Cryptosporidiosis

[Anonymous]

I have lost some calves this year. I took a poop sample to my vet and it came up positive for cryptosporidiosis. My vet said it causes real bad scours and the calves mostly die from dehydration. I have lost 10 calves Beef and Dairy. They have been having realy bloody squirts and go down and die. I have been giving the sick ones elctrolytes ect. Has anyone ever delt with this?? How did you keep your losses low?? How do you kill it?? How did I get it in my herd? Any suggestions would be very helpfull. I was told it is in the water. Were I live we get 100+ inches of rain a year and much of my pastuer is swampy. I read what I could on it but cant find much info. So if you have any input please speak up. Thank you, SharRon

 

[Anonymous]

> I have lost some calves this year.
> I took a poop sample to my vet and
> it came up positive for
> cryptosporidiosis. My vet said it
> causes real bad scours and the
> calves mostly die from
> dehydration. I have lost 10 calves
> Beef and Dairy. They have been
> having realy bloody squirts and go
> down and die. I have been giving
> the sick ones elctrolytes ect. Has
> anyone ever delt with this?? How
> did you keep your losses low?? How
> do you kill it?? How did I get it
> in my herd? Any suggestions would
> be very helpfull. I was told it is
> in the water. Were I live we get
> 100+ inches of rain a year and
> much of my pastuer is swampy. I
> read what I could on it but cant
> find much info. So if you have any
> input please speak up. Thank you,
> SharRon I have had a lot of experience with cripto. Tell me about your operation i.e. these are bucket calves? If so where from? what age at onset? How are they housed? What preventative measures are you taking? What are they eating? How are you dealing with the dehyration? I'll check the board again tonite. Bryan

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[Anonymous]

It's been a while since I researched Crypto, but here goes. The university sites probably have the most info on crypto. The reason crypto is difficult to get rid of is that part of the life cycle of the organism is spent inside a "cyst," which is a nearly impervious shell. This cyst can exist for a very long time until conditions are just right, then the parasite emerges and goes into another stage of life.

Calves affected with crypto often are weakened and come down with a secondary infection. This would be an opportunistic bacteria or virus that might not ordinarily affect the animal, but in its weakened condition, the bacteria or virus also attacks the animal.

I can't remember for sure, but I seem to recall that cleaning calving areas with bleach can help. But, if you have swampy areas and standing water around, the crypto is going to be next to impossible to get rid of - unless some new information has come out.

As for how you got it in your herd, I would suspect the abundance of water. Someone upstream or across the pond could have an animal with it and the water becomes contaminated. Another way is if it was carried in on clothing/shoes. Dipping/cleaning shoes/boots between animal areas can be a critical measure.

This is a tough one.

> I have lost some calves this year.
> I took a poop sample to my vet and
> it came up positive for
> cryptosporidiosis. My vet said it
> causes real bad scours and the
> calves mostly die from
> dehydration. I have lost 10 calves
> Beef and Dairy. They have been
> having realy bloody squirts and go
> down and die. I have been giving
> the sick ones elctrolytes ect. Has
> anyone ever delt with this?? How
> did you keep your losses low?? How
> do you kill it?? How did I get it
> in my herd? Any suggestions would
> be very helpfull. I was told it is
> in the water. Were I live we get
> 100+ inches of rain a year and
> much of my pastuer is swampy. I
> read what I could on it but cant
> find much info. So if you have any
> input please speak up. Thank you,
> SharRon

 

[Anonymous]

> It's been a while since I
> researched Crypto, but here goes.
> The university sites probably have
> the most info on crypto. The
> reason crypto is difficult to get
> rid of is that part of the life
> cycle of the organism is spent
> inside a "cyst," which
> is a nearly impervious shell. This
> cyst can exist for a very long
> time until conditions are just
> right, then the parasite emerges
> and goes into another stage of
> life.

> Calves affected with crypto often
> are weakened and come down with a
> secondary infection. This would be
> an opportunistic bacteria or virus
> that might not ordinarily affect
> the animal, but in its weakened
> condition, the bacteria or virus
> also attacks the animal.

> I can't remember for sure, but I
> seem to recall that cleaning
> calving areas with bleach can
> help. But, if you have swampy
> areas and standing water around,
> the crypto is going to be next to
> impossible to get rid of - unless
> some new information has come out.

> As for how you got it in your
> herd, I would suspect the
> abundance of water. Someone
> upstream or across the pond could
> have an animal with it and the
> water becomes contaminated.
> Another way is if it was carried
> in on clothing/shoes.
> Dipping/cleaning shoes/boots
> between animal areas can be a
> critical measure.

> This is a tough one. Hey again, sorry didn't respond sooner no time to get on here. 4 of the calves were drop calves that I had bought but they are on nurse cows in the pasture. All the rest have been beef calves on mom cows. some of the calves have never been together. Some at my house and some at the ranch. I have also had a few that have almost died but I managed to pull them through it. I have been giving the sick ones electrolytes with pepto to help there stomachs and yougert aspirn eggs ect. whatever I can think of that my help...Ive saved a few. I also have 1 that has had it or maybe a 2ndary somthing for about a month she looks like crap skinny lethargic(but fast enough to get away from me)rough coat,poopie butt, tucked up flank and rain rot,,,,,most of my calves come from my cows but I have bought a few at the auction and bought a few from the dairy I use to work at.It has started anywere from 1 day old to about 4 weeks old but it seems to be ther younger calves the most. I may have some cows that have it too...but my vet said if they did have it it wouldn't be very noticable.

 

[Anonymous]

We have raised orphan calves in the past that we purchased from sale barns in Texas and transported to S.E. Kansas. I have never heard of crypto in cow/calf operations in Kansas without salebarn exposure of dirty stock trailer exposure, so try to keep the home raised ones isolated from off farm source animals and clean your trailer if you use it for both. We found that crypto was almost never fatal if your control the secondary infections. I believe crypto opens the door for coccidia and claustridium diseases. In our bottle calf feeding program, we added amprolium(corid) in the A.M. feeding to control coccidia. In the evening, we added Bacitracin(BMD) to control claustridiums. It is sold under the name Solutracin for claustridium control in birds. As it is not labeled for this use, you may want to discuss this with your vet. We fed 80mg per day mixed in their milk with great results. Both treatments were used immediately upon arrival and continued for 10 days. If you are treating sick calves in a pasture situation, I suspect you could use both in a drench with no problem. Roto and Corona viruses are also probable in calves from sale barns. Symptom is yellow scours at 7 to 10 days after arrival with no depression and only mild dehydration unless secondary infection follows. Use same treatment as crypto but continue until scours are gone. Both of these products are cheap and are worth trying. Watch for joint ill and vaccinate for blackleg as soon as possible. Let me know if we can help.

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