Calves Cr*pping their guts out

[circlet]

Anyone heard of this or had it happen? Cledioseptum - not sure if that's right, it's something like that? - is what I was told it is.

A friend of our family has had 6 calves die from this. He bought some bred cows at auction this winter and I guess they had this virus. He's in a panic vaccinating the rest of his calves, supposedly the vaccination may or may not help? The calves litterally are crapping their insides out. Anyone heard of this or know anything about it?

 

[milkmaid]

Better check back with him and see what the name is.

If you're sure it starts with a "C"... might be coccidiosis, which is a protozoa. Easily treatable. No vaccine.

Or might be crypto... offhand I think that one's a protozoa too and best you can do is provide supportive therapy and wait.

Or could be a clostridium, which is a bacteria and vaccine *might* help. It is treatable.

If you're not sure on the name but are sure it's a virus... could be BVD. There's vaccines for that but no treatment.

Those are the more common ones off the top of my head. How old are the calves? other symptoms?

 

[circlet]

the calves are all about 30 +/- days old. This guy is a good cattleman and he pays pretty close attention to his cows, but I guess a couple nights ago he told his wife that he thought he had a couple sick calves and had seperated them and their mommas from the rest (don't know if he gave them any shots or anything at that point). well, yesterday morning when he went out to check them, he found the calves dead with their insides all over the ground. As of yesterday afternoon he had lost 6 and was pretty nervous, even after giving the rest of his calves shots.

my brother works for him occasionally and was out helping him yesterday, said it wasn't a pretty sight.

 

[angie1]

I tried to run a search on this ~ for my information as well as yours. Came up with nothing. Can you please find out, maybe ask again, what it is?

 

[rockridgecattle]

not sure either but i would recommend that when your brother comes to visit and see your calf crop, his farm clothes clean and sanitized and so are his boots....bio security...don't want what he's dealing with

 

[circlet]

they said they think it was crypto. sounds like they haven't lost any other calves, but i guess we'll see how it turns out for them.

 

[msscamp]

Anyone heard of this or had it happen? Cledioseptum - not sure if that's right, it's something like that? - is what I was told it is.

A friend of our family has had 6 calves die from this. He bought some bred cows at auction this winter and I guess they had this virus. He's in a panic vaccinating the rest of his calves, supposedly the vaccination may or may not help? The calves litterally are crapping their insides out. Anyone heard of this or know anything about it?

Sounds like Cryptosporidium (sp?), otherwise known as death scours. It is caused by a protozoa, and there is no vaccine, and no cure. The only thing one can do is provide supportive treatment - electrolytes, and watch/treat for secondary infections - and hope for the best. Your friend might also want to consider hosing down any concrete/wood floored housing that the sick calves have come into contact with with a strong bleach and water solution - I believe I would use at least a 50/50 solution. Ag lime might also be a consideration, as an alternative to the bleach and water. At the very least, he needs to make sure that the infected areas have access to sunlight. We had an outbreak of it a number of years ago, and lost most of our calf crop.