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Phalaris Poisoning in Cattle
Tim Wilson, District Veterinarian, BRAIDWOOD
PRESENTING COMPLAINT
Rapid weight loss, mild staggers and suspect transient blindness.
SIGNALMENT
Hereford steers 18 months old.
HISTORY
A group of 12 steers had been purchased 2 months previously and had been grazing dry rye and native grasses since then in a paddock with a creek running through it. The first case had started losing weight and appeared blind 3 - 4 weeks before presentation. The second case had been noticed to be affected for 3 or 4 days. The owner also reported a low head carriage in the affected animals and difficulty in eating. Later investigation revealed the stock had been grazing on a phalaris dominant pasture for a least several months prior to purchase.
CLINICAL SIGNS
In the paddock the most pronounced sign besides the dramatic weight loss in the badly affected steer was an almost constant protrusion and withdrawal of the tongue associated with nostril cleaning. The mildly affected steer still had some lateral movement of the tongue but was unable to prehend all the grass it tried to eat, with bits of grass hanging and falling out the side of it's mouth.
The gait problems were better observed in the paddock and were most noticeable as an exaggerated response to obstacles such as logs on the ground. The lower head carriage reported was not observed.
POST-MORTEM
Unremarkable except for some sign on parasitic abomasitis and froth in the airways.