Downer calf question

[grubbie]

Branded today. A calf came through the chute (using calf table). Calf looked a little lousy, a few small patches of rubbed off fur. It was also scouring. Lots of scours, this area has been exceptionally wet and rainy. 6 week old bull calf. Branded, banded, bolus, was going to ivomec but didn't have any. A couple hours after branding calf was very weak, noticed some anal mucus and a little mucus deep in the ears, breathing was short and labored. This calf went downhill very fast. Penned it up and gave 10 ml Biomycin, and squirted a little in each ear. Two hours later, his head was up and looked a little more alert. No mucus from the nose or throat and no coughing. An hour later it was dead. I think if we wouldn't have stressed the calf with branding activities, we probably could have saved it, but it was just too much on the little guy. So I'm wondering if anyone has some input on what I was dealing with. Here is a summary of symptoms.
Scours
Anal mucus
Lousy-looking
Ear mucus
Labored breathing- short breaths
Went downhill very fast
Good, heavy calf
No signs of dehydration
Long duration of cool wet weather.

 

[kucala5]

Anxious for answers for you from the gurus, we don't have that kind of experience.

 

[Quigly]

I would say your three most likely options are entertoxemia (clostridial purple gut), metabolic acidosis from the calf scouring, or coccidia. Acidosis and coccidia calves are usually dehydrated when they die. I do see a lot of calves that producers tell me over the phone are not dehydrated but when I see it 20 mins later, it turns out to be fairly dehydrated. Not that that is happening here, its just something I bear in mind. Dehydation often plays a role in these calves that die quickly, and most scouring calves that die are dehydrated.

If you have a scouring calf acting weak and dumpy, I always try to get producers to give them electrolytes with bicarbonate in them (or acetate). Look for that on the label. That is what acidotic calves need most. Most acidosis calves are closer to the 2-3 week old age group, but we certainly see it in older calves. Do not use Resob in these calves. Someday, when I'm in charge, Resorb will be outlawed. If you are one of those people that can't move on from Resorb, then at least add a table spoon of baking soda to it.

 

[grubbie]

My initial reaction was coccidia + stress from branding. Certainly, if scouring, there was some dehydration, but eyes were bright and not sunk in, and no tenting. Range cattle, and we don't camp out with them as we work other jobs as well. But, didn't notice any problem calves while gathering or trailing them in, so I don't think he was showing major distress earlier in the day, but we could have missed it. Quite a few with scours, but we always have that on a wet year like this. Normally with scours we just give bolus and electrolytes, but he was so far down that I didn't want to stress him further by force feeding or tubing. It wouldn't have made a difference anyway, he went down in a hurry. Thanks for your reply.