How to Tell If a Cow Is Sick? A Few Methods to Help You Identify It

Cows getting sick is something farmers pay great attention to, but judging whether a cow is sick is rather difficult. There are many types of cattle diseases, and when they strike they show up in all sorts of ways, so it is fairly hard to tell without paying close attention. Here, the editor introduces some situations that are relatively easy to spot when a cow falls ill, and you can use these to judge whether your cow is sick.

1. External appearance

The simplest thing is to look at the external appearance, as sick cows differ quite a lot on the outside. If a cow's eyes become dry and bloodshot, or are densely covered with blood vessels, and are cloudy, dim and dull, then this is very likely a sign of illness. If the cow's nose is dry and cracked, and cloudy or thick white fluid often appears, it is basically also ill. If the cow's mouth frequently secretes white fluid, the tongue coating turns yellow or bluish, and the breath smells strongly, these conditions are basically also signs of illness.

2. Daily diet

Diet is also a way to tell. In daily life, if a cow's food intake gradually decreases, or it even stops eating, or it becomes averse to its feed, then farmers should pay attention. Next, the rumination that occurs during eating is also fairly easy to judge: a normal cow will ruminate after eating, so if you find that the cow does not do this or does it extremely rarely, then the cow's digestive system may have some problems. Generally, the number of rumination cycles after a cow eats is around 5-10 times.

3. Daily behavior

A normal cow is fairly active in daily life, but after a cow falls ill its daily behavior will be affected. It will look listless and often stays in one spot without moving; as time goes on, the cow will lie down for longer and longer periods, and may even lie motionless. Such situations are generally relatively serious viral cattle diseases. If it likes to rub its body everywhere in daily life, and does so very frequently, then it is basically a disease such as parasites.

4. Excretion

The cow's excrement can also tell you a great deal about its current health. Normal cow dung is fairly soft and thin, basically distributed in pats. If the cow dung is extremely hard and comes out in clumps, then farmers should pay attention and check. Next, if the excrement has a foul smell and contains a great deal of water, then it may likewise be sick. Finally there is the urine: if the urine is dark yellow and has a foul smell, and the excrement decreases sharply compared with normal times, then it may be sick.

Many of the daily signs of cattle disease can only be spotted with careful observation, especially for farmers with a large breeding scale; the daily inspection of the cattle pen must be meticulous.