Vet on call: Dealing with the bully cow, goat

Josephine Langat feeds her dairy cattle in her farm in Elburgon. It is important to ensure that your animals are either naturally hornless, which are called polled livestock or you dehorn them to minimise losses due to bullying in the herd. PHOTO | JOHN NJOROGE | NMG

What you need to know:

  • There will always be a lead animal that maintains order and heads the various activities of the herd. This leader is usually gentle and does not fight the others.
  • Under normal circumstances, a bully animal is not accepted by the others as a leader.
  • Another interesting thing is that while many bulls are very noisy and active in a cow herd, they are actually not accepted as the herd leaders. Their role is to seek and mate the cows on heat. This also occurs in the goat herd.
  • Abdominal hernias are caused by weakening of the body wall due to injury, disease or birth defects.

Sometime back, I had a farmer in Kiambu whose cows kept on losing pregnancies because there was one animal in the herd that had long horn stubs she used to terrorise the others.

This cow was not a leader of the herd but a bully who denied all the others peace and space while feeding or even choosing the sleeping positions.

In the process, there were many losses on the farm associated with the activities of the bully. Some cows would be hit in the area of the uterus and abort over time.

The feeding order and routines were disrupted because the cows without horns would wait to see where the bully would settle before they could venture to the feeding troughs or the water drinking points.

I carried out full dehorning of the bully and she became the saint of the herd. The abortions subsided and the animals increased their production due to reduced stress.

It is interesting to observe animals and realise that they have a social structure.

There will always be a lead animal that maintains order and heads the various activities of the herd. This leader is usually gentle and does not fight the others.

I have observed that in cattle, the leader will usually be the oldest cow if she is a founder of the herd, probably due to experience and respect from the other herd members.

As time passes, the animal is replaced by another. This is one reason why animals will fight when newcomers join the herd since they constitute a threat to the existing order.

Under normal circumstances, a bully animal is not accepted by the others as a leader. Another interesting thing is that while many bulls are very noisy and active in a cow herd, they are actually not accepted as the herd leaders. Their role is to seek and mate the cows on heat. This also occurs in the goat herd.

Horns are weapons of defence and offence. An animal with horns amongst those without has a distinct advantage. It is, therefore, important to ensure that your animals are either naturally hornless, which are called polled livestock or you dehorn them to minimise losses due to bullying.

WEAKENING OF THE BODY WALL

I had an interesting case three weeks ago. John from Thika called and told me he had found one of his goats with a swelling under the skin towards the lower side of the back region of the abdomen.

The swelling was fluctuant and had contents that would flow into the abdominal cavity when pressed.

John said the previous day he had let his goats out in the paddocks for them to exercise and to give him time to repair the pens. He asked whether I thought the swelling could have been caused by a snake spit.

A snake spit was unlikely to cause such a swelling, I told him. Further, the snake that spits is usually a cobra and will normally target the victim’s eyes rather than the sides.

Again, if it was a snakebite, the swelling would not recede into the abdominal cavity when pressed and there would be reddening of the skin, bite marks and signs of snake poisoning.

Since the goat was eating well, I advised John to isolate it and I would examine it the following day. It appeared that the body wall had broken and some of the abdominal organs were flowing out but were protected by the intact skin. This condition is called hernia.

Abdominal hernias are caused by weakening of the body wall due to injury, disease or birth defects. John’s case was most likely caused by an injury since the goat was an adult.

I had examined and treated the goat for other illnesses in the past and there had been no indication of inherent weaknesses in the abdominal wall.

On the farm, I was presented with another goat that had a section of the intestines protruding from the underside of the abdomen.

In the attempt to interest the goat to mating, the buck had tried to sniff the underside but its abdomen got caught on one of the buck’s sharp straight horns.

The horn had gone right through the skin and the body wall leaving the hole through which the intestinal loop came out.

OFFSPRINGS WITHOUT HORNS

I examined the injured intestines and found they had dried and cracked and were heavily contaminated with manure, soil and feed matter.

In my assessment, treatment was likely to be unsuccessful and expensive. I advised John to slaughter the goat for his dogs since it was also in poor body condition.

“Please also ensure that you dehorn your goats and cattle to avoid similar incidents,” I pointed out as I moved to examine the goat with a swelling.

A close look at the epicentre of the bump revealed signs of recent injury to the skin by a sharp object that did not tear the skin but caused external bruising and blood clots under the skin.

I concluded the injury had most likely been caused by the amorous buck. This could have happened when the goats were in the paddocks.

The contents of the hernia were the omentum, the fatty tissue that covers the abdominal organs and also holds abdominal fat.

Since the hole in the body wall was small, the hernia contents kept flowing back into the abdomen and the skin was intact, I advised John to give the goat time to heal on its own.

I avoided giving antibiotics just in case the goat may have to be slaughtered for human consumption. I did not consider surgery a viable treatment option due to the cost involved in relation to the goat’s monetary value.

Later, John asked me whether there are goats, cattle and sheep that consistently produce off springs without horns. He said he would like to keep such animals to avoid the rigours of dehorning.

Other farmers have asked me the same question before. Yes, there are polled animals among all the species of horned livestock.