Tires Tagged as Source of Hardware Disease

By Jane Fyksen, Crops Editor
Thursday, April 17, 2008 12:26 PM CDT

Deteriorating steel-belted tires used as feeding stations can pose a risk to cattle. South Dakota State University Extension Veterinarian Russ Daly and fellow SDSU Veterinarian and Department Head David Zeman are spreading the word that cattle producers should check the tires they’re using to hold feed to make sure steel wires aren’t exposed.

A recent SDSU study found thin wires inside cattle carcasses; the “hardware disease” originated from tire feeding stations.

"A practitioner in central South Dakota submitted some animals to our diagnostic lab, and we found signs of hardware disease," explains Daly. "We found the source was deteriorating tire feeders." He says worn feeders expose lengths of thin wire over time. Friction and wear-and-tear from feeding cattle causes these wires to break off and fall into the bunk. Cattle wear down the tires as the rub against them, exposing inside steel wires, which then break off and become a hazard.

"The wire is ingested…then penetrates internal organs," says Daly. "This can lead to bleeding and infection."

Zeman, director of the SDSU Animal Disease Research and Diagnostic Lab, and Jennifer Poindexter-Runge, the veterinarian from Ree Heights, S.D., who initially treated the livestock, presented information on these findings at the South Dakota Veterinary Medical Association annual meeting late last year. Poindexter-Runge says the symptoms of afflicted livestock were vague.

"Oftentimes it is just some off cows, or some drooling," she notes. "We'll have reports of the cows not coming up to eat, or abortion problems in the herd."

Poindexter-Runge admits her initial investigations offered few clues. "We found cows that were not really sick, but they were just not healthy," she notes. "When we did the necropsy, then we found the wire."

Two winters ago, seven cows from a herd of 330 crossbred beef cows died over a period of a few weeks. Several others, as noted, showed a variety of “vague clinical signs” including fever, lethargy, anorexia, excessive salivation, abortion and down and in pain. In March last year, the owner delivered two dead cows to the lab n the fourth and fifth to die that week.

The necropsy of the first cow n a 5-year-old in good body condition n a four-inch wire extending from the reticulum across the diaphragm and through the pericardial sac. The second necropsy on a nearly-toothless, thin older cow detected a similar finding of a wire extending from the reticulum into the pericardial sac, as described in the other cow. Unfortunately for this cow, the wire precisely struck and punctured a large myocardial artery, causing severe hemorrhage into the pericardial sac and “sudden death.” The cow’s heart had difficulty performing due to the pericardial blood clot on the softer portions of the heart. The flow of blood through the chambers is severely reduced or stopped and death ensues.

The beef producer was sent home with the wire and instructed to look for the source. He’d been using a large tire (big enough to encircle a round bale) that was split in half. It contained steel belts formed by a myriad of thin small wires. Over time, as the cattle reached over the tire to feed on the hay bale, their necks wore away the rubber and exposed the wires, which eventually broke free and dropped into the hay.

Thus, SDSU vets are “strongly” discouraging the use of steel-belted tires as hay feeding stations. Producers need to make sure they’re not seeing any exposed steel belting in tires used for other purposes as well around their farms. Oftentimes old tires are used as “platforms” to get big round bales up off the ground for winter feeding, for instance.

Daly says he doesn’t discourage the use of tire feeders if they’re in good condition.

“This is certainly no epidemic, nor something that would wipe out a herd,” he notes. “But it does give us an answer to some of those lingering health concerns we have seen in cattle.”

Daly says even if producers do not see vague signs of illness, they should still check all tire feeders with care.

"The best plan would be to take a really hard look at the feeders, to see if they are showing signs of wear," this university veterinarian advises. "If they are showing wear, then discontinue the use of those feeders."

"Some producers are using them for water, and as weight to hold down tarps," adds Poindexter-Runge. "They need to check them all for exposed wire, so that it doesn't work its way into the feed. Any old, corroded tire with exposed wire is a potential for hardware disease."

Antibiotics and veterinary care can help livestock if hardware disease is caught soon enough. Poindexter-Runge adds the use of bolus magnets may provide some reduction in losses, too.

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