Bovine leukosis

shagerman · #1 09/01/11, 03:09 PM

how many of you have had this? i am pretty upset right now. my jersey supposedly has this. tomorrow the test will be done. and in a few days i will know. she will be 3 this coming January, and her calf was so beautiful he passed this morning. and there is no treatment for this. here is something i am offering. if you see lumps. have them checked. they can not be butchered either.
http://extension.missouri.edu/p/G2120

once the test is back i get to call the guy i bought her from and tell him to check the mother. and his herd, i dont think ill get back into milking. so my stuff might go up for sale.

G. Seddon · #2 09/01/11, 04:12 PM

Very sorry to hear this and I know you must be quite upset. Tough to lose a young cow like that, not to mention her calf also. I don't think there's a vaccine for this, is there?

springvalley · #3 09/01/11, 08:23 PM

So sorry to hear Shagerman, very hard to loose calves and if your cow has it what ya going to do with her? If you do get rid of your milker, let me know I have people I sold cows to that are looking for milkers. Sorry again > Marc

shagerman · #4 09/02/11, 01:45 AM

well i cant sell her. and i cant butcher her. so the best thing i can do is put her down.and dig a big hole. then im going to see if i can get the owners to get the others tested. i had her ai-d and her mother was ai-d. it could have came from the bulls side as well... i can tell you this my head is just spinning. and i cant stop crying.. i posted this to hopefully stop this from happening to anyone else. the worst of this is she is registered. with the jersey association. and it stops right here. but rest assured i will not let her suffer. she doesnt deserve that. she has been an awesome cow.

Ronney · #5 09/02/11, 07:48 AM

Although I am familiar with EBL I don't know a lot about it and have never had it in any cow I have owned. So now I will have to go and do some more research because apart from anything else, many cattle are sold in NZ as being BVD and EBL free. This indicates to me that if your cow is registered, she too should have been tested for this before sale.

The morals aside, you have my heartfelt sympathy. She is a young cow, one you have obviously established a rapport with (not hard with a Jersey) and one that you now have to make decisions about long before you would normally have to. But don't go jumping the gun, wait until the results come back. What made the vet (I assume it was a vet) think that she has EBL? The lumps?

Whatever the outcome, don't be too hasty about getting out of milking. Deal with it, whatever "it" happens to be, take a deep breath and rethink. I don't know how many times I've been going to sell my cows, sell the farm, sell everything and move back to town where I don't have to deal with dead cows, dead lambs, dead sheep, dead pigs, floods, droughts and everything that sometimes gets on top of me and seems a constant source of stress - but I'm still here. The last time was at the end of May when I lost two Jersey cows, one to causes unknown and looked like she had just laid down and died, and another to drowning, and within three days of each other. Then I had to get the digger in to bury them. I don't need this but it's farming, it's life and we move on.

Stay strong, stay positive and remember, your not on your own.

Take care,
Ronnie

Madsaw · #6 09/02/11, 08:16 AM

Is she showing any outward signs other then lumps? May sound stupid but if she has no other problems and is bred back keep her till she calfs. Seen it alot over the years. Call it what you want but you will be suprised on many cattle in a herd will show positives yet never show a physcial sign of it. Years back we used to cull atleast 3-4 a yr due to it. But when we stopped spraying pastures for weeds. The number of cases dropped drasticlly. I have seen cows live 8-10 years after being diagnosed by a bleed test.
Bob

springvalley · #7 09/02/11, 08:20 AM

Can I ask a question, did you buy your cow local ? And if you did would you please pm me with the name, I`m hoping it is not someone I know. And another question, is the milk safe to drink? Thanks > Marc

shagerman · #8 09/02/11, 10:19 AM

i am not jumping the gun. i am just worried and beyond my own comprehension right now. the test was ran .so now the wait for a week. i am breeding her today. and hopefully the tests. show otherwise. and yes i did have the vet tell me this. and yes thats what he thought it was. and yes she has lumps on the front and back. and yes the milk is fine. but if that is what she has .i have to dump all the colostrum. and no i will not reveal the name until i get the tests back.

eggzackly · #9 09/02/11, 12:42 PM

from the article you linked, the milk sounds safe, as some dairy herds have as high as 50% seropositive herds. You have a lot invested, and she can still give you milk. Sounds like she can give you negative calves too... only 4-8% are infected in pregnancy. If you prevent the calf from nursing (bra when she gets close to calving? lol) and get other colostrum to give the calf, and bucket raise it, you could get good stock from her still. You have to serum test the calf before it nurses to find if it is positive from the mother at birth.

shagerman · #10 09/02/11, 04:39 PM

in a week ill know exactly what i have to do. and ill be close to my vet and her, from there on out.

eggzackly · #11 09/02/11, 09:04 PM

Hang in there. I don't think it's a lost cause yet. just a major hassle.

MARYDVM · #12 09/02/11, 11:37 PM

Once the lymph nodes are grossly enlarged, the cow will usually not survive 9 months to birth a calf. The cancer affects the cow's whole body, and once it is actively growing her time is usually quite limited. The cows who test positive and continue to milk are the ones who never develop the enlarged lymph nodes of active lymphosarcoma.

shagerman · #13 09/03/11, 11:48 AM

but to be fair in all cases here. i will not know till the tests come back. the vet said there is other possibilities that is making the lymph nodes swell. and i would not have bred her. if he thought it would bring her down faster, its just a big ball of confusion for me. am i right am i wrong. do i do this or do i do that. i am just praying that is not what is happening.

eggzackly · #14 09/03/11, 01:02 PM

Thinking of you, hoping for good news, or at least the lesser of evils.

Madsaw · #15 09/03/11, 04:38 PM

Just kind of curious. What knodes are swelled up and how big? Also how long has she been in? For the most part we hardly seen no external knodes swelled when we had issues with leukosis. Most notable sign was the cow weak in the back end. Which was caused by the knodes near the pelvic region. A infection will cause the knodes to swell also. Also you mostly see it in cattle of age not a coming 3yr old.
Bob

shagerman · #16 09/05/11, 09:33 PM

MADSAW. they are in the area between the last rib and hip on both sides also they are in the front between her neck and shoulder on both sides. they are approximentley the size of a extra large band aid and about im guessing on this 1/4 inch deep. on all 4 .. although i checked this morning and they seem to have gone down about half that size now. may be you can tell me more. she is not weak at all.

Madsaw · #17 09/05/11, 10:37 PM

You may get back a + on the blood test but don't worry. Get excited if the nodes are the size of a soft ball or grape fruit. A infection in the blood would also cause the nodes to swell. One of my jerseys a few yrs back had teh one in the fron on the right side get big as a basket ball. Was very afraid to lance it due to som e majior blood veins and such. Finally poped and drianed one day. Healed right up. We got to a point not to even worry about swollen nodes. Its when they get weak in the back end from the nodes on the inside and tumors. Their is also a set under the jaw toward the rear. They are some times mistaken for swollen tonsils on cattle. These will swell from a infected tooth.
I will see if I can find a bigger node on a older cow tomorrow that I can get a good pic of. As I said before we had noticed a higher percentage of cancer in older cattle. Can't remeber anything under 4 or so showing up with it.
Bob

shagerman · #18 09/08/11, 08:16 AM

i have some great news.. the things are going down.. the ones in front have disappeared. and the back ones are half the size. still the tests arent back yet. but this makes me feel a little better. for now.

shagerman · #19 09/08/11, 06:32 PM

Ok the tests are back. And i am so happy. She is negative, which means she does not have this.. Thank god.

G. Seddon · #20 09/08/11, 08:37 PM

I am glad for you.