Interactive lesson

Cow health, step by step

Interactive lesson: the morning check, normal values and the thermometer, milk fever, bloat and swallowed metal, feet, TB and brucellosis, medicines and withdrawal periods.

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The whole lesson as text

1. The morning check

Look at the cow every day: is she eating, cudding, what's her dung like, how much milk, how does she stand and walk.

How she stands — Before feeding: does she get up by herself when you come in? A healthy cow is curious and grooms herself. Standing apart, head down or grinding her teeth is a warning.
Trough — Has she eaten the evening feed? A cow that eats less gives the first sign that something is wrong.
Left flank — The left flank is slightly hollow, not swollen. Swollen left flank and the cow isn't cudding: vet at once.
Bedding and milking — Look at the bedding: dung, urine, blood, mucus, cleansing. Dung is like a "pat". At milking: how much milk, first squirts, udder.

Why: A cow bears pain and illness for a long time without a sound: she eats a bit less, cuds a bit less, milk drops by a litre or two. Whoever looks at her every day notices in time. Whoever only milks and feeds her notices when she lies down and won't get up.

Do the check before feeding: in 2 minutes you see everything you need.
Keep a new cow or heifer apart for at least 30 days: her own water, her own kit, milked last.

2. Normal values

The thermometer is the most important tool in the home kit.

Rectal temperature — A digital veterinary thermometer, with gel, into the rectum against the wall, for 1 minute. Normal is roughly 38.0–39.0 °C (100.4–102.2 °F); above 39.5 °C (103 °F) is fever, below 37.5 °C is dangerous.
Hand on the left flank — The rumen moves 1–3 times in 2 minutes. No movement and a swollen flank: warning.
Cudding — A healthy cow cuds 7–9 hours a day, 50–70 chews per bolus. Not cudding after a feed: warning.
Write it down — Write down every reading. A 10–20 % drop in milk for no reason, an arched back or short steps need attention.

Why: Without numbers you don't know whether the cow is ill. Temperature, cudding and the rumen tell you more than a glance. When you call the vet, give them the temperature.

Pulse is roughly 60–80 a minute, breathing 10–30 a minute, quiet.
Take the cow's temperature every day for the first 10 days after calving and whenever she is off her feed.