The Moos Room™

00;00;14;07 - 00;00;42;10
Brad
Today we're in the midst of fair season and Farm show season. So today it's just me and, recording this on an afternoon during our county fair. It's been a crazy week. Emily and I were both at Farm Fest in southern Minnesota, a large farm show where we showed off some of our research and what we're doing.

00;00;42;13 - 00;01;13;05
Brad
There was lots of interest in some of the research that we're doing at our research center from a dairy perspective, and then we went to our county fair and my kids showed ten head. So yes, we went a little crazy this year and showed too many animals. But overall we did quite well with our cross breads. Our registered Holsteins, registered jerseys, it browns with and one Guernsey.

00;01;13;07 - 00;01;51;05
Brad
So the fair is ending and soon the state fair will be starting. But I wanted to talk about something that's been on my mind, and it's been a difficult one this summer trying to figure out what's going on with our herd. So I'm going to talk a little bit about some of the issues that we've been having from an abortion standpoint, and kind of share what some of the things that we found very interesting from some of the vet reports, some feed reports, and we'll see if we can find an answer and sort of how we have maybe rectified some of the issues.

00;01;51;05 - 00;02;14;15
Brad
But let's dive in and see what has happened. So obviously it's been a quite a rainy season, at least here in western Minnesota. We've had a lot of rain over the last eight months, 40in of rain total, including the snow, but that is way more than normal. For the full year and we're only eight months in, so we've had a lot of rain.

00;02;14;18 - 00;02;39;29
Brad
We've had in some places 9 to 13in here, just where I'm located. So a lot of rain and it's been difficult to get hay up. Some of us are still working on trying to get a third cutting up, and it's the 10th of August, so it's been quite a challenge with making high quality feedstuffs and preventing some, some issues.

00;02;40;01 - 00;03;03;26
Brad
So where do we start? I'm doing some research projects, kind of explain the lay of the land with our herd, and you can see what what's happening. So we have our conventional dairy herd and right now that is split into two groups. We have the larger conventional herd all fed TMR on a dry lot has grazed a little bit this summer.

00;03;03;26 - 00;03;30;20
Brad
Not much, but some. We've used our conventional herd to help with some of the pastures and get those under control. Because we've had a lot of grass growth. We have another conventional herd group of about 36 cows, and that's one today milking. So we've been doing some one today milking for the last maybe two months of gestation before they go dry, just to kind of take some burden off milkers and some of the other things going on.

00;03;30;20 - 00;03;53;01
Brad
So we've moved to once a day to kind of slow those cows down and just see what's happening. At the peak of our account numbers in early June, we milking 317 cows here. So that is a record by far. We've never really milked that many cows here before. So we also have organic herd and we have that split into three.

00;03;53;03 - 00;04;16;07
Brad
So we've been doing some research with some soul or shade studies. So I have a portable shade system. So we have some cows with shade, some cows without shade. And then we have kind of another larger organic herd 60 cows there but all graze together. Those are basically cows that are going to have this fall. So they're kind of getting close to dry off.

00;04;16;09 - 00;04;42;13
Brad
And a few months before dry out, what has sort of been happening. Well, kind of in late June, maybe early July, we started having a few cows abort. And it's it's never a good thing to have some abortions. We have had some issues. It's always frustrating to have, cows that are close to dry off and they're aborting fetuses.

00;04;42;13 - 00;05;11;23
Brad
Some of these were found on pasture. Some were found in a barn where we were feeding some of our cows in the evening because it was kind of raining out. So we decided and muddy. So we graze them during the day, and TMR fed them at night in the barn. And as time goes on, we had more abortions and there was a few more abortions and it was like, what is happening in this herd?

00;05;11;26 - 00;05;43;20
Brad
And I'll just say it was only isolated to the 50 cows in this large organic herd. So TMR at night and graze during the day, and they were in a compost barn at night. So we didn't see any other abortions in any of the other cows, not in our shade. Cows not in our conventional cows milking. We have heifers that are due this fall as well.

00;05;43;20 - 00;06;14;15
Brad
They're on pasture. No abortions. They're either so very isolated to this 50 cow organic herd. So this is what I did first. And I suspected that it was more diffi some toxins, mycotoxins causing abortions in cows. So we had our nutritionist out and we were walking through feed and testing hay and corn silage. And then we were trying to figure out what was going on.

00;06;14;16 - 00;06;38;06
Brad
We walked where we were feeding some burst crop hay that we had baled. You know, it's very difficult to even get first crop done around here. And while we were feeding some hay that looked like it was quite moldy, you peeled it apart and smelled. It was heating. And so it was like, well, we've got to start feeding this right away because this is what's causing our abortions.

00;06;38;09 - 00;07;05;23
Brad
And so we were we had stopped feeding that hay and we had tested that hay. So I have, a test from that was first crop bales that we had baled probably maybe we, we found it probably a little wet, just because it was, it was very wet. You know, there were some places where we just blew the hay back on the field because it was too wet.

00;07;05;23 - 00;07;40;28
Brad
So here's our hay test, actually pretty good. 22% protein, MDF, these 36, about 11% ash relative to feed quality, 138 relative feed value RF V was 153. So actually not bad. Not bad. However, we also did a mold and micro toxin test. If you look at the yeast count's very low, very low on the yeast counts, mold count very high levels, high levels of mold.

00;07;41;01 - 00;08;05;26
Brad
And what mold did they find? Well, we found mu core, which is a gray and white mold, and it grows at really low temperatures and typically in storage. Other mold that we found was Fusarium, which is white and pink mold. So if you see sometimes you open up feed and you'll find it to be white or maybe pink in there.

00;08;05;28 - 00;08;33;24
Brad
If you cerium prefers cool, wet conditions, it produces toxins in both the field and during storage. So probably wet feed and stored in bales and wrapped. And it was heating and creating mold. So we found very high levels of cerium in our cows. So if we look at few cerium mycotoxins, really there's a few that we can find.

00;08;33;26 - 00;09;09;09
Brad
Zero and one is one, dioxin available in all our to mycotoxins. So if we look at zero and one and this is a mycotoxins that mimics estrogen, it disrupts normal estrus cycle. And it can cause infertility irregular heat, embryonic mortality and in some cases, abortions. If I look at dioxin, Novell and all may be not necessarily directly linked to abortions as zero or none.

00;09;09;12 - 00;09;43;26
Brad
It can cause reduced feed intake, weight loss, which may make cows more vulnerable to abortions. So really we found maybe some molds in the feed, very high levels of cerium that was quite possibly causing abortion in museum. So we stopped feeding that hay because it was like, well, we got to stop feeding that almost immediately. Or we're going to have major problems because I will tell you, at the height of this, we have had 13 aborted cows, 13 abortions.

00;09;43;28 - 00;10;05;17
Brad
That's really high. It's way higher than what we normally would. And I've seen it before in our herd. We've had some cows abort based on moldy feed and mycotoxins. So we said, well, let's stop feeding that hay because it was a problem, even though was that really the answer? And I hope, that it was. So we stopped feeding the hay.

00;10;05;19 - 00;10;35;27
Brad
Well, maybe we had a few abortions after we stopped feeding the hay. Well, was it caused from maybe some mycotoxins still in their system? They still have some cerium in the feed bones that didn't get cleaned out. We don't know. But abortions went down. But one day we had, some other abortions just after that same, same herd, same group of cows, late lactation, organic cows getting fed TMR in the barn, grazing during the day.

00;10;36;02 - 00;10;57;16
Brad
Remember, only isolated to this or even when we had these abortions, before we sent some samples into the aborted fetus off to the diagnostic lab at the University of Minnesota. Came back inconclusive. Couldn't really find anything wrong. What? What the problem might have been. So a couple days after we stopped feeding the hay, decided that we were going to maybe send some samples in.

00;10;57;17 - 00;11;22;00
Brad
We had another cow abort, so we got an aborted calf and took some blood samples from some cows. I took a fresh aborted calf, drove it to Ames, Iowa. So we submitted these samples to the Iowa State University diagnostic lab. So I drove six hours to drop off a fetus and some blood samples and got back in my car and drove back two more.

00;11;22;00 - 00;11;43;26
Brad
So 12 hours on the road to try and figure this out. So here's sort of our kind of history. So we had an aborted calf and we took some other blood samples. Like I said before, we had pulled out of the diet. Kind of this was the only feed ingredient that wasn't being fed to the other cows. So I suspect that's maybe what it was.

00;11;43;26 - 00;12;09;29
Brad
So what did we find from the blood test or the aborted fetus? Well, kind of interesting, the lesions and placenta that we found from this abortion that come back as Neosporin. Ohanian so what is that? Neosporin. Is this well, it's interesting. So this is a protozoan parasite that can cause, reproductive issues in dairy cattle and probably abortions.

00;12;10;01 - 00;12;38;01
Brad
And it's actually the leading cause of abortions in cattle in the US, especially during the second trimester of pregnancy. So how would we get this? And where is this coming from? So how is it transmitted. So it can be transmitted a couple different ways. So when we call horizontal transmission. So cattle become infected by ingesting oocytes in contaminated feed or water often from dogs or other canids.

00;12;38;01 - 00;13;15;06
Brad
So coyotes or it can be vertical. Transmission. Infected cows can transmit the parasite to their fetuses through the placenta, leading to an abortion in infective calves. So abortion is probably the biggest sign of what this is. So dogs and coyotes are definite hosts for this near surprises in cattle and probably as the source of the infection. Abortion can occur any time after three months of gestation, but is most common in 4 to 6 months of gestation, which is what we were seeing kind of sporadic abortions, abortion storms.

00;13;15;06 - 00;13;43;17
Brad
So you get all of a sudden you get a whole bunch of abortions. That's usually what was happening. So where could this be coming from now? I was talking to the veterinarian, and it could be coming from dogs or coyotes pooping in our pastures or in our hayfield. We could be, you know, baling that hay or cows could be grazing and they're ingesting this parasite.

00;13;43;19 - 00;14;10;05
Brad
And are causing abortions. Could that be the cause of this new surprises? Quite possibly. Obviously it was isolated from this calf. So you can't deny that it didn't show up on the vet report. And they sent an image that shows this a cyst in in this animal. Quite possibly. There was maybe near surprises in some of these animals.

00;14;10;05 - 00;14;38;13
Brad
So it could have been in the feed pasture, you name it. However, I question one thing is because I didn't see this in the other herds only source still isolated to this 5060 cow organic herd, you know. So how how do 60 cows are the only ones that are getting abortions from, you know, Neosporin? It's nobody else was none of the heifers, that were calving.

00;14;38;13 - 00;15;07;05
Brad
They've been on pasture all summer. The conventional cows were on pasture somewhat. They were eating hail, no abortions whatsoever. So again, still isolated to this 60 cow herd. So it's just scratching my head. Well, last week we had maybe ten days ago we had a cow an hour once a day milking. So our once a day cows were, you know, they're getting close to calving and one of those a border kind of sporadic abortion.

00;15;07;05 - 00;15;45;05
Brad
So we sent that fetus and some placenta back to the Iowa State diagnostic lab. And actually just yesterday we got the results back. And that one is bacterial placenta. Titus, which is not Neosporin ISIS. So this is an infection of the placenta. And it can lead to abortion stillbirth or premature birth. So it's caused by a bacteria that can reach the placenta obviously through the bloodstream that can cause, inflammation and lesions in the placental membranes.

00;15;45;05 - 00;16;17;10
Brad
Usually the common bacterial culprits here are Staphylococcus aureus or Bacillus species. So these animals can this bacteria can basically it can enter the uterus by the bloodstream. If a cow ingests contaminated feed or other things, which is bacillus. Obviously staph aureus can be mastitis, but more than likely, bacillus is linked to moldy feed and it could be causing this abortion.

00;16;17;10 - 00;16;38;08
Brad
I've seen some pink and white mold in some of the corn silage. We just opened up a new corn silage bag, and quite possibly this is what caused that abortion in that conventional cow. So what's the actual verdict? What's the verdict that might have left you scratching your heads, going, well, I don't know what's causing abortions. This is Brad's opinion.

00;16;38;11 - 00;17;10;09
Brad
I think it's a moldy feed. Could it be near prices? I think that's a fluke. I think that's a once in a lifetime type thing. I'm not sure what, how that caused that or anything. I don't believe that that is the cause of our abortions. I believe it is more the feed causing it. Whether because we have basically stopped abortions now, haven't had a cow abort in a few weeks outside of this conventional cow, kind of maybe in some corn silage that we just opened up.

00;17;10;11 - 00;17;31;05
Brad
But the abortions in this 50 cow organic herd where we had all the problems have stopped, stop feeding the moldy hay and the abortions have stopped. So I think it's coming from moldy hail. It's been wet, it's been rainy, and it's just caused some problems. So I think that's where it's coming from. So what do we do about it?

00;17;31;08 - 00;17;53;01
Brad
Unfortunately, we have a whole bunch of hay that we're not going to feed, and we're just going to end up dumping it in the manure pile because I don't want to cause any more abortions in this cow. We've also been feeding some yeast and LG products. It's, like maybe a binder. It's called integral a plus. It's from old tech.

00;17;53;03 - 00;18;18;27
Brad
So it's, kind of broad spectrum protection against feedstuffs. If you see some. It's a very low inclusion level. If you have some high risk feedstuffs in beef and dairy cows, this should help, with some of those issues. So we've been feeding that and I think we've been doing much better. Obviously, I know probably most of you thinking we should just try not to make moldy feed.

00;18;18;29 - 00;18;43;15
Brad
I agree, I think it's a challenge. It's been a challenge this summer with all of the wet weather, but making mold free feed, getting it up dry, or proper storage and handling, whether we're chopping it, baling it, and wrapping it is probably the number one thing. Produce high quality feed that's not wet. There's not going to mold. And we probably would be better off.

00;18;43;15 - 00;19;05;20
Brad
So I don't know, I think a lot of people will argue whether it's one thing or the other or what's causing all of our abortions, and I believe it was caused from moldy feed. And we had a few of these fluke things happen, which happens in a typical dairy herd. So make good feed and I hope you learned something today.

00;19;05;22 - 00;19;27;05
Brad
Kind of interesting little case study about what's been going on at our research center with all of these abortions and trying to figure it out. Yeah, we'll keep you up to date what's happening. And we've seen anything else going on. Hopefully you've had some good deed put up this year and, haven't experienced some of these issues like we have.

00;19;27;05 - 00;19;46;19
Brad
And like I said, just because we're a research farm doesn't mean that we don't experience the same issues that other farms. So, I'm going to chalk it up to more defeat. And hopefully we're turning the corner here with no abortions in that herd in the last almost three weeks, almost a month. And, we're going to move forward.

00;19;46;19 - 00;20;09;29
Brad
So with that, do you have any comments, questions or scathing rebuttals? Feel free to contact me at the newsroom at m or f r o m at in the lobby. You will find this on the web at U of M extension livestock or UMW. Are you there? See you next week. But.