MK.

TEKNOLOGI FEEDLOT

Kesehatan Sapi Feedlot

Oleh:
DWATMADJI
Ir (UGM), MSc (JCU, Austr.), PhD (JCU, Austr.)

MK. Teknologi Feedlot – by Dwatmadji | Kesehatan Sapi Feedlot

 Three categories:
1. Nutritional or management diseases
• acidosis (grain poisoning), feedlot bloat, liver abscesses,
polioencephalomalacia, transit tetany, urea poisoning, monensin
poisoning, heat stress
2. Infectious diseases (bacterial and viral)
Footrot
Enterotoxaemia (pulpy kidney)
Bovine respiratory disease (BRD)
Blight (Pink Eye)
3. Parasitic diseases
Lice
Internal parasites
Liver fluke infestation

MK. Teknologi Feedlot – by Dwatmadji | Kesehatan Sapi Feedlot

 Nutritional or management diseases
1. Acidosis
2. Feedlot bloat
3. Liver abscesses
4. Polioencephalomalacia (PEM)
5. Transit tetany
6. Urea poisoning
7. Monensin poisoning

MK. Teknologi Feedlot – by Dwatmadji | Kesehatan Sapi Feedlot

 1. Acidosis
 commonly called grain poisoning.
 It occurs when cattle are introduced to grain too rapidly or
when there is a sudden change from one grain to another.
Cattle are naturally grass eating animals and any change
from this must be carried out gradually so that rumen
organisms have a chance to adapt.
 Acidosis sometimes causes founder and associated lameness
due to over-production of histamine compounds in the
rumen. Lameness is accentuated if cattle are in rocky or
concrete pens. High grade Zebu cattle are more susceptible
to acidosis and grain founder.

MK. Teknologi Feedlot – by Dwatmadji | Kesehatan Sapi Feedlot

 Clinical signs
o Affected animals go off their feed, walk with a tight tiptoed gait and
develop signs of colic. In severe cases, grey scours and associated
dehydration are seen. Severely affected animals will go down and are
quite hard to salvage.
 Treatment
o Mild cases respond to an oral drench of 112 grams of sodium
bicarbonate in at least 600 mL of water followed by a half dose within
a few hours. Severe cases need veterinary attention and are treated
surgically by rumenotomy (opening and replacing the grain in rumen
with more normal contents such as chaff and electrolyte solution).
Antibiotic injections must be used post operatively in such cases.
Antihistamine injections help prevent founder developing.

MK. Teknologi Feedlot – by Dwatmadji | Kesehatan Sapi Feedlot

 o Cattle less severely affected with acidosis are fed a reduced grain diet
with increased roughage. The percentage of grain is then increased
gradually. Severely or continually affected animals perform poorly and
should be removed from the feedlot.
 Prevention
o Good feeding management is the main preventive measure.
o Gradually increase the grain content of the diet over the first 14 days.
o Barley straw or sorghum hay is often used as the source of initial
roughage. Avoid lucerne hay in hay racks. If lucerne hay or an
equivalent is fed, cattle will only stand and wait for the next batch of
fresh feed. A suggested program for introducing cattle onto a grain
based diet is outlined below. Shy feeders are recycled or culled.

MK. Teknologi Feedlot – by Dwatmadji | Kesehatan Sapi Feedlot

 Strategy:
Day % Hay % Grain
additives
1 to 3 80 20

4 to 6 60 40

7 to 9 40 60

10 to 12 20 80

13 + 10 90

MK. Teknologi Feedlot – by Dwatmadji | Kesehatan Sapi Feedlot

 Rumen buffers such as sodium bicarbonate and bentonite
will counter acidity and these can be fed during the
introductory period.
 It is important not to feed finely processed grain or a
fluctuating intake of grain. Any changes from one grain to
another or from whole to crushed grain should be gradual
(over 4 to 7 days) otherwise grain poisoning might occur.
Some roughage such as hay is essential in the diet of cattle
to enable normal rumen activity to occur.
 In larger feedlots with trough feeding, good trough
management is important to avoid big fluctuations in feed
intake.

MK. Teknologi Feedlot – by Dwatmadji | Kesehatan Sapi Feedlot

 2. Feedlot bloat
There are two basic types of feedlot bloat:
o frothy bloat and gassy bloat.
 Frothy bloat
o may develop where high quality lucerne hay is being fed in
the diet. It may also be seen as a result of the production
of an insoluble slime by certain species of bacteria that
proliferate in large numbers in cattle on a high
carbohydrate diet.
 Gassy bloat
o feedlot cattle are susceptible to rumenitis, usually as a
result of an episode of acidosis. This may interfere with
belching, resulting in free gas bloat.

MK. Teknologi Feedlot – by Dwatmadji | Kesehatan Sapi Feedlot

Clinical signs
 Cattle become distended in the left flank and, if untreated, may collapse
in considerable distress due to interference with the respiratory and
circulatory systems.
Treatment
 Treatment of both types of bloat depends on the degree of severity of
the problem.
 Less severe forms of bloat will reduce average daily gains and hence the
efficiency of feed conversion. Moderate cases of bloat can be treated by
passing a stomach tube and administering an effective antibloat drench.
Severe bloat is life threatening and requires veterinary treatment
(rumenotomy).
Prevention
 Diets processed too finely may predispose to bloat. Less than 10%
roughage may also cause bloat problems. Avoid good quality lucerne hay
in making up the roughage component of the diet.

MK. Teknologi Feedlot – by Dwatmadji | Kesehatan Sapi Feedlot

 3. Liver abscesses

 Minor liver abscesses have no apparent effect on growth

rates and result from acidosis induced damage to the rumen
wall (rumenitis).
 Clinical signs
o Often no signs of ill health are seen in the cattle affected. Routine
abattoir monitoring of apparently normal, finished steers is very useful
for detecting diseases with no outward clinical signs such as liver
abscessation, chronic rumenitis and other rumen disorders.
o Such diseases cause suboptimal performance which can have a greater
impact on feedlot profit margins than either mortalities or more
severe diseases.
 Prevention
o Diets which are deficient in roughage or too finely processed are
associated with more liver abscess problems.

MK. Teknologi Feedlot – by Dwatmadji | Kesehatan Sapi Feedlot

 4. Polioencephalomalacia (PEM)
 Affects both feedlot and pasture fed cattle; to be increasing
disease frequency in feedlot cattle.
 Difficult to diagnose and may be confused with grain
poisoning and feedlot bloat.
 Animals are often found dead.
 The specific cause is not known
o but the condition appears to be the result of a deficiency of thiamine
(Vitamin B1).
o It occurs when feeding high concentrate diets and is more common in
younger cattle.
o Presumably, during episodes of acidosis, and possibly due to other
dietary events, the mix of bacterial species in the rumen changes. The
new population may include organisms that produce an enzyme
known as thiaminase. This destroys thiamine.

MK. Teknologi Feedlot – by Dwatmadji | Kesehatan Sapi Feedlot

Clinical signs
 Some animals die suddenly after showing nervous signs.
 Symptoms include ear twitching, incoordination, blindness, weakness
and hypersensitivity to any stimulus.
 Affected animals are seen to fall, roll over, then rise and repeat the
episode. Sometimes they may circle, head press against solid objects and
salivate.
 This is followed by the animal going down and being unable to rise and
periods of convulsions. Animals with a milder form of the disease are
partially or totally blind, weak, unable to swallow properly, and with
excess salivation. They may also have intermittent diarrhoea.

Treatment
 Treatment is often disappointing, probably because early cases are not
seen. Early cases respond to thiamine therapy (2 to 3 grams
intravenously or intramuscularly three times daily).

MK. Teknologi Feedlot – by Dwatmadji | Kesehatan Sapi Feedlot

Prevention
 As this disease is associated with acidosis, it may be
prevented. If more than one case occurs in a pen
roughage content of the diet should be increased.

MK. Teknologi Feedlot – by Dwatmadji | Kesehatan Sapi Feedlot

 5. Transit tetany

 This is a condition affecting cattle during or immediately after long and

unbroken transportation. It is mainly due to low blood calcium
(hypocalcaemia).

Clinical signs
 signs of restlessness and incoordination, followed by partial limb
paralysis and staggering.
 Animals then go down and have rapid laboured respiration. If untreated,
coma and death follow. Predisposing factors include heavy feeding prior
to transport, deprivation of food and water during transport, and
unrestricted access to water and working of cattle after unloading. Other
stress factors during loading, transport and unloading are also involved.
Treatment
 Treatment of early cases with an intravenous calcium solution or a
combined calcium, magnesium and glucose solution is often successful.

MK. Teknologi Feedlot – by Dwatmadji | Kesehatan Sapi Feedlot

Prevention
 Avoid excitement and overcrowding of transported
animals. Limited access to water for twenty four
hours after unloading and restricted exercise for
several days are also recommended.

MK. Teknologi Feedlot – by Dwatmadji | Kesehatan Sapi Feedlot

 6. Urea poisoning

 Urea poisoning has commonly occurred with feeding of

cattle in Australia, but rarely in feedlots. Some causes are as
follows:
o Insufficient mixing of the diet may allow pockets of high urea
concentration. Granular urea may also settle out of dry diets.
o There may be an excess of urea in the diet due to miscalculation.
o The urea, being highly soluble, will wash out of the diet with rain.
Cattle then drink the puddles with a high urea content.
 Clinical signs
o The death rate for urea poisoning is high. Animals have severe
abdominal pain, shivering, drunken gait, bloat, salivation, rapid
breathing plus violent struggling and bellowing.
 Prevention
o Avoid poor mixing and keep urea fortified diets dry in feeding troughs.
Do not feed greater than 1% urea on a dry matter basis.

MK. Teknologi Feedlot – by Dwatmadji | Kesehatan Sapi Feedlot

 7. Monensin poisoning

 Monensin in the correct dose (from 11 to 33 grams per

tonne) does improve feed conversion efficiency and provides
a coccidiostatic effect.
 The danger lies in a mixing error occurring and the level of
monensin in the diet being much higher than specified.
Under these conditions, a severe heart muscle degeneration
(cardiomyopathy) develops. A high proportion of cattle will
be poisoned if they receive as little as 10 times the
recommended dose.
 Clinical signs
o Animals are noticed to be depressed with increased heart rates and
fluid under their jaws and briskets.
 Prevention
o Use care to avoid mixing errors.
MK. Teknologi Feedlot – by Dwatmadji | Kesehatan Sapi Feedlot
 Tambahan penyakit pada Feedlot
yang bukan karena manajemen pakan:
Footrot
BRD

MK. Teknologi Feedlot – by Dwatmadji | Kesehatan Sapi Feedlot

 8. Footrot
 Under wet conditions or where there are predisposing
conditions such as rough gravel or stones in the feedlot.
Cattle from drier environments have a lower immunity.
 Clinical signs
o Animals are noticeably lame, usually in one leg. Hoof swelling is
usually seen.
 Treatment
o Affected animals should be isolated and treated as soon as they are
noticed. This will have the dual benefit of a more rapid return to
normal for these animals and it will help prevent the spread of footrot
in the feedlot.
o Antibiotic treatment under veterinary advice may be considered
appropriate. Remember to record all treatment details such as eartag
of the treated animal and the time of the last treatment.
 Prevention
o isolated and treated as soon as they are noticed. Also remove any
boggy or rough areas from yards and lanes in the feedlot.

MK. Teknologi Feedlot – by Dwatmadji | Kesehatan Sapi Feedlot

 9. Bovine respiratory disease (BRD)
 BRD is the most significant cause of clinical disease,
mortality and subclinical reduction of performance in
 Predisposing factors
o These include stress from yarding on the property of origin, transport
over long distances, dehydration, feed deprivation for periods greater
than 24 hours, saleyard environment, and mixing of groups of cattle
providing psychological stress and sources of infectious agents.
o Once at the feedlot, the environment there provides further stress
factors which predispose to BRD. These include further mixing of
groups, dust, heat or cold, foreign water, crowding and dietary
problems associated with adaptation to the new feed supply.

MK. Teknologi Feedlot – by Dwatmadji | Kesehatan Sapi Feedlot

 Infectious agents
o include the viruses infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR), pestivirus
(mucosal disease), parainfluenza 3 (PI3) and bovine respiratory
syncitial virus (BRSV) and the most common bacterial agents
Pasteurella haemolytica and Pasteurella multocida.
o The predisposing factors combine to give immune suppression. This
poor immune response to the infectious agents commonly leads firstly
to a viral infection which further compromises the immune response.
The end result is a bacterial pneumonia and pleurisy.
o Most BRD problems occur within the first 30 days on feed.
 87% of animals were susceptible to IBR on arrival and
 24% were still susceptible at slaughter.

MK. Teknologi Feedlot – by Dwatmadji | Kesehatan Sapi Feedlot

 Clinical signs
o These are often non-specific but include unwillingness to move, nasal
and ocular discharge, difficult breathing with extended neck, dropped
ears, hollow flank, "dull" eye, disinterest in surroundings, and
sometimes a cough. Early detection by well trained, conscientious yard
riders is important as treatment must be early to save animals.
 Treatment
o Treatment should be discussed with your veterinary surgeon. Affected
animals should be isolated and treated as soon as they are noticed.
o Antibiotic treatment under veterinary advice is appropriate.
Remember to record all treatment details such as eartag of the treated
animal and the time of the last treatment. Consult your veterinarian
for further treatment details

MK. Teknologi Feedlot – by Dwatmadji | Kesehatan Sapi Feedlot

 Prevention
o Effective BRD control programs require the input of a
specialist consultant feedlot veterinarian, particularly in
larger feedlots bringing young cattle long distances to the
feedlot.
o address the predisposing factors.

MK. Teknologi Feedlot – by Dwatmadji | Kesehatan Sapi Feedlot

 TERIMAKASIH

MK. Teknologi Feedlot – by Dwatmadji | Kesehatan Sapi Feedlot