to do a post-mortem and in that time another two had fallen.



“In just a few minutes, the floppy cow had died. It continued like that and, by Monday, 38 were dead.

Credit FG https://www.fginsight.com/news/it-w...broken-farmer-loses-50-cows-to-botulism-46625

 

[Henarar]

Bloody hell
I can't see the article. Does it say how they got it ?

 

[Bones]

What a nightmare

 

[Gareth Bryson]

A man close to us lost over 90 head of dairy cows in the space of a week due to botulism a number of years ago too.

 

[crofteress]

Bloody hell
I can't see the article. Does it say how they got it ?

yes it says the silage must have had dead birds it , and that theres a vaccination . Must have been awful for him he sounds fond of his cows

 

[Oldmacdonald]

I remember thread on one of the forums and a guy was losing dozens of cows. It might have been botilism

 

[kill]

yes it says the silage must have had dead birds it , and that theres a vaccination . Must have been awful for him he sounds fond of his cows

I know somewhere a dead deer went in a forager and one of the trailer drivers had a bollocking for dumping the grass, rather than clamping it because he felt it may cause botulism .
Chicken muck with dead birds is a very high risk and can affect stock several fields away.

 

[ollie989898]

I know somewhere a dead deer went in a forager and one of the trailer drivers had a bollocking for dumping the grass, rather than clamping it because he felt it may cause botulism .
Chicken muck with dead birds is a very high risk and can affect stock several fields away.

Classic way of getting botulism is to have a deer carcass go up the chute- it's not worth the risk, mower and rake man need to be so vigilant, spread as a layer through the clamp could be nasty.

 

[Forever Fendt]

Classic way of getting botulism is to have a deer carcass go up the chute- it's not worth the risk, mower and rake man need to be so vigilant, spread as a layer through the clamp could be nasty.

I bought some bales of silage in a couple of years ago and found a deer skull in the bottom of the ring feeder must have been lucky then

 

[kill]

I bought some bales of silage in a couple of years ago and found a deer skull in the bottom of the ring feeder must have been lucky then

Skull would be no problem but decaying/ decomposing flesh on it will be.

 

[Forever Fendt]

Skull would be no problem but decaying/ decomposing flesh on it will be.

Very sorry for the people concerned they must be devastated i know i would be

 

[Henarar]

I remember thread on one of the forums and a guy was losing dozens of cows. It might have been botilism

think I remember that, wasn't he by a river and blaming that ?

 

[Old Tip]

Dead rats going through tmr feeder is another cause, friend of ours lost about forty fattening cattle that way. He’s never really recovered financially or mentally

 

[beardface]

We lost 6 store cattle this year at grass to it. First time with cattle as well (dad had beef cattle when he was our age). Absolutely soul destroying as nothing can be done for them, made checking them a dreaded time every morning as they dropped each day for a week. Had 7 down in total and saved one. Took nearly 2 weeks to get it on its feet. We’ve decided to accelerate the suckler herd plans and spend the money in vaccination on capital stock. You can still see about a third that had a check from it, but luckily didn’t go down.

 

[Al R]

A few hundred cows died at a big farm in Carmarthen from botulism in the last few years. Chicken carcasses again apparently!

 

[Henarar]

This sort of thing is one drawback with a diet feeder, everyone gets a bit

heard about a farm where a tyre got in the diet feeder, that killed a fare few

 

[Chasingmytail]

I'm confused how do chicken carcasses or tyres get into a feeder?

 

[S J H]

Is there is a vaccination?

 

[sidjon]

This sort of thing is one drawback with a diet feeder, everyone gets a bit

heard about a farm where a tyre got in the diet feeder, that killed a fare few

Crown estate farm near Taunton?

 

[Exfarmer]

Botulism is just as likely , if not more likely to come from a vegetable source than animal. It is far more likely to occur in grass which has not ensiled well so the Ph has not dropped far as in haylage, particularly baled haylage.
Botulism is a common illness in countries where fruit and veg is bottled although canning or bottling meat products are equally afflicted.
There is no vaccine as the bacterium except in infants is not the problem.
Botuline bacteria produce neuro toxins which are extremely poisonous and also tasteless. The treatment , if prompt is an anti toxin product.
Although carcasses are often blamed and may be the source, soil contamination is just as, if not more dangerous.
It is critical that silage drops quickly below Ph5 after which there is little danger
When haylage for horses was first promoted and the use of small wrapped bales introduced, there were many issues and a lot of horses died.