Heifer that frequently chokes

[mossyoaks]

Hello All,

I have a 23mo old heifer that I purchased last May. Over the last 9 months I've witnessed her occasionally start choking on something - The first time she was foaming at the mouth and slightly bloated. Luckily, she was able to dislodge it during the time it took me to grab her and lead her to be tied up so that I could see if something was there. Since then, it seem that a week doesn't go by that I catch her trying to cough something up. I watch but she seems to quickly dislodge it and go about her business (usually eating hay). It's worried me enough that I don't feed her any alfalfa pellets and such like I do others because I'm concerned she'll choke on them.

Anyway, today I was cleaning out the pen and I see her staggering around, drunk like. I run over to her and can see that she can't get enough air in her. So I lift her head and stick my hand down her throat as far as I can. Don't feel anything but she seems to breathe better afterwards. I stood there petting her for a few minutes and her breathing calmed down. Then all of a sudden she starts up again. Not enough air getting in, eyes starting to roll back, etc. Hand down the throat again, still don't find anything so run up to the shed to get a tube to see if I can push whatever it is down. By the time I'm back, she's breathing better again. Breathing a little hard, but at least it's clear. I have the vet take a look and he doesn't feel anything abnormal at least at the top end of her esophagus and by the time he saw her she was totally back to normal.

I have her dam and a half sibling, too. They don't do this. Has anybody experienced cattle that frequently choke? Any ideas as to why or how to avoid? (in addition to things like not giving whole fruits, etc). I've got their hay in feeders so her head is up when she's eating. I wonder if she'd be better with her head down like when grazing?

She's in with a bull right now. I'm now also worried that if she has some type of defect, the pressure of a developing fetus my make it worse. I asked the vet whether I should not take a chance with breeding her and put her in the freezer, but he thought it's still a safe risk to breed her.

Thanks much for any insight or ideas!

Kimberly Montes

[littlecowfl]

She might be eating something in the pasture. How many other cows are sharing her space? Is she on a dry lot or on grass? Can you find out if you have a common weed that causes these symptoms in your area? Your vet can help you with her reoccurring illness and then your extension agent can help you identify the noxious weed, if that's what your vet thinks it is. A cow can slowly poison herself if she gets a taste for something noxious. Sometimes only one cow will eat something that the others avoid. Best to remove any poisonous plants, shrubs or trees.

What makes me think it's a weed is the choking (throat closing due to allergies), foamy mouth, and walking like she's drunk.

What part of the country do you live in?

[mossyoaks]

Oh good idea, didn't think of that!

She's with a cow and a 7mo old heifer normally. Right now I have her in a separate pasture with a bull.

I'll have to check with our extension as to what could be poisonous to cattle here and call the vet to see what they commonly treat.

I am in northern California outside of Santa Rosa. My pastures are oak studded and have been used by goats for the past several years. I've been planting a northcoast dryland pasture mix on it in the falls for spring growth. It has perennial ryegrass, orchard grass and some clovers. In the summer, it is essentially dry lot since everything is dead. In the fall the acorns drop and then the grasses start growing in the winter depending on rainfall. I will find out what might be poisonous here, but would be surprised given how long the goats have been here and their penchant for weeds over grass.

Also, the foaming mouth only occurred the very first time I saw her choke last spring. Haven't seen it again. And, the drunken walk was today only but today was the only time it severely impacted her ability to breathe.

[kansasdexters]

Here is a link to the USDA site with toxic plants:
www.ars.usda.gov/Services/docs.htm?docid=9981

Sneezeweed is a toxic plant that grows in your region that can cause coughing. Some toxic pasture plants affect sheep and cattle more than they do goats, so it isn't safe to assume that if goats can eat it then cattle can too.

Patti

[marion]

Your cow sounds as if she may be like one I had. My heifer was fine til, at almost a year old, I found her in distress. She was in a pen with another heifer the same age. It was a 'mild' bloat, mild in the sense that it usually could be quickly resolved. The vet thought that it could be an injury to the vagus nerve, and sometimes they can "grow out of" it. He asked me if she had had pneumonia as a calf (she had not). This cow was beautiful and thriving in spite of her problem, and I kept hoping she would indeed grow out of it. Another vet in the same practice said it could not be a vagus nerve injury, but some other anatomical glitch. The strange thing is, she had regular cycles but never conceived. I would not have let her carry a pregnancy anyway, as the risk would have been too great.
I sent the cow to butcher at 4 1/2 yrs and she is the best meat I have ever had, but it was about the saddest day of my life

[mossyoaks]

Thanks for the link Patti. I think our elevation is too low for sneezeweed but going through the list of plants I see a few others to pay attention to in our area. I'm still going to call the vet and ask about what common plant poisoning cases they see in our area.

Marion, funny you mention cycling but not conceiving. This heifer has regular cycles, too, but hasn't taken with 3 AI attempts (one of them a timed protocol utlizing CIDR, lutalyze, and GnRH) and she's now gone through 2 cycles with a bull. She's due to cycle again late next week so will see if #2 cycle took. If she didn't take after being with the bull for 3 cycles I had planned on culling her.

However, yesterday's scary incident on top of her frequent bouts with mild choking has me worried about the impact of carrying a fetus on her potentially compromised gastrointestinal tract. I'm now wondering if I should cull her regardless or give her a try at carrying if she did now finally take?

[cddexter]

If the cow is choking and then fine then choking again, this doesn't sound like an allergy issue. I also had one that would chioke, standing there with her head straight out, tongue out, and coughing and coughing, not a weed in sight, nothing in her throat. Turned out to be a defective heart and when she moved to Colorado, the higher elevation with its thuinner air killed her (which is how we found about about the heart when the vet did an autopsy).

I can't think of any poisonous weeds that cattle will eat from choice. usually they eat around them... c.

[mossyoaks]

Hi Carol,

Before your cow moved to Colorado and died, did she calve successfully at the lower elevation?

Thanks, Kimberly

[cddexter]

she calved here as a two-year-old, and again at four, but was sold, with papers, at meat prices, with the proviso there was something wrong but my vet here couldn't identify it. The buyer wanted the bloodline so took her anyway. She went with her second calf at foot. She was re-bred in CO, and had one more calf, and died calving. The calf survived and was used as a herd bull including being put back on his sister. I haven't heard anything pro or con about the offspring. c.

[mossyoaks]

Thanks for the info. If she was bred (I'll draw blood for confirmation), I'm trying to decide whether to risk the calving attempt or cull her and not risk it. Though my vet doesn't know what her issue is, he thinks that she should be ok to calve.

I guess it's a crap shoot either way. Cull her now, put meat in the freezer but possibly have culled unnecessarily. Or, don't cull her and maybe she lives a long live, calves out fine, etc, but maybe she dies young anyway and/or passes on a possible congenital defect to her young.

[goldshaftdexters]

It's these situations you wish you had a crystal ball!

[mossyoaks]

LOL - No kidding Andrea! A crystal ball would definitely come in handy about right now.

I spoke to my vet about it again and his recommendation is that if she is indeed bred to let her calve out and then watch her calves to see if they exhibit the same symptoms. If so, cull all. If not, it's probably wasn't passed on.

Of course, this assumes that she continues to successfully pull out of these choking/can't breathe episodes (of which I just witnessed another one this morning...) and doesn't end up asphyxiating herself into an early demise...