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Acute Bovine Liver Disease

Acute bovine liver disease (ABLD) as its name suggests is a liver disease of cattle, which has a sudden onset. Typically it leads to photosensitization but in some severe cases can result in cattle dying.

By Department of Primary Industries - 5th April 2006 - Back to News

The cause is unknown, so it is impossible to give definitive advice on how to prevent it occurring. However, DPI veterinarians, in collaboration with private vets from Victoria and South Australia, have been studying the disease for a number of years and some common factors have emerged.

The disease occurs most frequently in the late autumn-early winter, April – May being the most common months, and often in humid weather ideal for fungi to grow. Cattle usually show signs about 24 – 48 hours after grazing the affected paddocks. The danger paddocks tend to be older, unimproved pastures with long, standing, dead plant matter which often includes a plant called Rough Dogs Tail.

Nothing can be done about the weather, so we turn our attention to the paddocks. The best advice we can give is to graze paddocks fitting this description heavily in the summer to reduce the amount of rank, dead feed around later on. Farmers whose cattle have been affected in the past have learnt from bitter experience that is the best way of preventing trouble.

If the specific cause can be found then it may be possible to give more specific advice. If your herd experiences an unusual number of unexplained sudden deaths in cattle, in the first instance you should contact your private vet so other causes can be eliminated.

Source: http://gippsland.com/

Published by: news@gippsland.com

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