Murrah Buffalo Transition Problems — Milk Fever and Red-Urine Disease
By Vikas Industrial Corporation, Khanna, Punjab
Buffaloes do not get the same calving-time problems as cows. Why milk fever is rarer, why phosphorus-deficiency 'red urine' is a bigger worry on northern Indian farms, and which feeds raise the risk.
A buffalo is not simply a black cow
Cows and buffaloes both lose calcium and phosphorus into early milk, yet buffaloes get milk fever less often than cattle and get phosphorus-deficiency haemoglobinuria, or red-urine disease, more often. The reasons for the difference are poorly understood, so advice written for cows cannot simply be copied across (Purohit et al., 2013). This article covers the two problems that matter most around buffalo calving, using Indian veterinary research.
Milk fever in buffaloes: rarer, but it happens
A survey of 9,432 buffaloes that calved on private and organised farms in Punjab found parturient paresis, the veterinary name for milk fever, in 3.1 percent, with 80 percent of the cases between July and December (Purohit et al., 2013, citing the survey). Other studies cited in the same chapter report anything from roughly 3 to 30 percent, so the risk differs a great deal between herds. Affected buffaloes are usually in their 3rd or 4th lactation. A buffalo that has just calved and is suddenly weak, wobbly or lying down, with a cold body and her head turned towards her flank, should be treated as a calcium emergency. The chapter notes that treatment should not wait for laboratory results.
What to do, and not do, when a buffalo goes down
Call a veterinarian at once. Intravenous calcium must be given slowly, over 10 to 20 minutes, while the heart is monitored, because a fast infusion can cause a fatal heart-rhythm disturbance (MSD Veterinary Manual, for cows). Do not pour liquids, pastes or gels into the mouth of an animal that cannot swallow properly; the MSD manual advises against oral calcium pastes, gels and liquids in cows because of the risk of aspiration. Give her thick, dry, non-slip bedding while you wait. Relapses can happen a day or two after successful treatment, so keep watching her for 48 hours (Purohit et al., 2013). A routine calcium injection for every animal on the day of calving is not advised: the MSD manual discourages routine intravenous calcium at calving because cows given it became more short of calcium by 24 hours.
Red urine after calving: parturient haemoglobinuria
Parturient haemoglobinuria is an acute, life-threatening disease of high-yielding buffaloes and cattle in which blood phosphorus falls very low and red blood cells burst inside the blood vessels, leaving the animal anaemic and passing red to coffee-coloured urine (Purohit et al., 2013). It appears in late pregnancy and in the first 60 days after calving, most often in the 3rd to 5th lactation. The animal may keep eating at first, which is why it is missed, but milk yield falls, the gums and eyelids turn pale, dung becomes hard and black, and as the disease advances she becomes weak and yellow. Reported death rates run from 12 to 15 percent in several studies, and the outcome depends on how soon treatment starts. The same chapter says the disease is much more prevalent in parts of Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab. Red urine can also be plain blood from another cause, so a vet should confirm it with a test.
Why straw, berseem and mustard raise the risk
The disease is linked to too little phosphorus. The chapter lists sugarcane tops, mustard, cabbage, lucerne and berseem among the feeds that can bring on phosphorus deficiency, and says wheat and paddy straw and the stalks of maize, sorghum and pearl millet are very poor sources of phosphorus (Purohit et al., 2013). The numbers show why: berseem averages about 1.9 percent calcium but only 0.27 percent phosphorus, and wheat straw only about 0.07 percent phosphorus (Feedipedia). Studies disagree on the season, with some recording more cases in winter and others in summer, probably because of what the animals are eating. High molybdenum or potassium in the feed and copper deficiency can make matters worse. In one study the significant risk factors were age of 7 years or more, pregnancy of 7 months or more, a third or later lactation, eating cruciferous plants such as mustard, and a previous attack. A buffalo that has had the disease once was 21 times more likely to have low blood phosphorus again.
Preventing it: phosphorus, mixed fodders and a prepared ration
The first rule is an adequate intake of phosphorus, particularly in late pregnancy and early lactation (Purohit et al., 2013). Because berseem is low in phosphorus and contains a substance that can damage red blood cells, the chapter suggests feeding it mixed with other fodders rather than as the only green feed. Where soil or crops are short of phosphorus, a phosphorus source in the diet or water is advised, but the choice and amount should come from your vet or Krishi Vigyan Kendra, not from guesswork. A Gujarat field trial points the same way: village buffaloes given 1.5 kg a day of a 22 percent protein concentrate and 50 g of a chelated area-specific mineral mixture for 2 months before and after calving came back into heat earlier and had shorter service periods (Kalasariya et al., 2017). That trial measured fertility, not red urine, but it shows what planned feeding around calving can do.
A calving checklist for buffalo keepers
In the last 3 weeks of pregnancy, do not make berseem, mustard or cane tops the main feed, and do not rely on straw alone. Note the lactation number of every buffalo, and watch the 3rd to 5th lactation animals and any that have had red urine before most closely. For the first 2 months after calving, look at the colour of the urine every day. Call a vet the same day if a buffalo cannot stand, if her urine is red or coffee-coloured, if her gums are pale, or if her milk drops suddenly and her dung turns hard and black. Tell the vet exactly when she calved and what she has been fed, because that history helps decide between calcium, phosphorus or something else. Plan summer calvings with cooling in mind, as covered in our article on keeping dry and close-up animals cool.
What we still do not know
Most buffalo transition research comes from a few institutes and from small studies, and we found no recent district-wise measurement of red-urine disease in Punjab. The Punjab milk-fever survey above is the best local figure we found. If buffaloes in your village have died of red urine, tell your vet and the local Krishi Vigyan Kendra, because records like that are how area-specific advice gets written.
In buffaloes the calving-time danger is often low phosphorus rather than low calcium. Watch urine colour for 2 months after calving, avoid close-up feeding on straw or berseem alone, treat any downer buffalo as an emergency, and ask your vet for a phosphorus plan that suits your fodder and area.
Sources
Figures in this article come from the published sources below. Each link opens the original paper or reference page.
- Purohit GN, Gaur M, Saraswat CS, Bihani DK (2013). Metabolic disorders in the parturient buffalo. In: Purohit GN (ed.), Bubaline Theriogenology. International Veterinary Information Service (IVIS).
- MSD Veterinary Manual. Parturient paresis in cows.
- Feedipedia. Berseem (Trifolium alexandrinum), aerial part, fresh.
- Feedipedia. Wheat straw.
- Kalasariya RM, et al. (2017). Effect of peripartum nutritional management on plasma profile of steroid hormones, metabolites, and postpartum fertility in buffaloes. Veterinary World 10:302–310.