Post by Claire on Jun 14, 2015 11:05:48 GMT -5
It's taken me more than a month to get to a place where I felt able to write about this on the boards.
I put my 17yo Guernsey down on May 4th after coming to the realization that she was exhibiting all the signs of the clinical stages of Johne's disease. The funny/sad part is, I thought at her age we were well past the risk of that disease, because when you read about it the prime age for it to show up is 6-11. I am not sure if this indicates she was infected much later in life- maybe brought in by one of her foster calves over the years- or if she had had the infection the entire time we had her and the infection progressed extremely slowly. Regardless, I think it's an important reminder that we need to be vigilant about disease whatever the cows age, however nice the place you bought her (or any other animals) from, etc. and never assume that unless you are actively testing/vaccinating/preventing there is always a risk. I thought once we got to 12 or 13 we were safe from Johnes and BLV and all those scary things.
She was aging very well, but over this past winter (2014-15) it seemed like the years were suddenly catching up to her- she got slower and thinner. She also had intermittent bouts of diarrhea- it would last a day or two and then she'd be back to normal manure. I thought maybe it was just a mild case of winter dysentery.
Everything came to a head this spring. I transitioned her into pasture without any issues and her first week or so of grazing her manure was normal. Then the diarrhea started. The first few days I thought maybe the pasture was just starting to take off. But it didn't stop. Watching her go was rather horrifying, the manure was like liquid pea soup and just poured out of her. Cleaning the barn was a nightmare because I could not get it off the floor and it just flowed through the bedding and created pools. Her hind end was coated, sometimes from tailhead to hooves. I also noticed other things- she'd get swelling under her jaw and around her brisket for a day or two at a time, she was losing weight (even though she was dry and had been for months), her coat color was fading (especially around her eyes) and she was not shedding out well.
I started researching and Johne's disease seemed to be the one thing that fit her symptoms, so I decided to have her put down. As much as it broke my heart- because the evil thing about this disease is that the animals are energetic and eating with gusto until the bitter end- I could not let myself make her lingering on while essentially crapping herself to death. And with summer coming I thought it would be bordering on cruel between the double whammy of dehydration from diarrhea and our hot/humid summers AND the whole manure-coated hind end combined with flies. I did not get any testing done to confirm it- for one I didn't want to wait because she was declining rapidly and also because she was the last cow here and, even if we end up getting more cattle (or other susceptible livestock) it will be past the 1-2 years needed for the bacteria to die off from the environment. I figured out Johne's on a Friday evening, a neighbor came over Sunday afternoon to dig a grave, and my dad had a vet out Monday morning to put her down.
For reference:
Here is the awful pea-soup liquid manure
Here she is one one of her "cleaner" days
I put my 17yo Guernsey down on May 4th after coming to the realization that she was exhibiting all the signs of the clinical stages of Johne's disease. The funny/sad part is, I thought at her age we were well past the risk of that disease, because when you read about it the prime age for it to show up is 6-11. I am not sure if this indicates she was infected much later in life- maybe brought in by one of her foster calves over the years- or if she had had the infection the entire time we had her and the infection progressed extremely slowly. Regardless, I think it's an important reminder that we need to be vigilant about disease whatever the cows age, however nice the place you bought her (or any other animals) from, etc. and never assume that unless you are actively testing/vaccinating/preventing there is always a risk. I thought once we got to 12 or 13 we were safe from Johnes and BLV and all those scary things.
She was aging very well, but over this past winter (2014-15) it seemed like the years were suddenly catching up to her- she got slower and thinner. She also had intermittent bouts of diarrhea- it would last a day or two and then she'd be back to normal manure. I thought maybe it was just a mild case of winter dysentery.
Everything came to a head this spring. I transitioned her into pasture without any issues and her first week or so of grazing her manure was normal. Then the diarrhea started. The first few days I thought maybe the pasture was just starting to take off. But it didn't stop. Watching her go was rather horrifying, the manure was like liquid pea soup and just poured out of her. Cleaning the barn was a nightmare because I could not get it off the floor and it just flowed through the bedding and created pools. Her hind end was coated, sometimes from tailhead to hooves. I also noticed other things- she'd get swelling under her jaw and around her brisket for a day or two at a time, she was losing weight (even though she was dry and had been for months), her coat color was fading (especially around her eyes) and she was not shedding out well.
I started researching and Johne's disease seemed to be the one thing that fit her symptoms, so I decided to have her put down. As much as it broke my heart- because the evil thing about this disease is that the animals are energetic and eating with gusto until the bitter end- I could not let myself make her lingering on while essentially crapping herself to death. And with summer coming I thought it would be bordering on cruel between the double whammy of dehydration from diarrhea and our hot/humid summers AND the whole manure-coated hind end combined with flies. I did not get any testing done to confirm it- for one I didn't want to wait because she was declining rapidly and also because she was the last cow here and, even if we end up getting more cattle (or other susceptible livestock) it will be past the 1-2 years needed for the bacteria to die off from the environment. I figured out Johne's on a Friday evening, a neighbor came over Sunday afternoon to dig a grave, and my dad had a vet out Monday morning to put her down.
For reference:
Here is the awful pea-soup liquid manure
Here she is one one of her "cleaner" days