Posted by Dr. Sara Barber on July 14 2009 11:38
What cows are especially susceptible to dehydration?
- Fresh cows
- Sick cows
- Especially mastitis, metritis, diarrhea, displaced abomasum, pneumonia
How can I tell if a cow is dehydrated?
- Sunken eyes
- Pinch skin on neck or eyelid and look for a "skin tent"
- Dark, yellow urine
Do Banamine or Antibiotics treat dehydration?
- Banamine will reduce fever and bind toxins
- Antibiotics will kill bacteria
- Neither of these drugs will treat dehydration
Why is it important to address dehydration?
- All systems in the body rely on water to function- including the immune system
- The cow will recover faster if she is hydrated
- Dehydration can kill cows (15% dehydration is lethal)
How can you treat dehydration?
- FLUIDS, FLUIDS, FLUIDS
- You can safely pump 5-10 gallons of water into a cow at one time
- Additives can be helpful to replace electrolytes and provide energy
- Stomach pump or gravity flow systems both work well and are easy to use
How often should you treat a dehydrated cow?
- At least once a day
- Can give oral fluids twice a day
- Continue to treat until she is not clinically dehydrated
When do cows become heat stressed?
- This is a combination of temperature and humidity
- Temperature-humidity index of 72
What are the symptoms of heat stress?
- Rectal temperature over 102.5 degrees
- Cows respiratory rate is over 80 breaths/minute
- Milk production drops more than 8-10%
- Dry Matter Intake drops more than 8-10%
What are the affects of heat stress?
- Decreased dry matter intake
- Decreased milk production
- Decreased reproductive efficiency (both on cows and bulls)
- Increase in sick cows, may have more fresh cow problems
- Stress on the immune system
How can you minimize the affects of heat stress?
- Water
- Water intake can increase by as much as 50%
- Cool, clean water needs to be available at all times
- Minimize competition to water
- Cooling systems
- Shade: Cover the feed and water areas
- Fans and sprinklers
- Start in the holding pen
- Start sprinklers when temperature exceeds 78 degrees
- Sprinklers need to wet the skin not just the hair
How can you minimize the affects of heat stress?
- Supplement electrolytes
- Feed management
- Feed twice a day to reduce heat production and keep feed fresh- increase feed during cooler times of the day
Dehydration and Heat Stress
- Cows are under heat stress now!
- Water
- Shade
- Cooling
- Electrolytes
- Treat individual dahydrated cows aggressively and you will see quicker recovery times