Calf scours...

[Susie David]

Have been watching the heifer calf that has been squirting the loose whitish/yellow plop, well, she has normal energy, runs and plays with the others, pees and plops but doesn't appear to nurse as often as the other claves but is leaving her mark in the pen.
Caught her this afternoon (another story by it's self) and did the pinch test on her and she appears to be hydrated and felt normal.
My old self says to shove a bolus down her and fill her up with electrolytes...the new self that has been reading up on the problem in the latest edition of my cow/calf management guide
says to wait another day for signs of progression. That the new thought is that the anti biotics do no good against a viral infection so let it take it's course. Our vet (the young one) says some loose stool is normal...have another calf born a day earlier now getting loose but is green. They all have been eating hay with their mothers, more each day wonder if we're in the adjustment period. Calves two weeks older have had no problems. One out of a heifer the greenie out of a second calf cow.
Don't mean to vent but want to throw it out there for comment...will probably give the electrolytes tomorrow morning anyway. Dave Mc

 

[milkmaid]

Had a heifer like that last May. One of four angus/holstein cross calves on one of my nurse cows. Shooting straight yellow "water" out the backend, but alert, good attitude, raced around with the rest of the calves, and greedily nursed off the cow as much as I'd let her twice a day. Everything was just coming out about as fast as it went in.

Took about a week before it really started to catch up to her. The other calves also came down with scours but they acted like it, whereas she didn't. I didn't treat her at first; just wanted to see if it would "clear up on its own" since she acted fine. About a week later she really wasn't looking that great and it took a lot longer and a lot more antibiotics to clear up those scours than if I'd dealt with it at the first.

(As a side note -on dehydration- if I remember right what I read once, a calf has to lose 6% of its body weight before signs of dehydration become apparent. Don't assume the calf isn't dehydrated just because the pinch test didn't show problems.)

 

[Susie David]

Thanks Milkmaid...this morning she had firmer plop with a bit more green...didn't like the way she was acting so I poked a antibiotic down her and filled her up with re-sorb. Will continue for a day or so and see what happens.
DMc

 

[Susie David]

Stuffed a couple anitbiotics down the heifer calf along with a gallon of resorb...and today things are bach to normal.
I got to stop reading all these articles
DMc

 

[Beefy]

my cows never had so many problems before i got on here.