frenchie
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BQA Treatment Procedures - Calf Scours
Nolan R. Hartwig, DVM
Calf scours, or neo-natal diarrhea, is one of the most important diseases of the beef cattle industry. Death losses of 50% or more can occur in severe episodes. Treatment and labor associated with treatment are major costs for producers. Scours are actually a symptom and not a disease.
There are many causes and contributing factors. Almost all calves are exposed to one or more of the infectious agents that cause scours. Producers should concentrate on prevention, rather than treatment, and pay close attention to health of the breeding herd and the environment during the calving and early nursing period.
Infectious Causes:
1. Escherichia coli: Commonly called E. coli, most of these organisms do not cause disease. A few enterotoxigenic strains can cause diarrhea. In severe cases, E. coli can kill calves within 24 hours. Usually affects calves less than 3 days of age.
2. Salmonella: Bacterial organisms that can cause severe disease. Difficult to treat and to eliminate from the environment.
3. Clostridium perfringens: Common organisms in the digestive tract. Can overwhelm the gut when calves overeat, are stressed, or exposure is extreme.
4. Cryptosporidia: One-celled organisms related to coccidia. Usually cause most severe problems when co-infect with other organisms such as E. coli, rotavirus, or coronavirus.
5. Rotavirus: Common cause of calf scours. Usually mild unless there is co-infection with other pathogens such as cryptospiridia. Often carried in low numbers by cows and heifers.
6. Coronavirus: Common, more severe than rotavirus. Usually occurs after several days of age. May co-infect with bacterial organisms.
Host Factors:
Host factors refer to general disease resistance of cows and calves. Nutrition and immunity are major components. Good cow nutrition, herd vaccination programs and avoiding calving difficulty all help reduce the incidence and severity of calf scours. Perhaps the most important of these is adequate colostrum intake shortly after birth. Colostrum is the only source of antibodies against infectious diseases. Make sure that a newborn calf nurses early and often. Supplement with colostrum from the dam or a herdmate when necessary, using an esophageal feeder. Do not obtain colostrum from another herd unless that herd is known to be free of Johne's disease (paratuberculosis). Provide 4% of body weight within 2 hours of birth and another 4% by 12 hours of age. "Artificial" colostrum products are helpful but are not a substitute for adequate intake of natural colostrum.
Environmental Factors:
A wet, muddy, cold calving environment is probably the single most important cause of calf scours. Veterinarians and diagnostic laboratories are inundated with cases when prolonged inclement weather occurs during the calving season. The environment is also the most difficult factor to control in most operations. A few suggestions:
1. Calve the adult cows in a separate area from first calf heifers. Calves born to heifers are more susceptible to calf scours and will badly contaminate the calving environment with infectious organisms.
2. Calve adult cows on pasture if weather permits. Avoid wet calving barns if possible.
3. Provide portable calf sheds on pasture.
4. Turn cow/calf pairs out to pasture as soon as possible. Don't co-mingle in a muddy lot if at all possible. This exposes all individuals in the herd to the organisms carried and shed by one sick calf.
5. Isolate all scouring calves and treat immediately.
6. When severe outbreaks occur, divide the cow herd into small units that calve in separate areas.
7. Provide a large, deeply bedded creep area in barns or large calving sheds. It is easier to keep bedding dry in this area if adult cows cannot enter. Calves will go to these areas after nursing.
8. When the first case of calf scours is observed, immediately isolate the calf, clean and disinfect the environment, carefully collect a stool specimen in a plastic bag, and call the herd veterinarian. Early isolation is critical. Isolation of scouring calves after 10 or 15% of the herd is affected accomplishes little.
Treatment:
Early isolation and treatment is critical. Supplement with fluids and electrolytes. Scouring calves should receive at least 10% of body weight of fluids and electrolytes if scouring is mild, more if severe. Use a high quality electrolyte mixture and administer with a stomach tube. Treat scouring calves at least twice daily. Do not administer antibiotics except on the advice of a veterinarian. Some antibiotics can increase the severity of scours, and may make laboratory identification of pathogens difficult. Injection of large dosages of antibiotics at one site can cause muscle damage and scarring that can last for life. In a newborn calf, no more than 5 ml (cc's) of antibiotics should be given at one injection site. Avoid use of irritating drugs. Federal law requires that only approved veterinary drugs can be used. Extra-label use of veterinary drugs must be under the direction of a veterinarian with whom you have a valid veterinarian/client/ patient relationship. All injections should be given in the neck or over the shoulder, and according to label directions.
Prevention:
Sooner or later, all herds experience problems with calf scours. Much of this is due to our inability to control the weather and environment. There are several things we can do, however, to reduce the incidence and severity of calf scours. Individual programs should be based on herd history and facilities, in close cooperation with the veterinarian. The following are important basics:
1. Laboratory diagnosis, especially fecal culturing, should be used when scours are first noticed.
2. Avoid dependence on antibiotics and other drugs. Treatment programs are designed to minimize losses. Prevention is more cost effective. There is no miracle cure for calf scours.
3. Have cows and heifers at condition score 5 or 6 if possible.
4. Vaccinate heifers and cows for rotavirus, coronavirus, and enterotoxigenic E. coli six and three weeks prior to the beginning of the calving season. Newborn calves must receive adequate colostrum intake for these vaccines to be effective. Vaccination of the cow herd is considered by most veterinarians to be superior to giving oral rota/coronavirus vaccine to newborn calves.
5. Have the herd on a sound vaccination program, especially for bovine virus diarrhea and the Clostridial diseases. Heifers should be vaccinated for the Clostridial group at weaning and again prior to breeding. Additional vaccinations are usually not necessary unless enterotoxemia caused by
Clostridium perfringens is diagnosed in the herd. In this case, specific Cl. perfringens vaccination of the breeding herd prior to calving may be advisable.
6. Implement dystocia control based on heifer selection, pelvic measurement, growth and development programs, and bull selection. Dystocia is a major contributor to calf scours.
7. Make sure that newborn calves nurse properly. Supplement colostrum when in doubt. Natural colostrum is superior, but "artificial" colostrum products have improved in recent years. These may be used to supplement other colostrum intake, although opinion still varies on these products.
8. Calve in a clean, dry area if at all possible. Heroic attempts should be made to accomplish this when severe scours are encountered. If an outbreak is experienced, move the herd that has not yet calved to an entirely different calving area if at all possible.
9. Watch calf flow. Don't expose healthy calves to scouring calves, and don't co-mingle in muddy, wet lots.
10. Get diagnostic tests performed early, not after several severe cases.
11. Therapy should be professionally directed and based on the specific organisms identified.
12. Avoid indiscriminate use of antibiotics. They are often ineffective & may increase the severity of calf scours.
13. Use fluids and electrolytes early. Severely dehydrated and comatose calves should be treated intravenously by the veterinarian.
Beef Quality Assurance:
Prevention of disease is one of the surest ways to improve quality assurance programs. Some veterinary drugs that were once commonly used to treat calf scours are of doubtful value and may cause long-term residues in the kidneys and other tissues of the animal. Do not use aminoglycoside antibiotics to treat calf scours. Injection of irritating pharmaceuticals in the heavy muscles of the hip and rear leg are a major cause of injection site lesions found many months later at slaughter. Follow label directions and work with the herd veterinarian to avoid injection site lesions. This includes avoiding injecting Clostridial vaccines in the muscle of young calves. Avoid compounded mixtures of veterinary drugs.
Nolan R. Hartwig, DVM
Calf scours, or neo-natal diarrhea, is one of the most important diseases of the beef cattle industry. Death losses of 50% or more can occur in severe episodes. Treatment and labor associated with treatment are major costs for producers. Scours are actually a symptom and not a disease.
There are many causes and contributing factors. Almost all calves are exposed to one or more of the infectious agents that cause scours. Producers should concentrate on prevention, rather than treatment, and pay close attention to health of the breeding herd and the environment during the calving and early nursing period.
Infectious Causes:
1. Escherichia coli: Commonly called E. coli, most of these organisms do not cause disease. A few enterotoxigenic strains can cause diarrhea. In severe cases, E. coli can kill calves within 24 hours. Usually affects calves less than 3 days of age.
2. Salmonella: Bacterial organisms that can cause severe disease. Difficult to treat and to eliminate from the environment.
3. Clostridium perfringens: Common organisms in the digestive tract. Can overwhelm the gut when calves overeat, are stressed, or exposure is extreme.
4. Cryptosporidia: One-celled organisms related to coccidia. Usually cause most severe problems when co-infect with other organisms such as E. coli, rotavirus, or coronavirus.
5. Rotavirus: Common cause of calf scours. Usually mild unless there is co-infection with other pathogens such as cryptospiridia. Often carried in low numbers by cows and heifers.
6. Coronavirus: Common, more severe than rotavirus. Usually occurs after several days of age. May co-infect with bacterial organisms.
Host Factors:
Host factors refer to general disease resistance of cows and calves. Nutrition and immunity are major components. Good cow nutrition, herd vaccination programs and avoiding calving difficulty all help reduce the incidence and severity of calf scours. Perhaps the most important of these is adequate colostrum intake shortly after birth. Colostrum is the only source of antibodies against infectious diseases. Make sure that a newborn calf nurses early and often. Supplement with colostrum from the dam or a herdmate when necessary, using an esophageal feeder. Do not obtain colostrum from another herd unless that herd is known to be free of Johne's disease (paratuberculosis). Provide 4% of body weight within 2 hours of birth and another 4% by 12 hours of age. "Artificial" colostrum products are helpful but are not a substitute for adequate intake of natural colostrum.
Environmental Factors:
A wet, muddy, cold calving environment is probably the single most important cause of calf scours. Veterinarians and diagnostic laboratories are inundated with cases when prolonged inclement weather occurs during the calving season. The environment is also the most difficult factor to control in most operations. A few suggestions:
1. Calve the adult cows in a separate area from first calf heifers. Calves born to heifers are more susceptible to calf scours and will badly contaminate the calving environment with infectious organisms.
2. Calve adult cows on pasture if weather permits. Avoid wet calving barns if possible.
3. Provide portable calf sheds on pasture.
4. Turn cow/calf pairs out to pasture as soon as possible. Don't co-mingle in a muddy lot if at all possible. This exposes all individuals in the herd to the organisms carried and shed by one sick calf.
5. Isolate all scouring calves and treat immediately.
6. When severe outbreaks occur, divide the cow herd into small units that calve in separate areas.
7. Provide a large, deeply bedded creep area in barns or large calving sheds. It is easier to keep bedding dry in this area if adult cows cannot enter. Calves will go to these areas after nursing.
8. When the first case of calf scours is observed, immediately isolate the calf, clean and disinfect the environment, carefully collect a stool specimen in a plastic bag, and call the herd veterinarian. Early isolation is critical. Isolation of scouring calves after 10 or 15% of the herd is affected accomplishes little.
Treatment:
Early isolation and treatment is critical. Supplement with fluids and electrolytes. Scouring calves should receive at least 10% of body weight of fluids and electrolytes if scouring is mild, more if severe. Use a high quality electrolyte mixture and administer with a stomach tube. Treat scouring calves at least twice daily. Do not administer antibiotics except on the advice of a veterinarian. Some antibiotics can increase the severity of scours, and may make laboratory identification of pathogens difficult. Injection of large dosages of antibiotics at one site can cause muscle damage and scarring that can last for life. In a newborn calf, no more than 5 ml (cc's) of antibiotics should be given at one injection site. Avoid use of irritating drugs. Federal law requires that only approved veterinary drugs can be used. Extra-label use of veterinary drugs must be under the direction of a veterinarian with whom you have a valid veterinarian/client/ patient relationship. All injections should be given in the neck or over the shoulder, and according to label directions.
Prevention:
Sooner or later, all herds experience problems with calf scours. Much of this is due to our inability to control the weather and environment. There are several things we can do, however, to reduce the incidence and severity of calf scours. Individual programs should be based on herd history and facilities, in close cooperation with the veterinarian. The following are important basics:
1. Laboratory diagnosis, especially fecal culturing, should be used when scours are first noticed.
2. Avoid dependence on antibiotics and other drugs. Treatment programs are designed to minimize losses. Prevention is more cost effective. There is no miracle cure for calf scours.
3. Have cows and heifers at condition score 5 or 6 if possible.
4. Vaccinate heifers and cows for rotavirus, coronavirus, and enterotoxigenic E. coli six and three weeks prior to the beginning of the calving season. Newborn calves must receive adequate colostrum intake for these vaccines to be effective. Vaccination of the cow herd is considered by most veterinarians to be superior to giving oral rota/coronavirus vaccine to newborn calves.
5. Have the herd on a sound vaccination program, especially for bovine virus diarrhea and the Clostridial diseases. Heifers should be vaccinated for the Clostridial group at weaning and again prior to breeding. Additional vaccinations are usually not necessary unless enterotoxemia caused by
Clostridium perfringens is diagnosed in the herd. In this case, specific Cl. perfringens vaccination of the breeding herd prior to calving may be advisable.
6. Implement dystocia control based on heifer selection, pelvic measurement, growth and development programs, and bull selection. Dystocia is a major contributor to calf scours.
7. Make sure that newborn calves nurse properly. Supplement colostrum when in doubt. Natural colostrum is superior, but "artificial" colostrum products have improved in recent years. These may be used to supplement other colostrum intake, although opinion still varies on these products.
8. Calve in a clean, dry area if at all possible. Heroic attempts should be made to accomplish this when severe scours are encountered. If an outbreak is experienced, move the herd that has not yet calved to an entirely different calving area if at all possible.
9. Watch calf flow. Don't expose healthy calves to scouring calves, and don't co-mingle in muddy, wet lots.
10. Get diagnostic tests performed early, not after several severe cases.
11. Therapy should be professionally directed and based on the specific organisms identified.
12. Avoid indiscriminate use of antibiotics. They are often ineffective & may increase the severity of calf scours.
13. Use fluids and electrolytes early. Severely dehydrated and comatose calves should be treated intravenously by the veterinarian.
Beef Quality Assurance:
Prevention of disease is one of the surest ways to improve quality assurance programs. Some veterinary drugs that were once commonly used to treat calf scours are of doubtful value and may cause long-term residues in the kidneys and other tissues of the animal. Do not use aminoglycoside antibiotics to treat calf scours. Injection of irritating pharmaceuticals in the heavy muscles of the hip and rear leg are a major cause of injection site lesions found many months later at slaughter. Follow label directions and work with the herd veterinarian to avoid injection site lesions. This includes avoiding injecting Clostridial vaccines in the muscle of young calves. Avoid compounded mixtures of veterinary drugs.
