Most Common Cattle Diseases in [2025]: Diagnosis and Control

Time Business News

2 days ago

Cattle are the backbone of many farms, providing milk, meat, and income to millions of people. But just like humans, they can get sick. There are several common diseases in cattle that affect their health, reduce productivity, and sometimes lead to serious losses if not treated early.
Cattle diseases can be caused by viruses, bacteria, parasites, or poor living conditions. Some spread quickly from one animal to another, while others slowly affect a cow's body over time. Farmers often notice signs like fever, wounds, swelling, coughing, or changes in eating habits. Identifying these signs early is key to stopping the disease before it harms more animals.
Understanding the most common cattle diseases and how to manage them is important for Animal's Farming. In this article, we will cover the major cow illnesses seen in 2025, how to spot them, and simple ways to control or prevent them on the farm.
Mastitis is a common disease in dairy cows, mainly caused by bacteria that enter the udder through the teat. This often happens due to poor hygiene, injuries, or unclean milking tools. Bacteria such as Streptococcus and Staphylococcus are common, along with germs found in the cow's surroundings or digestive system. Once inside, these bacteria grow quickly and cause infection. Keeping the udder clean and following proper milking practices can help prevent mastitis.
Symptoms of Mastitis in Cows
The main symptoms of mastitis include swelling, redness, and pain in the udder. The affected area may feel hot to the touch, and the cow may flinch when it's touched. Milk from an infected udder often looks abnormal—it may be watery, light-colored, or contain clots or pus. The cow may also have a fever, eat less, or give much less milk. In serious cases, she can become very weak and dehydrated. Early detection through simple tests can help stop the disease before it causes major damage.
Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) is one of the most serious cattle viruses affecting farms today. It mainly spreads through direct contact with infected animals or contaminated items like feed, tools, and water troughs. The virus survives in the environment for a long time, making it hard to control once it appears. Even animals that seem healthy can carry the virus and infect others without showing signs.
This disease is common in areas with poor hygiene and no proper quarantine system. Farms that do not clean equipment or keep new animals separated are at greater risk. Because of how easily it spreads, FMD is considered one of the most dangerous common diseases in cattle.
Symptoms of Foot and Mouth Disease in Cattle
FMD causes a range of symptoms that are easy to notice. Early signs include fever, drooling, limping, and a sudden drop in milk. Cattle may also stop eating and show signs of pain in their mouth and feet. Redness inside the mouth and small blisters are common. These blisters often appear on the tongue, lips, gums, teats, and between the toes.
When the blisters break, the cow feels more pain and may have trouble walking or feeding. As the disease spreads in the herd, more animals get cattle sick, and losses can increase quickly. In severe cases, cows lose weight fast and take weeks to recover. Even after healing, some animals never return to full production. That's why early cattle treatment and strong hygiene practices are key to stopping this disease.
Causes of Lumpy Skin Disease in Cattle
Lumpy Skin Disease is caused by a virus called the Lumpy Skin Disease Virus (LSDV). It mainly affects cattle and spreads through insect bites or contact with infected animals or equipment. Once inside the body, the virus causes swelling and painful lumps on the skin. It can also reach the lungs, digestive system, and reproductive organs. This makes it one of the more serious diseases in cattle.
The virus is strong and can survive for weeks in dried scabs or on dirty tools, making it hard to remove from the farm. It also weakens the animal's immune system, which makes the condition worse. Poor nutrition or stress increases the risk, especially in weak animals. This virus is the main reason behind this infection in cattle, and it can cause lasting damage to skin, milk production, and overall health.
Symptoms of Lumpy Skin Disease in Cattle
The first signs of LSD include high fever, loss of energy, and refusal to eat. Soon after, cattle develop firm, round skin lumps on the face, neck, legs, udder, and private parts. In some cases, these lumps break open and form wounds that can get infected. Other signs of this sickness in cows include watery eyes, nose discharge, drooling, and swelling in the legs or udder.
LSD can also cause pain, lameness, and a sharp drop in milk. Bulls may develop swollen testicles, and pregnant cows may lose their calves. While most animals survive, the disease often leaves them with scars and reduces fertility. Because of these severe cattle health problems, early detection and care are important to limit damage and prevent the spread of the virus.
Milk fever is one of the common cattle diseases that mostly affects cows around the time of calving. As a cow gets close to giving birth, her need for calcium rises quickly. This is because she needs extra calcium to support the growing calf and to produce colostrum, the first milk.
To meet this demand, the cow first uses calcium from her blood. When that runs low, she must get it from her diet or bones. However, most cows can't get enough in time, which leads to milk fever. Older cows are more likely to develop this condition than younger ones. This makes milk fever a serious cattle health issue during the calving period.
Symptoms of Milk Fever in Cattle
Milk fever appears in two forms: clinical and subclinical.
In clinical milk fever, the cow shows clear signs of illness. She may be unable to stand, appear weak, and feel cold to the touch. This is a direct result of severe calcium loss and needs urgent care.
In subclinical milk fever, the signs are harder to notice. The cow can still walk and eat, but her body works less efficiently. She becomes more prone to common cow illnesses like mastitis, retained placenta, and uterine infections. These hidden problems can lower milk production and harm overall cow health. If not managed early, they can lead to higher costs and longer recovery times.
Hypomagnesemic tetany is a cattle disease caused by a lack of magnesium in the cow's body. This happens when the cow's diet doesn't supply enough magnesium to meet the needs for daily health and milk production. The problem often occurs when cows graze on short or lush green grass that contains very low levels of magnesium. Poor weather, stress during transport, or limited food intake can also reduce magnesium absorption.
This condition is more likely to occur in areas where the soil has high potassium or is heavily fertilized with nitrogen. These minerals block the absorption of magnesium in the cow's stomach. When this happens, cows—especially those producing a lot of milk—can quickly become sick cattle without warning.
Symptoms of Hypomagnesemic Tetany in Cattle
The symptoms of this cow health issue can be very sudden and severe. Affected cows may appear normal at first, then suddenly raise their heads, bellow, and run wildly before collapsing. They may have seizures, with jaw clenching, foaming at the mouth, and fast eye movements. In many cases, the cow dies quickly, and farmers find the animal already dead in the field, showing signs of struggling on the ground.
In milder cases, the cow shows early signs like muscle twitching, stiff walking, or being jumpy and overly sensitive to touch or sound. If not treated, these signs may worsen, and the cow could eventually have seizures. A fast heartbeat and loud heart sounds are also common. This is one of the more dangerous diseases for cows because it can be hard to detect early, especially in infected cattle without visible illness.
Liver fluke disease, also called fascioliasis, is caused by a parasite known as Fasciola hepatica . It is one of the common cow diseases found in many parts of the world. The disease spreads when cattle eat grass or hay contaminated with fluke larvae, usually found on wet, low-lying pastures. These larvae develop inside snails and then attach to plants, waiting to be eaten by grazing animals.
Once swallowed, the young flukes travel from the cow's gut to the liver, where they tunnel through tissue for several weeks. They then settle in the bile ducts and begin laying eggs, which are passed out in the cow's dung and continue the cycle. This long life cycle and the ability of the parasite to survive in wet environments make fascioliasis one of the harder cattle diseases to control, especially on poorly drained farms.
Symptoms of Liver Fluke Disease in Cattle
Fascioliasis affects cattle in different ways depending on how many parasites they have and how quickly they become infected. In most cases, cattle show mild or no clear signs of illness, making it a common cattle illness that often goes unnoticed. However, over time, infected animals may lose weight, produce less milk, and appear weak or pale due to anemia.
In more serious cases, symptoms can include a swollen belly, diarrhea, and signs of liver damage. Some cattle may also develop jaw swelling (bottle jaw) and reduced appetite. While death is rare in cows, long-term liver damage can reduce immunity and make cattle more prone to other infections. When paired with cattle viruses or bacterial diseases, liver fluke can lead to major health and production losses.
Trypanosomiasis is a cattle disease caused by parasites called trypanosomes. These parasites are usually spread by the bite of infected tsetse flies. The severity of the disease depends on the cattle's age, species, and overall health, as well as the type of trypanosome involved. The first signs may appear within 1 to 4 weeks after infection.
Cattle with trypanosomiasis often suffer from long-term illness, showing signs such as fever, anemia, weight loss, and weakness. The disease can lead to death, especially if the animals have poor nutrition or face stress. Even when common cattle illnesses are treated, stress can cause a relapse of trypanosomiasis. In severe cases, internal bleeding and swelling of the lymph nodes or spleen may occur. Chronic infections can weaken the animal further, increasing the risk of death if not managed properly.
Diagnosis of Trypanosomiasis in Cattle
A sick cattle showing anemia, weight loss, and poor condition in a known risk area may be suspected of having trypanosomiasis. To confirm the disease, a blood test is done to look for the parasites. One common method is examining a small drop of blood under a microscope, especially from the buffy coat layer after spinning the blood in a tube. This helps spot the moving parasites quickly.
Other diseases that cause similar signs—like babesiosis, anaplasmosis, or theileriosis—must be ruled out. Blood smears, antibody tests, and advanced lab methods like PCR can help confirm the diagnosis, especially during herd screening. However, many of these lab techniques are not yet widely used in field settings.
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