Blood in Manure

[turklilley]

From time to time in winter I notice some blood in a pile of manure. With 50 cows in the lot I can't tell where it's coming from. For a week I won't find it, then one pile. Neighbor has had it too. Anyone have an idea of the cause? I'm not noticing any cows off feed.

 

[Anonymous]

Coccidiosis. It can come and go

 

[jasonleonard]

I think Hook is right about the coccidiosis . I buy a good many feeders and put the liquid Corid in their water on arrival. I think you put it in for three straight days. You have to treat it or they'll go down hill and look like crap.
Started feeding a mineral with Bovatech ...mineral dealer said it will control the coccidiosis. I haven't used it long enough to tell if he is right or just trying to sell his brand of mineral. There are some vets on here that probably forgot more than I know..hopefully they'll make a comment.

 

[colleen]

I would bring in a fresh sample and have the vet check specifically for coccidiosis, before I did the treatment. It won't hurt them if you want to treat without knowing for sure. Is it possible, since you say you just see blood in a pile maybe once a month(??) that it could just be from a cow or heifer in heat (from a bloody show)? Just a thought. If it was me, I would take a sample from a couple of cows. You do have to specify that you want to check for coccidiosis. We had a calf show signs a while back, brought some samples in. It wasn't terribly bad but we treated anyway. Treated troughs and gave the corid crumbles to the calves. All our calves were eating creep feed at the time. Good luck!

 

[colleen]

I looked back at your post, it's more than once or twice a month. I still would get samples tested if you are near a vet, just to be sure if the levels are bad enough. . If I remember correctly, if you have calves only nursing, you will have to drench them. Ours were eating feed. So they got it in feed and water troughs. Also, you must treat all cows and calves.