Hind limb Weakness (HLW) syndrome in a HF cross breed cow and successful treatment
HLW syndrome is a emerging disease of high milk yield cross breed cows.HLW syndrome is different from Downer cow syndrome. In downer cow animal not able to stand with human assistance where as in HLW syndrome cow able to stand with human help and able to walk with staggering gait. Downer cow mostly happened in prepartum and post partum cows.where as HLW syndrome happened during second and third stage of lactation in cross breed high milk yielding cows. This video explained the HLW syndrome in a cow in last stage of lactation and also 3 month pregnant.This cow in first lactation with milk production above 15 litres .This cow treated for HLW syndrome for 15 days.successful recovery achieved due to the cooperation of the owner of the cow. Reason behind HLW syndrome:
Fodder scarcity:
Only green grass available in my area is paragrass and dry fodder is not available. So cattle owners were prefer low cost diet which gave instant high milk yield like rice powder,sholam powder and mixed grain powder rejected for human consumption like busker waste and rejected children food.
Adulterated concentrate feed:
Conventional concentrates like green dal husk,pea husk,oil removed rice bran,gnc,goc and black gram husk were used as concentrates feed for cattle.These feeds were adulterated at various level.(example:2kg of rice bran,2kg of red gram husk and 1kg of of GOC.
Lack of exercise:
Cows were in intensive rearing system and lack of exercise.These cows prone to joint abnormalities and metabolic problems.
Poor exposure to Sun light:
Due to intensive rearing cows were less exposure to Sun light.This practice lead to Deficiency of vitamin D.
Inbreeding:
Inbreeding also a reason for HLW syndrome.
HLW syndrome started as hypocalcaemia in cows and hindlimb weakness persist and farmer told that it was a case of Arthritis and poor response to arthritis treatment. Progressive loss of milk production and weight loss were observed by owners.By the time it was a combination of hypocalcaemia,Acidosis, mastitis,ketosis and Arthritis and this complex disease not response to any particular treatment. It require combination of treatment for different ailments which cure this condition called Hind limb Weakness syndrome.
Dr MS Sarvanan
