For cattle, ketosis an early, post-drought problem
Caroline Booth Lara
Southwest Farm Press
As Texas Cooperative Extension program leader for veterinary medicine, Buddy Faries has seen — and discussed — a lot of thin cattle.
“In 1994 and 1995, I was talking on inadequate nutrition, then it went to malnutrition, now we have starving cows. Cows need to stay in body condition score 5 and heifers need to stay in BCS 6 — when they have three ribs showing, they are starving.”
The effects of drought on cattle are compounding — one health problem opens the door for another. After the obvious malnutrition or starvation, one of the first drought-related health problems in cattle is range ketosis, or low blood sugar and high ketones.
“I’ve been feeding this cow hay, now I need to feed her grain, but once her blood sugar gets low, she loses her appetite for grain,” Faries says. “The only way to get her blood sugar back up is for a vet to give her glucose, and it’s not a one-shot deal.”
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