Ruminants w/ Amanda Anderson

What are Production Animals?

Production Ainmals and their Products

• Cows = Beef, Milk, Hide

• Goats = Goat meat, Milk 

• Sheep = Mutton, Milk, Wool 

• Pigs = Pork 

• Llamas = Fiber

• Alpacas = Fiber 

* Would also include poultry and other avian species but focusing on ruminants today

Food or Friend?

• Production animals fall into many different categories:

  • Meat, Dairy, Fiber, Breeding, Show, and Companion

• Depending on the animal’s job/use, different qualities are desired, sought, and selected for

• Animals with the best genetics for each characteristic are bred to maintain those bloodlines

• Better Genetics = Better Products = More $$$

• Animals can also be bred to select for better temperaments (as well as physical characteristics), which make them into better pets

Cattle’s Role in Production Industries 

• Products: Milk and Meat

• Classes: Dairy and Beef

• Breeds: Dairy Cattle Breeds and Beef cattle Breeds

  • Holsteins - Black and white spotted (classic cow)

    • Very feminine looking cow, width of hips, wide ribs, good mammary system, good rear udder attachment, want teats above the hock

  • Jersey - light brown/tan

    • Used to produce some rich milk, often used to produce butter and cheese, very powerful 

  • Brown Swiss - chocolate looking brown 

  • Guernsey - chestnut golden splotted

    • Milk looks gold, lighter than colostrum 

  • Ayrshire - tinier spots 

  • Milking Shorthorn - graphite looking? Brown

• Different Breeds give different products (ratios of nutrients) 

  • Identifying factors in meat

    • Meat color 

    • Fat Color 

    • pH

    • Drip loss 

    • Cooking Loss

  • Age is also a factor of meat quality and characteristics as well as milk yield

COWS: The BEST creatures EVER

• Bovines actually act more like giant canines than anything else

  • Cows can become frightened of humans and be dangerous to us and themselves (just like dogs)

• Dairy cattle are typically more amenable to human handling than beef cattle

COWS: They Keep Getting Cooler 

• Literally - the ideal temperature for cattle is around 40 degrees

  • They are very thick-skinned and dislike temperatures above 65 degrees 

• Some farmers have large refrigerated rooms that their cattle stay in during the hotter months to keep them comfortable and their hair coats healthy and full

  • These are usually for show cattle and more often with beef cattle

COWS: Awesome; Inside and out 

• The Ruminant GI tract

1. Mouth 

2. Esophagus 

3. Rumen 

4. Reticulum * cud

• Will push cud back in to remasticate

5. Omasum 

6. Abomasum 

7. Small intestine 

8. Cecum

9. Large Intestine 

10. Rectum

• Pigs are not ruminants (monogastric), llamas and alpacas are modified (3 chambers)

COWS: They’re indestructible

• Cattle have awesome defense mechanisms for their bodies 

  • Fibrin: key component in clotting 

  • Adhesions: bands of scar-like tissue formed between structures (+/-) 

  • Granulation tissue: very proliferative tissue in second-intention healing 

    • Primary intention vs Second 

• Cows are predisposed to displaced abomasum surgery 

Basic Handling of Ruminants 

• Cattle Rope Halter 

  • Easier to slip on a fractious animal (no clips or ties) 

  • Tighten with resistance (less likely to slip off)

  • Made with nylon and are one solid piece (more durable)

• Hog Snare

• Prumping 

• Always handle animals with horns near the base of the skull

How to Cast (lie down) a cow

• Head is tired to prevent from stepping backwards

• Rope is secured aournd neck (NOT a slip knot)

• Remainder of rope is looped once behind the withers and once around flank 

• The end of the rope is pulled steadily until animal drops 

• Usually done in conjunction with sedation to keep animal down

Tail Jack 

• Tail is grabbed near base and pushed directly upwards

SOAPS

• Subjective 

  • Observable, but interpretable, findings (often dependent on the provided history and idea of what their animal has been experiencing 

• Objective 

  • Observable, definitive, findings (vitals, lab results, imaging

• Assesment

  • Objective and subjective data combined to form a reasonable diagnosis

• Plan 

  • Deciding on a course of action to medically aid a patient 

NORMAL TPR

• Temperature, Pulse, Respirations, and Ruminants 

  • Rumination, 1-4 in the period of 2 minutes

The Ever Dreded PING and Toxic line 

• Percussion: (flicking motion) -- Warning signs: sound of a basketball on a gymnasium floor

  • Hearing gas and fluid, potential DA

• Succussion: (Gentle, pounchign motion) --Warning signs: tinkling/splashng sound 

• Borborygmi: (gurgling sounds) --Warnign sings: hypermotility, hypomotility, no sound 

• Mucous embranes: (gums, eyelids, vulva) 

  • Pink = good 

  • White = anemia 

  • Dark Red/Pruple = toxic 

Ruminant Injections/Blood Collection 

Cows:

• IM injections in green triangle around neck 

  • IV injections 

    • Administed/collected via jug

  • Excede injections 

    • Behind ear

Treatment OPtions for Food Animals 

• Fluid Therapy 

  • Indications: Poor perfusion (cold.discolored extremeities, pulse quality), dehydration *sunken eyes, sin tent, extended CRT, elevated PCV), prolonged fluid losses (vomiting/diarrhea.parasites) 

    • Types: many diff options and indications for using each type of fluid

    • Admin routes: IV, SQ, intraosseous, oral, and rectal 

• Oxygen therapy 

  • Indications: Tachypnea (rapid breathing), Tachcardia (rapid heart rate), Cyanosis (bluish skin color), extended neck (indicates an attempt to open airway more)

    • Administration: O2 flow-by/mask, O2 nasal cannula, O2 cage

• Drenching/Transfaunating (A type of oral fluid/mineral therapy)

  • Indiactions: Abnormal/absent gut motility

  • Types: Water (dehydration), water and minerals, mineral oil, kaopectate (assist with indigestion/diarrhea)

• Tubing (orogastric)

  • Indications: Bloat (excess gas building up in rumen; visible on left side of animal) 

* Be sure to use an appropriately sized tube for each individual species/age

• Rumen Trocar

  • Indications: Chronic bloat 

(Bloat returns after multiple attempts to cure)

• Surgery!

• Private (medicine) Practice:

  • Usually limited to soft tissue procedures that only require sedation (no general anesthetics)

    • DA 

    • Abscess drainage/flushing 

    • Neonate hernia repair 

    • Disbudding 

    • Castration 

    • Laceration repair 

• Boarded Surgeons/Referral Facility:

  • Can do just about everything from simple laceration repair to open fracture repair 

Ethics:

• There are NINE Principles of Vet Med - all are addressed int he American Veterinary Medical Association 

• Oath taken by DVMs and CVTs