Another scour post from a newbie

[AL-beef]

I've searched and read, but haven't really found a good answer. For me anyway.
The story I got when I bought the calf.
The cow had twins. The first calf sucked while she had the second calf, and then she kicked the first calf off and rejected it. He watched for 2 hours and then took the calf, gave it 2 bags of colostrum to ensure it got enough. I bought it at 2 weeks old from a lot with 4 mixed age holstein bottle calves from a kid the original owner gave it to. I know that was my first mistake of many.

The calf has intermittent scours that are runny and green, to mucus at times, then back to normal formed feces. One time I noticed it having blood in one of the stiff piles. All of it is vile smelling. I have kept him quarantined from all other cattle areas since I got him, just in case. He is otherwise alert, playful, and drinking his bottle. Am I being over cautious ? I am trying to stay ahead of any problem if I can.

I got a sample this morning,(it came out half and half. :lol2: ) but both area vets are off on Wed. Must be nice.
So I'm looking to you for advice.

I might ad the calf has been banded as well, so he has seen a good deal of stress.

 

[AL-beef]

I guess my question really is am I being over cautious. With little experience, I don't want to wait till things get out of hand.

 

[brandonm_13]

Well, to cure scours, I like to use 1 gallon of whole milk, 1 cup of canned milk, and 1 cans worth of buttermillk (not the fat free kind). Mix it all up and you can tell is smells better than almost all the powders you can get. The canned milk is extra sweet. The buttermilk is high fat and has good microbes, and the whole milk is higher fat as well, and it has vitamins. It can get expensive, so I would wean the calf slowly back to the powder after it gets better.

If there's blood in the diarhrea, it could be coccidiosis, or it could just be blood. To stop the diarhea itself, I like to use the pink stuff, and you can't overdose it. Well, I guess you could, but anyway... You might want to give a shot of Nuflor, LA200 (although I prefer Biomycin since it doesn't burn), or maybe penicillin if it gets bad enough, but with the vets off, your out of luck on the Nuflor today. Personally I would just go to the grocery store and get the milk mixture, and maybe drench it with some pink stuff.

 

[AL-beef]

From what I've read here, I had the impression that when the loose stool started it would continue untill the bout was over. Thats the way I remember it from being around it years ago.
He will run like a faucet for a while then stop, and that evening it's back normal. Next morning still good and that evening here it goes again. The blood has only been a few times but it really scared me. Been going like this for 6 days. He is staying hydrated enough he's not symptomatic.

 

[snickers]

maybe your milk is bad? if it's old it will sour. we had a calf that is on the momma and got bad diarhea at about 7 to 10 days old gave it a shot of La200 and it cleared it up luckily. Dont know why the little feller got it though it's not like he was eating anything except momma's milk. we have 9 calves and he's the only one to have that happen and I thought maybe the clover hay but no one else did the same thing so dont have clue why that happened.

 

[AL-beef]

New bag of milk replacer. So far today it's all firm. He is ripping and running and very active today. Maybe it has passed. If it starts again I'm getting some and heading to get it checked. His apatite seems to be in overdrive now too. He is no longer happy with his bottle and bawling for more. He also tried eating some calf starter this morning as well.

 

[snickers]

good deal and good luck.