Silage Eye

[Colin]

We've suddenly started getting a few cases of silage eye, two of which are the worst and most agressive cases I've experienced. I've had to get the vet out 3 times now. My vet says this is the worst year they've experienced for silage eye in their practice. We use our own haylage for winter feed and had no problems at all last year. Perhaps it's something to do with the bad weather and timing of the cut last year.

Anybody else getting the same problems ?

Regards,

Colin

[Duncan MacIntyre]

One of the commonest bacteria associated with this is Listeria. It is commoner in baled silage than pit silage, and thrives best where there is soil contamination - so given this years wet conditions (here at least) there may be more about. I have not noticed any obvious problem on Bute this winter so far - but there is plenty of time - I only started feeding silage to outside cattle at the beginning of January this year.

Duncan

[Colin]

My best show cow has had terrible problems with silage eye since last Friday. Her eye rapdily went bluey white right across the whole cornea and was clearly painful. The back of her eye was red and inflammed. The vet has seen her 3 times (this has also corresponded with our annual TB test). She's had loads of antibiotic including around her eye, Orbenin eye cream every day, pain killers and TLC. But little sign of improvement. The vet think she's got pus inside her eye. The bluey white has gone more yellow. She can't see a thing, poor girl, out of that eye. I really hope she starts to improve soon but it is a concern.

Our TB test for the whole herd was clear, which at least was very good news today.

Regards,

Colin

[Broomcroft]

We had this one year and it went through almost the whole herd that winter, highly contagious I believe (unless this is something different). The things that worked for us was antibiotic jabs. We used Hexasol LA which I think is antibiotic and anti-inflammatory in one bottle but vet will know best of course, just saying what we used. The eye creams were hard work and not very successful in our case. I gave up with them.

We didn't have any quite as bad as yours sounds Colin, so good luck with her but watch out for the others. We started jabbing ours even if their eyes were just watering a bit it was appearing so quickly. But as I said, maybe this is something different.

[Colin]

Thanks Clive. We had a spate of silage eye two years ago, but nothing anywhere near as bad as this case. For last year's winter feed I had our contractor chop our haylage, which did the trick and we had no silage eye last year. Unfortunately although told, he forgot last summer. I think this, combined with the very poor weather and soft ground when cut, has resulted in this winter's spate. It's only happened over the last two weeks and we've been feeding haylage since early November, so I'm hoping it's just a few bales and will clear up. Time will tell.

The cow in question must feel like a pin cushion with the various jabs. She seemed a little brighter today, but progress is slow. The main antiobiotic being used is Engemycin LA, although I know the vet has used a couple of other types too.

Regards,

Colin

[Colin]

Had our vet back again to the show cow, this time the most senior vet. Although I know we responded quickly to her silage eye, it got inside her eye which is difficult for the antibiotic to penetrate. The vet double checked again and there is no physical damage to the eye or eye surface. He thinks it must have been through the blood stream. Her eye is a creamy yellow on the inside, so she can see little out of it. He thinks the infection may have got into the lens, as the colouration doesn't seem to move around inside the eye But he wasn't completely sure.

Duncan any experience of this and the degree of recovery ? It's a shame as she's a nice cow. The poor girl has been on 3 types of antibiotics spanning 2 weeks now. We're not going to give her any more, just TLC and time.

We've had 5 silage eye cases so far and 4 have, or are, recovering well.

Regards,

Colin

[Broomcroft]

How's she going with her bad eye Colin … any change yet?

[Colin]

Thanks for asking Clive. Not great news really. For some reason the infection got inside her eye. There was no external physical damage at all. I had the most senior vet check her out very thoroughly and he thinks the bacteria got somehow into the bloodstream. That's why it took so long for the antibiotics to take effect. Externally her eye is now okay, but she's got a white cloudiness inside her eye and can't see very much out of it. Difficult to tell whether the cloudiness is in the aqueous humour or lens. If in the latter I fear she may end up with a permanent cataract. Still over the last week there may be a very slight improvement in the cloudiness, so fingers crossed things will improve. But it will take time and I think a full recovery is unlikely. Shame as she's a lovely cow and she's been a little nervous of noises from her blind side. She's still separated from the main herd and being fed small square bales of hay. Don't want to risk bullying or an infection in her other eye.

Never had a case like this one. I've had 6 other silage eye cases this winter so far and all the others have made a full recovery. Roll on spring and turning them out.

Regards,

Colin

[ann]

Roll on spring and turning them out.

I will certainly seconded that, all mine are rubbing their coats off and the first hint of sunshine, yes we have had some this week, they are heading for exit when we put the feed in.

I hope your cow makes a full recovery, I had a similar eye infection a few years ago, and she made a full recovery, for a while her eye was completely clouded over, but slowly it cleared and she could see again out of that eye, so fingers crossed

[Broomcroft]

I don't know whether cattle and sheep are the same, but I've got quite a few sheep that have lost one eye and they aren't bothered by it at all. They get used to looking round to see what's going on.

[Broomcroft]

Now we've got silage eye on our cattle, must have caught it reading this thread! Anyhow, treated with AB's only, no ointment, and seems to have worked so far, fingers crossed.

[Colin]

Sorry to hear Clive you're also having a spate of this.

Call me soft, but I got an eye specialist vet in to examine my cow today as I wanted to know if there was any more that could be done. Due to the damage caused by inflammation inside her eye, she's unfortunately got a cataract which is permanent. Although there's no infection remaining, her lens is still somewhat inflammed, so she's had a jab to settle this down. If this keeps on flaring up she may need to lose her eye, time will tell. So not good news, but at least I understand the situation.

This has been a one off in my experience and I hope we never have this again. Silage eye is really something to take seriously.

Regards,

Colin