Calves Coughing

[cornstalk]

Hey guys.

My 19 bucket calves are doing fantastic for the most part. I very carefully monitor their feed intake. They are currently wieghing appx 500-550 and eating 11lbs cracked corn, 1.5lbs protein pellets, 4lbs alfalfa, and all they can eat loose grass hay. I see to it that each calf is waiting at the bunk for me morning and nite. If they are acting a little sluggish I cut the corn back a little. Anyway, I keep pretty close tabs on these critters.

They are bedded with good clean straw and have access to the barn 24/7. I've noticed that several of them are coughing a little bit as they come up to the bunk, or after a short "kick the heels up" around the lot. Should I be concerned about this? Onset of pneumnea or anything? Temps have been steady at -20 deg F to 5 deg F. Otherwise they are bright eyed and bushy tailed......just a handful with a cough.

Any insight ?

Thank you! :cboy:

 

[ctlbaron]

Give them the recomended dosage of Nuflor or Baytril. Is should clear up with two doses. I've had a few to do the same thing. They will continue to cough if you don't fix it now. I have about 20 from bottle calves to about that size. If I see them coughing I go ahead and medicate before it slows them down.

 

[dun]

Calves cough sometimes. Doesn;t make them sick or on the way to being sick. Keep an eye on them, or if you're really anxious about giving antibiotics, temp them. But don't get in the habit of thinnking that every time something couges or sneezes or has a little snot in the nose that they need drugs.
Benign neglect

dun

 

[bobrammer]

I agree with Dun. I've got a couple of young bulls that are still nursing. Sometimes when they get some range cubes they cough a little. Think it's just a matter of the dry food getting
hung up. They cough a bit and get things cleared out. I can't
see medicating unless you know the animal is really sick.

 

[cornstalk]

ok.

All I needed to hear. Thx Guys!

 

[Farmhand]

Cough could also be caused by dusty bedding. I know ours sure gets dusty up in the loft. Could also be caused from hitting the cold air after being in a barn. Ever notice how that first breath of cold air when you step out of the house in the morning can make you cough?

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

I don't treat with antibiotics unless they show other signs, fever, off feed, listless. Even if it's a bug, let them fight it off themselves, unless you see the other symptoms. This helps them build resistance.
If you want to do anything, you can give them a nasal VACCINE, like Nasalgen or TVG2. This will boost their immune system & "kick" it in gear to help fight off anything starting up. We do this all the time with our show calves.

 

[ctlbaron]

No sense in waiting for them to get down to medicate. I don't run around with a needle sticking everything that coughs. But I've waited around before thinking that cough will go away when it didn't and they got worse, lose weight and dragging around. For me anyway,better an $8.00 shot than a dead $400.00 calf. It's like kids I guess. Do you take them to the doctor with a cold, or wait until it turns to pneumonia. Just my opinion.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

I guess I would have to point out that it really depends on the calves involved. Did they get really good colostrom, have they been vaccinated? These issues makes a difference as to whether they have the ABILITY to fight off bugs. If you are dealing with calves that have built their own antibodies thru Colos and vaccines, they SHOULD be able to handle "a sniffle".

 

[ctlbaron]

Agreed. Some of mine I don't know the origin of exactly, so I can't be sure of their first 48 hours of life. Remember, I'm talking about the bottle calves. I don't worry so much about a calf with mama.

 

[mitchwi]

I also posted awhile back about the "occassional" cough. Mine are in the 550 to 650# range. This is what I ended up doing.... I put 100# of the 4G Auramyacin (spelling) crumbles in with approx 2500# of feed. These calves get 2# of feed per day. We had pretty bad fall weather with warm days and below freezing temps at night, talking about some 40 degrees swing, alot of rain, just icky weather. During that time 1 came down off feed, 1 shot each of Nuflor and Banamine, about a week later 3 came down off feed, same treatment, all came back 100%. I have kept the 4G in their feed with the last bunch we ground. And then weekend before last we had some nasty freezing rain and wind. A couple days after that I had 2 show up to the feed bunk with green snotty noses, still on feed ok. So for 5 days after that I top dressed their feed each day with the 4G, 10#s of 4G to 100# of feed. Everyone seems to be doing great.

Not sure if I did right or wrong, but it worked.....