Animal Anatomy

Student name: Alam Adol Mathiang Student ID: s1210708 Unit name: ALM211 Animal Anatomy and Physiology Due date: Wednesday, 24th July 2013, 5 PM Unit coordinator: Lesley Hawson

Grass tetany (hypomagnesaemia) Introduction Grass tetany (hypomagnesaemia) is also known as winter tetany, grass staggers, lactation tetany and wheat pasture poisoning. It is a very serious metabolic disorder that occurs to cattle grazing on small ryegrass, grain and young forage. Its main cause is magnesium inadequacy and imbalance in blood serum. This disorder occurs to any cattle but mostly confined to lactating cows. Klingerman (2007) explains that grass tetany occurs in cattle during cool and rainy weather. Certain pastures and forages are prone to cause this disease. These pastures are tall fescue, bromegrass, orchardgrass, perennial ryegrass and timothy grass. In addition, small grains such as oats, rye, wheat and barley are also prone to causing grass tetany. Klingerman (2007) also reports that grass tetany can also be caused by grazing cattle on low Magnesium grass hay. Cattle which is rotated to winter pasture paddocks, just after frost, suffers nutritional stress that causes grass tetany as well. The magnesium deficiencies are not problem of the cattle but the forage they eat. The farmers that allow the pasture or forage to mature reduce the likelihood of this problem within their cattle. It is a disease that is easy to prevent but hard to treat. So preventing it is to always increase Magnesium levels in forage and in feed supplements. Grass tetany has a physiological process, clinical signs, and differential diagnosis, diagnosis, and treatment and prevention strategies. The physiology process of Grass tetany As previously mentioned, magnesium deficiency in the blood serum causes the grass tetany. Schweigel and Martens’ (2000) regard Magnesium as a vital mineral that includes many biochemical and physiological functions. The hormonal feedback

system does not control...