Calf poop

[Hereford2]

2 quarts

 

[Hereford2]

I put 2 tablespoons of Corid powder into 2 quarts of water or milk

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Corid should be treated for 5 days, I believe. The "poop" being soft is not a problem. The BLOOD in the stool potentially IS the problem. Coccidiosis is everywhere - blood in the stool is #1 sign. Calves are extremely sensitive to it and it flares up from stress. Stress like changing home address or changing feed - like more milk - new hay, etc. It is no big deal - if you treat for it. But, it can kill them if not.

 

[gailbelanger]

3 bottles a day is more than sufficient
I've heard some folks are doing 3 bottles tho.
I've always done 2 bottles a day.
And feed of coarse. .
Diet change is critical in baby calves. GRADUAL CHANGES ARE BEST
This makes sense as to why her poop got soft. Pictures would help.

I imagine she was very full, that's why she didn't want the 3rd.

The egg (old wives tale imo) MAY have well introduced coccidiosis
And yes. Grass makes green poop!

I had her so good before this. She was on jersey milk. Had gotten about 8 gallons to take home and gradually switched to milk replacer.
She does the bottle, hay and grazed a little but won't eat grain.
A few people here didn't think it was necessary.

 

[MurraysMutts]

Milk and hay and good grass usually works pretty good. Tho I've always got em eating grain as soon as possible. Grain is, well it WAS, much cheaper than milk.

Neighbor does his a bit different. No grain til they get big.

Treat the drinking water and see how they do in about a week.

 

[gailbelanger]

How 'bout a little graphic Coronavirus poo after copious amounts of Pro Bios, Nursemate ASAP, electrolytes and Resflor Gold (he did have a temp). Kept texting pics to my vet with updates. Almost lost him but he made a full recovery. Eweeee!!

That's nasty. I'm so glad what my calves have does not look like that.

 

[gailbelanger]

How 'bout a little graphic Coronavirus poo after copious amounts of Pro Bios, Nursemate ASAP, electrolytes and Resflor Gold (he did have a temp). Kept texting pics to my vet with updates. Almost lost him but he made a full recovery. Eweeee!!

The first is the baby, 2nd is older calf.

 

[Travlr]

The first is the baby, 2nd is older calf.

Both within the range of normal as far as I can tell.

 

[sunnyblueskies]

The first is the baby, 2nd is older calf.

I don't see anything wrong with that. My thought is it's just a change in diet which could have brought the different colour and consistency. At this point I (my personal 2 cent) wouldn't treat for anything. Definitely keep an eye on it though.
P.S.: Another 2 cent.......don't mix Kaopectate with anything when you give it. It's suppose to cover the stomach lining and I'm not sure it can still do that when you give it diluted in milk replacer.

 

[MurraysMutts]

First one might be a bit soft...
But looks ok for milk and good grass!

Heres milk poop. Taken just now. Pretty soft, but normal.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

It will not hurt to treat with Corid, but as others said, the stool is borderline --- near normal for grass.

 

[gailbelanger]

Corid should be treated for 5 days, I believe. The "poop" being soft is not a problem. The BLOOD in the stool potentially IS the problem. Coccidiosis is everywhere - blood in the stool is #1 sign. Calves are extremely sensitive to it and it flares up from stress. Stress like changing home address or changing feed - like more milk - new hay, etc. It is no big deal - if you treat for it. But, it can kill them if not.

We did get new hay. They love it. So maybe that was a change that did help the situation.

 

[gailbelanger]

Milk and hay and good grass usually works pretty good. Tho I've always got em eating grain as soon as possible. Grain is, well it WAS, much cheaper than milk.

Neighbor does his a bit different. No grain til they get big.

Treat the drinking water and see how they do in about a week.

She hasn't been interested in grain or sweet feed. She's a stubborn little girl.

 

[Travlr]

She hasn't been interested in grain or sweet feed. She's a stubborn little girl.

Maybe she's a smart little girl.

 

[Katpau]

That poop looks normal to me. I could not see any blood, but the pictures were pretty small. The first poop, passed shortly after birth, will be tarry and dark brown. After that, poop varies depending on what they are eating. The picture taken by MurraysMutts is an example of a young calf that is only eating MaMa's milk. Once he begins to graze, it will turn darker and greener. I have sometimes noticed greyish poop, or poop with little bits of blood in it out in the pasture, but since I did not know which calf it was from, all I could do was watch closely to see if any calves seemed off. It was pretty rare to actually find a sick calf, so I don't worry too much unless it looks like a lot of blood or I find a weak calf.

I wouldn't worry about her not eating grain yet either. I never had any luck getting a young bottle calf to eat grain and they all survived. If your other calf is eating grain I think she will join in when she is ready. Calves learn from imitation. They also like to mouth anything they can get a hold of, like dangling twine strings and your cloths. I know sometimes they take down things they should not, and that may irritate the colon causing blood. Be sure to not leave anything laying around that you don't want them chewing on.

Cattle don't need to be supplemented with grain. I supplement with grain only if it is cheap enough to bring down my total cost of feed by adding some grain and reducing the amount of hay I feed in winter. That has never been the case here for most grains, except for ryegrass screening pellets. They are a waste product of the ryegrass seed industry and I'm not sure how much comes from leaves and chaff and how much might actually be considered "grain". They are similar in nutrition to good hay, but less expensive. I keep the percentage fed low, because there could be a small risk of endophyte poisoning. Other reasons to feed grain would include, to fatten for slaughter, fatten for the show ring, or to provide extra energy to a bottle calf like yours. Those calves get some grain because it is higher in energy and a bottle calf doesn't have the option of feeding on the cow whenever they want...day or night. I honestly don't remember ever convincing a calf to try grain until it was maybe a month old. Once my calves were off the bottle and about 3 months old, I turned them out with the herd. They never got grain after that. I'm sure they would have been heavier if I had continued to supplement with some grain until the rest of the calves were weaned and all were sold in the fall, but the cost and my time would have greatly exceeded the value of gain. Depending on cost in your location and the convenience of feeding, supplementing grain may cost less than the value of those extra pounds. If you just enjoy feeding them and don't mind the expense, that is alright too.

 

[TCRanch]

Excellent response, @Katpau!

 

[gailbelanger]

That poop looks normal to me. I could not see any blood, but the pictures were pretty small. The first poop, passed shortly after birth, will be tarry and dark brown. After that, poop varies depending on what they are eating. The picture taken by MurraysMutts is an example of a young calf that is only eating MaMa's milk. Once he begins to graze, it will turn darker and greener. I have sometimes noticed greyish poop, or poop with little bits of blood in it out in the pasture, but since I did not know which calf it was from, all I could do was watch closely to see if any calves seemed off. It was pretty rare to actually find a sick calf, so I don't worry too much unless it looks like a lot of blood or I find a weak calf.

I wouldn't worry about her not eating grain yet either. I never had any luck getting a young bottle calf to eat grain and they all survived. If your other calf is eating grain I think she will join in when she is ready. Calves learn from imitation. They also like to mouth anything they can get a hold of, like dangling twine strings and your cloths. I know sometimes they take down things they should not, and that may irritate the colon causing blood. Be sure to not leave anything laying around that you don't want them chewing on.

Cattle don't need to be supplemented with grain. I supplement with grain only if it is cheap enough to bring down my total cost of feed by adding some grain and reducing the amount of hay I feed in winter. That has never been the case here for most grains, except for ryegrass screening pellets. They are a waste product of the ryegrass seed industry and I'm not sure how much comes from leaves and chaff and how much might actually be considered "grain". They are similar in nutrition to good hay, but less expensive. I keep the percentage fed low, because there could be a small risk of endophyte poisoning. Other reasons to feed grain would include, to fatten for slaughter, fatten for the show ring, or to provide extra energy to a bottle calf like yours. Those calves get some grain because it is higher in energy and a bottle calf doesn't have the option of feeding on the cow whenever they want...day or night. I honestly don't remember ever convincing a calf to try grain until it was maybe a month old. Once my calves were off the bottle and about 3 months old, I turned them out with the herd. They never got grain after that. I'm sure they would have been heavier if I had continued to supplement with some grain until the rest of the calves were weaned and all were sold in the fall, but the cost and my time would have greatly exceeded the value of gain. Depending on cost in your location and the convenience of feeding, supplementing grain may cost less than the value of those extra pounds. If you just enjoy feeding them and don't mind the expense, that is alright too.

I was just concerned because the bag of milk supplement said to start giving her grain at a certain age. Also a lot of people were saying she needed it to develop her digestive system. Also to wean her from the bottle to grain.
She is going to be my breeder and I want to make sure she's getting enough protein and minerals that she needs to grow big and strong.
Actually she did start eating this week.

 

[MurraysMutts]

I was just concerned because the bag of milk supplement said to start giving her grain at a certain age. Also a lot of people were saying she needed it to develop her digestive system. Also to wean her from the bottle to grain.
She is going to be my breeder and I want to make sure she's getting enough protein and minerals that she needs to grow big and strong.
Actually she did start eating this week.

I guess I should clarify my earlier post.
I've usually got bottle calves as winter projects. No fresh grass available.

So I wean from milk on grain and minimal hay. The best hay I can provide. Gets the rumen working. By the time spring grass is coming on, the rumen is developed enough I can let em graze with the rest of the herd. Depending on size, development etc, I decide whether or not to continue with the grain.
The cow pictured above is a calf I raised from birth that way. She's raising 2 calves as a first calf heifer. She will be 3 years old next month.