Cow Diseases
The More Common Cow Diseases
There are a dozen or so cow diseases that are the ones most commonly encountered, though it should be mentioned that most cows are healthy most of the time. We've read much lately about Mad Cow disease, which is truly scary, as it can be contracted by other animals and humans as well. Yet the occurrence of this disease, given the number of cattle worldwide, is rather rare. There are a number of other diseases, for the most part affecting the cow only, which can still become a major problem if a significant portion of a herd is exposed.
Many of the cow diseases commonly encountered can be traced to the cow's food intake. There can be fungi or chemicals in grain, silage, or forage which, when eaten in excess, can cause problems. Other disorders trace their cause to calving, where the mother cow's system undergoes significant physiological changes.
The simple act of grazing can result in some very serious cow diseases and disorders, and a farmer has to keep a periodic watch over the herd to see if anything out of the ordinary is happening. Eating poisonous plants is an obvious source, although cattle, like many other grazing animals, will usually not eat enough of the poisonous plants to cause problems, as long as they have a sufficient supply of their regular food (grass, grains, or hay). Prussic acid poisoning can result from eating frost-stressed sorghums, and some grasses, and is potentially fatal. Stressed plants (from drought or frost), and some weeds, can lead to nitrate poisoning, also potentially fatal, and a potential cause for an unborn calf to abort. Grazing in a lush green pasture, rich in nitrogen, can cause grass tetany which actually is the result of a low absorption of magnesium. This problem is most often encountered when a pasture has recently been given a heavy application of nitrogen rich fertilizer.
Other diseases result from contaminated silage or grains. Acidosis, chronic or acute, is a somewhat common condition, and normally occurs if a cow is suddenly introduced to a very rich diet. Cows have died when gaining access to spilled grain, as they will tend to gorge themselves. Limiting the amount of grain given per meal is the best way to avoid an acidosis problem. Sweet clover poisoning is another potentially serious disorder, and can occur when hay or silage containing sweet clover is allowed to become moldy.
There are several other cow diseases, but the more common ones have been mentioned here. Getting back to Mad Cow disease, this is a disease affecting the brain of a cow. The medical term is "bovine spongiform encephalopathies". The key letters are "spongi" - the disease causes degeneration of the brain, by literally eating holes in it, to the point where the brain tissue becomes spongy. Any animal eating an infected cow's brain can contract this dread disease. It can occur on cow farms when dead farm animal tissue is used in part to feed other animals.
Given that most cows are quite healthy, that beef is usually carefully inspected, and milk is pasteurized, your chances of becoming ill or infected by one of these cow diseases are quite remote.