STAGGERS AMONG COWS

Taranaki Daily News, 17 August 1935, Page 24 (Supplement)

STAGGERS AMONG COWS

SIMPLE TREATMENT ADVISED. MINERAL DEFICIENCY CAUSE. Grass staggers is a disease of dairy cows in which the cow becomes affected from two to six weeks after calving, and in which there is a very high death rate. The name grass staggers is a poor one, and others such as grass tetany, ecclampsia etc have been used. It is only within recent years that much has been known of this serious condition, states the New Zealand Journal of Agriculture. ’ Usually many cases are to be seen m August and September in the Waikato and the Bay of Plenty. Sometimes cases occur in the Gisborne, Manawatu and Wairarapa districts. Taranaki is as yet free, though it may not remain so always. There seems to be a reason why certain districts are more frequently affected than others. Usually they are rich areas heavily top-dressed with superphosphate and inclined to be deficient in lime, and in magnesium. Milkfever is usually prevalent on the same farms as grass staggers, or in districts affected with grass staggers. The symptoms of the disease vary from mifd to acute. In mild cases cows walk stiffly or stand about twitching or trembling slightly, and are easily frightened. Such cases may, when being driven to the yard or during milking, drop down in a fit, and may even die at that stage. The stage is acute when the cow is found in convulsions and unconscious, eye turned back and twitching, and often showing paddling movements of the limbs. To get such cows conscious and on their feet has been very difficult in the past, but with an increase in our knowledge results of treatment during the past two years have been better. The blood of such cows is very deficient in magnesium and to some extent in calcium. There is an antagonistic action between calcium and magnesium ir the blood in their action on the nerves. Calcium irritates nerves and magnesium has a soothing effect on them. With too little magnesium the calcium has had the upper hand, and the cow becomes irritable, nervous and highly strung, sufficiently so at times to charge the owner without much provocation. When the magnesium is replaced the cow once more regains its placidity. Treatment then consists in replacing the magnesium. This can be done by drenching with Epsom salts—i.e.,’ sulphate of magnesia—if the cow be lightly affected. There is, however, always the danger of the cow taking convulsions during the act of drenching. It is better in mild cases for the cows to drink water from a water-trough which is kept medicated with Epsom salts, say 11b to 20 gallons water. Should the cow be affected acutely it requires the injection of Epsom salts under the skin, and this should be done by a veterinarian, who can gauge the amount the animal may take without causing death. PREVENTION BEST, Prevention, however, is by far the best course to adopt. Many farmers know when to expect trouble, usually after the hay and silage are finished, and when the spring flush of grass appears. Actually the whole of the year’s growth of pasture has been slightly deficient in magnesium and lime, but this is accentuated to a dangerouf degree, one thinks, by the high phosphate content ,of the young grass in the spring. Experimental trials have been made with both the sulphate .of magnesia and with a mineral known as dolomite, ■which contains much magnesium, and both have been found helpful. As soon as cases are noticed on the farm it is wise to add Epsom salts to the water-troughs, keeping the ball-cock tied up—J per cent, solution is tasteless and if kept constantly before the cows wards off the trouble. Where watertroughs are not available Epsom salts can be spread on silage or dampened hay for the cows during the latter part of the winter. Ground dolomite has also been used as a lick and spread on silage or hay. On two farms a trial is being made with dolomite sprinkled throughout the silage while it was being stacked. so that magnesium is incorporated from the start and cows must get it during the winter to store for the aftercalving period. Considerable experimental work on assimilation of magnesium by stock has been and still is being carried out at Wallaceville, and all-the-year-round analysis of grass is being made from certain farms in the Waikato, where the disease is prevalent.