Beef Cattle Health

Common Health Problems in Beef Cattle

Texas Agrilife article on Reconizing and managing some common problems of beef cattle by Floron Faries Jr. Article discusses multiple health conditions that sometimes affect Dexter cattle. I find that Dexters are much more disease resistant than other breeds but some of the following topics in this article hit all of our ranches at one time or anotherd.

Grass Tetany

I wanted to send yet another article on this topic. It is from 2008 but written for Texans, taking into account our weather and types of forage. Start on page 2 with the article titled “Update on Hypomagnesemia” http://aevm.tamu.edu/files/2010/06/VQR_Win0708.pdf

The article states “ In Texas, the disease occurs most often in thin, recently calved cows on a low-Mg diet (unsupplemented grass pasture or grass hay) during prolonged cold, wet and windy weather.” Another member and I were chatting about the prevention methods. One thing he does is adds Epsom Salt to their water tanks. Epsom Salt is Magnesium Sulfate and said he hasn't lost a cow to Tetany in a long time now. You may talk with your vet about what they recommend in your area. My farm has a lot of clovers, which my cattle love, so that helps to counteract the risk.

https://www.feedlotmagazine.com/news/grass-tetany-hypomagnesemia-start-preventive-measures-now/article_56d6ad86-8725-11eb-9c0e-5b712c2acbd1.html

Bovine Engineering Resource

http://bovineengineering.com/edu.html

FREE EDUCATIONAL ONLINE COURSES

Cattle Nutrition

https://agrilifelearn.tamu.edu/product?catalog=ANSC-006

Creating Value through low-stress handling

https://agrilifelearn.tamu.edu/product?catalog=ANSC-008

Cattle Evaluation

https://agrilifelearn.tamu.edu/product?catalog=ANSC-025

Mineral Nutrition 101

NCBA's Cattlemen's Webinar Series: Mineral Nutrition 101- Beef Cattle Basics ( A very very thorough webinar on Minerals for your cattle!) https://youtu.be/zEwP_PIdYKc