Consistency Of Droppings

[Anonymous]

I have a 18 month old bull that has been losing weight and looking poorly for the last month. I gave him a dose of Ivomec in Oct. He has always been the one on the bottom of the food chain (rooted out of the feed trough until all others had thier fill). Two weeks ago, I moved him off by himself. While doing the feeding tonight, he was having a bowel movement and the consistency was not normal. The droppings came out in clumps more like horse droppings. Any ideas of what maybe going on? Should I be concerned? Thank you.

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[Anonymous]

> The droppings came out in clumps
> more like horse droppings. Any
> ideas of what maybe going on?
> Should I be concerned? Thank you.

Sounds like he is getting more dry mattter or hay. When they eat fresh grass it tends to be runny. I have never been concerned with dry droppings, just loose ones, especially in a calf. In the spring I feed the cows some hay in the morning before turning them out on the fresh grass, just to help prevent the runs and get them used to the fresh grass. If you have any high quality hay (alfalfa, perhaps), give him that for a day or two just to see if it changes the output. I have had a family milk cow for 3 years and she has given us two heifers. The oldest is 2 years old. I am not the most experienced, but I wouldn't worry about dryer droppings.

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[Anonymous]

Here's a link to an article from the Noble Foundation that might help you out. <A HREF="http://www.noble.org/Ag/Forage/BSDegree/index.htm" TARGET="_blank">http://www.noble.org/Ag/Forage/BSDegree/index.htm</A>

 

[Anonymous]

> I have a 18 month old bull that
> has been losing weight and looking
> poorly for the last month. I gave
> him a dose of Ivomec in Oct. He
> has always been the one on the
> bottom of the food chain (rooted
> out of the feed trough until all
> others had thier fill). Two weeks
> ago, I moved him off by himself.
> While doing the feeding tonight,
> he was having a bowel movement and
> the consistency was not normal.
> The droppings came out in clumps
> more like horse droppings. Any
> ideas of what maybe going on?
> Should I be concerned? Thank you. Thanks Frankie and Mike: Frankie: The link was very educational and helpful. I copied it for future reference. Normally they look like picture #5 and what I obsevered was very close to #3.

Mike: I believe you may have hit the nail on the head. I purchased hay from several different suppliers this year. We were using an Alfalfa Clover hay and switch to a Timothy hay mixture about the time I observed the problem.

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