Abomasal disease in young beef calves: Surgical findings and management factors

A retrospective study was performed on 46 abomasotomies in young beef calves. Clinical abomasal disease in the herds under investigation had an average incidence of 1.0% for the year of the study. The range in incidence among herds was 0.2-5.7%. In 80% (37/46) of abomasal surgeries, abomasal ulcers were found. In 76% (35/46) of the cases, hair was present in the abomasum. These findings indicate that there could be a link between abomasal ulcers and the ingestion of hair by young beef calves.

Housing appeared to be a significant factor in relation to the relative risk of abomasal disease. Calves housed in pens or on stubble fields were nearly three times as likely to receive surgery for abomasal disease than were those housed on pasture.

The results also indicated that mineral supplements may be helpful in reducing the incidence of abomasal disease.

     

Indigestion in young calves. IV. Lesions of ruminal papillae in young calves fed barley and barley plus hay.

Fiftysix calves, in 2 similar experiments, were given 1 of 4 diets including a high lactose milk replacer: ground barley (GB), ground barley plus coarse hay (GB + GH), coarse hay (CH) and the liquid diet only (NS) ; the 2 last diets were held as controls. The calves were on the experimental diet from 1–2 weeks of age until slaughtered at 7-8 weeks of age. As observed by stereo-microscopy, the ruminai papillae in calves fed on GB were thickened, mostly finger- or club-shaped and sometimes nodular; nodular papillae were always arranged on prominent mucosal folds. Scattered nodular papillae had white coats. For calves fed on GB + CH the papillae were mostly finger- or tongue-shaped. Histologically papillae in calves fed on GB had hyperplasia of secondary papillae and epithelial layers. Microabscesses associated with penetrating hairs were frequent, and some calves had dyskeratosis with infiltration of polymorphonuclear leucocytes at the apex of papillae, identified as the white coats. For calves given GB+CH, abscesses and apical dyskeratosis were absent and the hyperplasia of epithelial layers milder than in the case of the GB diet. An ameliorative effect of hay on papillary changes caused by barley is indicated.     

Salmonellosis in young calves

The isolation of three strains of porcine parvovirus from aborted foetal piglets is recorded and the role of this virus as a cause of reproductive failure in pigs is discussed.     

Abomasal bloat, haemorrhage and ulcers in young Norwegian lambs

An abomasal syndrome affecting mainly three- to four-week-old lambs was studied by using a case-control design involving 88 cases and 85 controls. The principal clinical signs were tympany and colic. The cases were divided into three groups according to the main gross pathological findings in 82 of them. The 28 lambs in group 1 had abomasal tympany, the 29 lambs in group 2 had severe damage to the abomasal mucosa, and the 25 lambs in group 3 consisted mainly of lambs with various other diseases in combination with abomasal changes. The lambs in group 1 had a significantly (P<0.05) lower mean (se) abomasal pH (2.7 [0.19]) than those in group 2 (4.1 [0.32]), group 3 (3.7 [0.39]) or the controls (3.3 [0.13]). The ruminal pH values ranged from 3.5 to 7.4 but there were no significant differences between the groups. Lambs with ulcers had a significantly (P<0.05) higher frequency of trichophytobezoars, than the cases without ulcers or the controls. The tympanic lambs in group 1 had a significantly higher mean packed cell volume, and higher mean red and white blood cell counts, and a significantly lower mean cell volume and mean cell haemoglobin concentration than the healthy control lambs.     

Thermal insulation of young calves exposed to cold.

Tissue, external and whole animal insulation values were determined for 12 newborn male Holstein calves continuously housed for two weeks in hutches within environmental chambers in which temperature was maintained at a constant 17 degrees C (three calves) or cycled on a daily basis either between -20 degrees and -8 degrees C (three calves) or between -30 degrees and -18 degrees C (six calves). Three of the six calves at the coldest temperature were outfitted with an insulated coat. The insulated coat provided calves a 52% increase in total insulation. Tissue insulation of cold-housed calves increased 37.2% over the first two weeks of life. It was concluded that the capacity for vasoconstriction improved with age. External insulation did not change significantly except during the first week in cold-housed calves without insulated coats. External insulation values were five to eight times those of tissue insulation values for all treatment groups. This indicated that insulation of structures external to the skin (hair, bedding, ground, etc.) provided most of the insulation for calves.     

Study on diarrhea in young calves. 2. Pathomorphological studies in clinically healthy calves and in calves with diarrhea

Pathological-anatomical and histological investigations were performed in 49 calves aged from 1 to 18 days, 26 of them being affected by diarrhoea, 23 being without clinical signs. In both the groups above all rhinitis, gastritis and typhlocolitis could be observed, thus the affection could be characterized as rhinogastrocolitis. Significant differences only existed between diarrhoea affected and clinical incospicuous calves concerning the macroscopic signs of the colon, periportal infiltrates of the liver and thymus in involution. The peak of inflammatory reaction is in general reached at the 7. to 10. day of life. In concordance with bacteriological findings the results refer to an affection not due to coli infection. Virus etiology may not be excluded and has to be examined in further studies.     

Severe renal oxalosis in five young Beefmaster calves.

Severe renal oxalosis was diagnosed in 4 male and 1 female purebred Beefmaster calves from herds in southeastern and northwestern United States. Clinical signs included weakness, anorexia, lethargy, alopecia, dehydration, and diarrhea. Results of serum biochemical analysis for 2 calves were consistent with end-stage renal disease. Calves died 2 days to 6 weeks after birth. At necropsy, renal calyces were dilated and contained pale yellow granular calculi. Histologically, there was renal interstitial fibrosis, and cortical and medullary tubules were distended with calcium oxalate crystals. Oxalate crystals were also in the tracheal glands of 1 calf. Severe renal oxalosis in young purebred calves, on widely varied diets, with no known exposure to exogenous oxalates is suggestive of an inherited metabolic defect resulting in primary hyperoxaluria.     

Salmonellosis in young calves due to Salmonella enteritidis.

The clinical and epidemiological features of an outbreak of salmonellosis due to Salmonella enteritidis in a group of calves are described. The major clinical signs were dullness, pyrexia and diarrhoea. Five of the 15 calves died but deaths were mainly confined to the younger members of the group. The recovery of salmonella organisms from rectal swabs was maximal shortly before four of the five deaths occurred and declined rapidly thereafter. Only two of the surviving 10 calves developed significant flagellar agglutination titres.     

Aetiology of diarrhoea in young calves

Faeces samples were collected from 302 untreated calves on the day of onset of diarrhoea and from 49 healthy calves at 32 farms experiencing outbreaks of diarrhoea. At least four diarrhoeic calves were sampled on each farm, and samples were examined for rotavirus, coronavirus, cryptosporidium, enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli and Salmonella species. Although all these enteropathogens were excreted more frequently by the diarrhoeic than by the healthy calves, the difference was significant overall only for rotavirus. Rotavirus was excreted by 18 per cent of healthy calves, coronavirus by 4 per cent, cryptosporidium by 14 per cent, and no enterotoxigenic E coli or Salmonella species were detected. The most common enteropathogen in diarrhoeic calves was rotavirus, which was excreted by more than half the diarrhoeic calves on 18 farms. Coronavirus was excreted at a similar high prevalence on one farm, cryptosporidium on five farms and enterotoxigenic E coli on three farms. Concurrent infection with two or more microorganisms occurred in 15 per cent of diarrhoeic calves. There was no difference in the isolation rate of campylobacters between diarrhoeic and healthy calves.