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Author Topic: Neospora  (Read 1977 times)

Helen Wiltshire Horn

  • Joined Apr 2014
Neospora
« on: July 11, 2015, 12:45:58 pm »
I had my 3 Dexter cows PD'd last week.  1 is in calf, one is not (and this was expected) and my 10 year old cow also isn't in calf.  She was PD'd last year and was in calf but lost it and has failed to be in calf (or lost it) on 2 other attempts over the last 2 years.  The vet took a blood sample and has confirmed that she has neospora.  Having read up on it, I see no alternative but to cull her and try and salvage some meat from her.  I will have to write a difficult email to her former owners who I know are fond of her and who showed her extensively.  We have limited grazing and I can't keep an unproductive cow.  Does this sound reasonable?  I very much doubt that they would buy her back and from what I have read, a diagnosis of neospora means that she is unlikely to carry a healthy calf to term and that any calf she might have may also be infected. 
Helen

Rosemary

  • Joined Oct 2007
  • Barry, Angus, Scotland
    • The Accidental Smallholder
Re: Neospora
« Reply #1 on: July 11, 2015, 01:50:27 pm »
I would be taking the same action as you, if that's any help  :)

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Neospora
« Reply #2 on: July 11, 2015, 03:05:12 pm »
Quote from: Moredun
linky
A recent study conducted at Moredun using aborted bovine foetal tissues, collected from across Scotland, showed that 26% were positive for Neospora caninum.

It's worth reading the article and listening to the linked piece from Landward.

The problem of abortion affects cattle meeting the infection for the first time during pregnancy.  The implication, or what I inferred, is that once infected a cow will not abort a second time.

a diagnosis of neospora means that she is unlikely to carry a healthy calf to term

I don't think this is right.  What I took from the Moredun article and Landward piece was that a cow that's already infected with neospora before conception should not abort - at least, not due to neospora.

However, all that is moot, in that she is persistently failing to breed successfully.  So I would cull her, yes.
« Last Edit: July 11, 2015, 03:06:52 pm by SallyintNorth »
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

Helen Wiltshire Horn

  • Joined Apr 2014
Re: Neospora
« Reply #3 on: July 11, 2015, 05:17:35 pm »
Thanks.  The article says that the risk of abortion is 3 to 7 times more likely than in non infected cows and doesn't at that point make any distinction as to when they were infected which is what I had picked up on.  I do see the point about vaccine and infection prior to conception but the vet wasn't hopeful about her chances of carrying to term and for me the most important thing is the vertical transmission point.  I don't think that I would either want to keep a heifer, or could sell a heifer in good faith, knowing that vertical transmission was a real possibility.  The fact that she is also 10 years old and a bit stiff on her legs during the winter anyway, makes me think that culling is the only option.
Helen

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Neospora
« Reply #4 on: July 11, 2015, 05:20:26 pm »
Yes, there's some ambiguity, I agree.  And totally agree with your not wanting to pass on risk, of course.

It's a difficult decision at the best of times and I wasn't meaning to make it any harder for you.  I'd cull her too, as I said above.  :hug:
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

Helen Wiltshire Horn

  • Joined Apr 2014
Re: Neospora
« Reply #5 on: July 11, 2015, 05:38:44 pm »
Thanks Sally.  I think that we have made the decision, it is just telling her previous owners that is difficult and I want to be absolutely clear in my own mind that there is no realistic alternative.  Thankfully it doesn't seem to be transmitted between animals but I will certainly be alive to the issue if I have cows that repeatedly fail to calve. 
Helen

 

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