bovis - Articles
Udder ligament: rupture
Introduction
Presenting signs
- Sudden change in udder conformation.
Age predisposition
- Older multiparous cows.
Breed/Species predisposition
- Dairy cattle breeds are commonly affected, less common in beef breeds.
- Generally higher yielding breeds, Holstein Freisan.
Pathogenesis
Pathophysiology
- Rupture of the medial ligaments.
- Most common.
- Causes lateral displacement of the right and left halves of the distal udder.
- Teats are splayed outwards.
- Loss of dividing curvature between the 2 halves of the udder.
- Rupture of the lateral ligaments.
- Dramatic lowering of the udder below the hocks.
- Rupture of the anterior sections of the udder ligaments.
- Presents as gross enlargement in front of the udder.
- Causes the front teats to splay outwards.
- Occassionally causes concurrent internal rupture of the mammary vein, leading to severe anaemia.
- Rupture of the rear udder attachement.
- The rear udder appears pendulous without a clearly defined attachement and obvious stretching of the skin at the rear of the animal.
- Leads to increased risk of mastitis due to being lower to the ground and therefore more exposed to environmental contamination of the teat ends.
- Also more prone to udder and teat end damage due to being stood on.
- Causes increasing difficulty in application of clusters for milking.
- Leads to liner slip and increased risk of retropulsive milk flow, further increasing mastitis risk.
- May worsen Udder edema Udder edema in the ventral aspect of the udder due to reduced venous and lymphatic return.
Diagnosis
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Treatment
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Prevention
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Outcomes
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Further Reading
Publications
Refereed Papers
- Recent references from PubMed and VetMedResource.
- Seykora A J, McDaniel B T (1985) Udder and teat morphology related to mastitis resistance: a review. J Dairy Sci 68 (8), 2087-2093 PubMed.
Other sources of information
- Jackson P G G & Cockcroft P D (2002) Clinical Examination of the Udder. In: Clinical Examination of Farm Animals. 1st edn. Blackwell Science. pp 154-166.
- Blowey R W & Weaver A D (2011) Udder and Teat Disorders. In: Color Atlas of Diseases and Disorders of Cattle. 3rd edn. pp 203-219.