Cattle producers who have sudden deaths in the pasture should stop looking at dead animals as a financial loss and start looking at them as potentially valuable evidence.
Dr. Chris Clark, a large animal expert at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine in Saskatoon, says dead animals can provide key information about herd health and could potentially save producers thousands of dollars.
However, that information can only be used if a post mortem is performed.
“The thing about sudden death is there are not that many things that will actually cause it,” Clark told producers at a recent stock growers workshop in Saskatoon.
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“With the exception of lightning and a few other causes, most diseases that cause sudden deaths are diseases that can be epidemic. They are all diseases that have the potential to affect more than one animal.”
Clark said producers who experience sudden herd deaths often tend to ignore them or write them off as isolated incidents.
“There’s often a tendency for producers to think, ‘oh, there’s a dead cow, it must have had a twisted stomach. Oh, there’s another dead cow, but there was some rain last night, maybe it got struck by lightning,’ ” he said.
“It goes on and on like that for weeks … and by the time you finally take action and get results back, you’ve got 14 dead animals.”
Clark said an unexplained death in an otherwise healthy herd should be viewed as an early warning that more losses are possible.
“When you find animals that are dying suddenly, it should be a key sign to you that something might be up. Maybe the first death isn’t the time to do something but certainly if you get more than one animal dropping dead for no apparent reason … you’ve got to consider getting a post mortem done.”
The decision to have a post mortem performed can be difficult. They can be expensive, and producers might be reluctant to spend more money when profit margins are tight.
“Most people think, ‘well, I’ve got a dead cow out there. That’s a financial hit and a post mortem is going to cost me more money. That’s like throwing good money after bad. I’d rather spend my money on my live animals than spend more on a dead animal’.
“At that point, I think you’ve got to start thinking that post mortems are to some extent an investment …. True, you’re not going to bring that dead cow back to life but you can find out why she died and you can potentially prevent other deaths in your herd.”
Clark also encouraged producers to talk to veterinarians as soon as sudden unexplained deaths occur in the pasture.
Vets often are the first to learn about the prevalence of diseases that can cause sudden deaths, including anthrax, blackleg, sulfate poisoning or lead poisoning.
“If you start seeing healthy animals getting sick or if you’re seeing animals die, just hoping things will improve is not the answer,” he said.
“If you can find out the cause quickly, you might be able to do something about it.”
