Prevention and treatment of some common diseases in livestock in the cold season

To keep livestock strong, farmers need to take better care of their cattle, especially during the rainy and cold season.

A. Foot and mouth disease (FMD)

1. Cause: Caused by a virus belonging to the Picorna Viridae family, there are many different types of the virus, type O, A Asia 1 virus in both cows and pigs; it is an acute, dangerous disease that spreads very quickly.

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2. Symptoms

- Cattle and buffaloes have an incubation period of 2-7 days, sometimes lasting 14 days. The animal has a high fever of 40-410C, eats little, drinks a lot of water, and saliva flows from the mouth like soap bubbles. After the animal has a fever for 2-3 days, blisters begin to appear on the tongue, upper jaw, mouth, and nose. Blisters on the hoof and between the hoofs make it difficult for the animal to walk.

- The blisters grow and burst, forming red ulcers. Ulcers on the legs, due to frequent contact with dirty environments, can become infected, causing the hoof to fall off, making it difficult for the animal to walk or lie down. In addition, blisters also appear on the breasts, armpits, and abdomen, causing similar ulcers.

3. Disease prevention

- Practice good veterinary hygiene, keep the cage dry, clean and warm. Periodically disinfect and compost.

- Enhance care and feeding of cattle and buffaloes, especially during the rainy and cold season. Supplement concentrated feed and green roughage.

- Vaccinate against foot and mouth disease every 6 months. If you suspect your livestock has the disease, immediately notify the nearest veterinary agency for instructions on how to handle it.

- Strict quarantine when importing and exporting buffaloes and cows to eliminate those carrying pathogens.

4. Treatment

There is no specific treatment. Treatment of symptoms is as follows:

- Use mild antiseptics (methylene blue, 1% potassium permanganate), lemon juice, star fruit juice to wash and disinfect ulcers;

- Use decoctions of herbs such as guava, green tea... to wash ulcers;

- Use tonics and stimulants: supplement vitamins and minerals;

- Use antibiotics to prevent secondary infections.

B. Pasteurellosis bovum

Bovine septicemia is caused by Pasteurella multocida bacteria with types A, B, D, E. It is an acute infectious disease, occurring throughout the country but often in mountainous provinces, causing damage to buffalo and cattle herds.

The disease has typical symptoms of hematoma, hemorrhage, bacteria entering the blood causing sepsis. The disease can also spread directly from sick animals to healthy animals through contact, confinement in the same cage, sharing food and water sources, grazing in the same pasture or possibly through sharing farming tools... The disease can spread far due to butchering sick animals, dispersing skin and flesh, eating dead or slaughtered sick animals.

1. Cause

This is an infectious disease caused by septicemia bacteria. The bacteria are present in the soil and are easily spread during the rainy season, sticking to straw, grass or drifting into water sources. Buffaloes and cows get sick by eating contaminated food or drinking contaminated water.

Some buffaloes and cows may carry the pathogen but do not show any symptoms. When exposed to unfavorable conditions such as lack of food and water, sudden changes in weather, cold and rain, overwork, and poor resistance, the bacteria will increase their virulence and enter the bloodstream, causing disease.

2. Symptoms and lesions

Cattle often get sick in 3 forms: hyperacute, acute and chronic.

+ Hyperacute form: Rarely seen, cattle suddenly have high fever (41 - 420C), are aggressive, the disease develops very quickly and they can die after 24 hours. Cattle die suddenly right on the pasture or in the barn, without showing clinical symptoms. With calves, neurological symptoms are more obvious, the animal struggles, falls down and dies.

+ Acute form is common in buffaloes and cows. The disease progresses in 3 - 5 days, the mortality rate is very high: 90 - 100%. After the incubation period of 1 - 3 days, the animal shows signs of not chewing its cud, has a sudden high fever of 40 - 420C, has difficulty breathing and breathes heavily. The lymph nodes are all swollen, especially the lymph nodes under the pharynx are swollen, making it difficult for the animal to breathe, sticking out its tongue to breathe, so it is also called "double-tongued buffalo and cow disease". The lymph nodes in front of the shoulder and thigh are swollen, edema makes it difficult for the animal to walk.

Buffaloes and cows show difficulty breathing due to pleurisy, pleural effusion, acute pneumonia. Some animals have intestinal disease: the abdomen is distended due to peritonitis. The animal initially has constipation, then severe diarrhea, stools mixed with blood and intestinal mucosa. When near death, the cow is seen lying paralyzed, urinating blood, having difficulty breathing, with many dark red hemorrhagic spots on the mucosa. If the disease turns into septicemia, the animal dies quickly within 24 - 36 hours.

+ Chronic form appears in animals with acute disease that do not die, the disease will turn into chronic. The disease manifests with symptoms: chronic enteritis (sometimes diarrhea, sometimes constipation), chronic bronchitis and pneumonia, arthritis and the animal has difficulty walking, eats less, and loses weight quickly.

The disease progresses over several weeks, symptoms may ease and the animal recovers, but usually the animal does not survive.

3. Disease prevention

- Regularly clean barns and pastures: disinfect and sterilize barns with 10% lime water or other disinfectants, clear drains around barns and pastures to limit the existence of pathogens in nature.

When an epidemic occurs, it is necessary to promptly detect sick animals for isolation and treatment. Transport and slaughter are strictly prohibited. Dead buffaloes and cows must be buried deep, lime powder must be poured into the burial pit, barns and pastures must be disinfected, and manure mixed with lime powder must be composted to kill pathogens.

Vaccinate against fowl cholera every 6 months. Vaccinate in March - April and September - October before the changing seasons.

- Strengthen care, nutrition and disease prevention hygiene, especially during changing seasons and times of flooding or cold rain.

4. Treatment

Because the disease often occurs in acute form, early detection, isolation and timely treatment are needed to be effective.

Treatment with antibiotics Streptomycin, Kanamycin, dosage according to manufacturer's instructions.

High fever animals should be injected with antipyretics. Increase support with caffeine, vitamin C, vitamin B1. Animals that are too weak and refuse to eat need serum transfusions. Increase nursing care and nutrition.

C. Chilblains in buffaloes and cows

1. Cause

Due to the cold weather, high mountainous areas often have frost and frost, temperatures below 100C make buffalo and cows susceptible to chilblains.

In cold weather, buffaloes and cows have to stand and lie in damp, wet, muddy, unsanitary barns. Buffaloes and cows have to soak their feet in cold water for a long time, causing the capillary system in the buffaloes and cows' legs to contract, hindering blood circulation. If this continues for about 2-3 days, the capillary system in the buffaloes and cows' legs will be blocked in patches, leading to swelling around the hooves, feet, and ankles, causing buffaloes and cows to be in pain and unable to walk.

2. Symptoms

In the early stages of the disease, the legs of buffaloes and cows are slightly swollen, causing the animal to walk slowly and limp. If not treated promptly, the legs will show signs of edema, swelling, many purple-red spots or cracked skin, yellow oozing, if you press your hand on the swollen area, when you remove your hand, you will see a deep indentation because the blood vessel system in the foot area has been blocked, causing the skin around the hooves and feet to become severely necrotic. Secondary infections in buffaloes and cows' legs make them unable to stand up and walk, if the wound is deep, the buffalo or cow will become lame and have to lie down.

Although chilblains in cattle is not a contagious disease, it can occur in large numbers, greatly affecting plowing and transportation. Cattle and buffaloes lose weight and have reduced resistance, making them susceptible to secondary infections.

3. Disease prevention

- On cold days (below 120C), do not graze buffalo and cows outdoors. Let them rest from plowing and pulling. Move the buffalo and cows out of the high mountain areas and herd them into confinement for easier control.

- Always keep the barn dry, clean, windproof, keep the livestock warm and ensure barn hygiene. Store enough food (straw, hay) for buffaloes and cows to eat and drink fully and supplement with concentrated feed such as rice bran, corn flour, cassava with about 2 kg of concentrated feed/day.

Regularly observe the movement of buffaloes and cows. If you see symptoms as mentioned in the symptoms section, you need to have timely treatment methods so that buffaloes and cows can recover quickly.

- Use materials to keep livestock warm such as: Making coats from sacks or raising the temperature of the barn by burning coal, rice husks, firewood, etc. to warm the buffaloes and cows (note that when burning, there must be a chimney outside to avoid suffocation of the buffaloes and cows).

- Fully vaccinate against diseases and periodically deworm buffalo and cows before the cold rainy season. Periodically clean and disinfect barns and the breeding environment.

4. Treatment

If the disease has just appeared, it is necessary to clean and dry the buffalo and cow's feet. Use crushed ginger and galangal, heat them, put them in a cloth bag and apply them to the swollen area. Or use straw, sacks, etc. to rub the swollen area many times to dissolve the blood clot and restore blood circulation. Apply them twice a day. Use Methylxalixilate alcohol to rub the buffalo and cow's feet after cleaning and drying them. Do not let the buffalo or cow lie on one side for too long as it will cause necrosis of the skin that is in contact with the barn floor.

If the leg has a broken or infected ulcer, wash it with potassium permanganate solution, then sprinkle with Tetracycline or Sunfamid powder.

If the legs have many necrotic areas, it is necessary to amputate the necrotic tissues, then treat with antibiotics continuously for 5-7 days. Inject antibiotics (Pen-Strep; Ampicillin...) according to the manufacturer's dosage. Increase strength and support with Caffeine, vitamin C, vitamin B1. Increase care and nutrition. Keep the buffalo and cows on the barn floor dry, clean and warm.

According to the National Agricultural Extension Center