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Dying Calves?
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<blockquote data-quote="regolith" data-source="post: 1055137" data-attributes="member: 9267"><p>What I think is going on... and this is not good news if you are inexperienced with calves.</p><p></p><p>Somewhere between birth and twelve hours after they arrive at your place they've picked up a bug/virus that's causing scours. It could be in your calf pen, either pre-existing or from your sick calves passing it on to the new ones. It could be that the dairies you're collecting calves from are vaccinating against scours, cleaning and disinfecting pens &c and keeping it at bay that way, whereas you bring home a stressed calf and feed it a milk replacer that has no antibodies against the scours, which allows the disease to take hold.</p><p>It is *common* for dairy calves to have received insufficient colostrum. There's nothing you can do to ensure the bought calves got a full first feed at birth and then continued to receive good colostrum once they reached the calf shed, except ask a lot of hard questions and hope the replies are honest.</p><p></p><p>What you can do:</p><p>Look up rotavirus on the net. It may be something else, but if this is your problem there's an antigen available from the vet that will help save bought calves.</p><p>Disinfect the calf pen. Again, there are disinfectants on the market that claim virucidal properties. Avoid putting healthy calves into any pen that has contained a sick one, certainly don't put healthy calves in with sick calves.</p><p>When the calves arrive, offer electrolyte (not milk) the first evening. Start milk feeding in the morning presuming they're still bright and healthy. For calves less than a week old, try and get some colostrum from the farmer and gradually change them over from colostrum to milk.</p><p>Ask your farmer if they vaccinate for scours. If they do, then if you can get hold of some of that colostrum it's loaded with the antibodies the calf needs.</p><p></p><p>If you get a sick calf keep the fluids to them, don't stint on the electrolyte. It's dehydration that kills them, and that causes the wobbliness, difficulty getting up &c. Attention every 4 - 6 hours will pull most of them through, although with rotavirus calves have been known to drop dead without ever scouring. Hopefully that first calf was your piece of bad luck that was going to die no matter what.</p><p></p><p>Other things: the vet can analyse a sample of scours and tell you what bugs, if any are in it. For three calves from different sources I'm not sure I'd go that route, but it will help pinpoint the cause if it becomes an ongoing problem.</p><p>Don't hesitate to stomach tube electrolyte to a calf that is weak and not sucking.</p><p></p><p>Crossposted with Lucky who is of course entirely correct.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="regolith, post: 1055137, member: 9267"] What I think is going on... and this is not good news if you are inexperienced with calves. Somewhere between birth and twelve hours after they arrive at your place they've picked up a bug/virus that's causing scours. It could be in your calf pen, either pre-existing or from your sick calves passing it on to the new ones. It could be that the dairies you're collecting calves from are vaccinating against scours, cleaning and disinfecting pens &c and keeping it at bay that way, whereas you bring home a stressed calf and feed it a milk replacer that has no antibodies against the scours, which allows the disease to take hold. It is *common* for dairy calves to have received insufficient colostrum. There's nothing you can do to ensure the bought calves got a full first feed at birth and then continued to receive good colostrum once they reached the calf shed, except ask a lot of hard questions and hope the replies are honest. What you can do: Look up rotavirus on the net. It may be something else, but if this is your problem there's an antigen available from the vet that will help save bought calves. Disinfect the calf pen. Again, there are disinfectants on the market that claim virucidal properties. Avoid putting healthy calves into any pen that has contained a sick one, certainly don't put healthy calves in with sick calves. When the calves arrive, offer electrolyte (not milk) the first evening. Start milk feeding in the morning presuming they're still bright and healthy. For calves less than a week old, try and get some colostrum from the farmer and gradually change them over from colostrum to milk. Ask your farmer if they vaccinate for scours. If they do, then if you can get hold of some of that colostrum it's loaded with the antibodies the calf needs. If you get a sick calf keep the fluids to them, don't stint on the electrolyte. It's dehydration that kills them, and that causes the wobbliness, difficulty getting up &c. Attention every 4 - 6 hours will pull most of them through, although with rotavirus calves have been known to drop dead without ever scouring. Hopefully that first calf was your piece of bad luck that was going to die no matter what. Other things: the vet can analyse a sample of scours and tell you what bugs, if any are in it. For three calves from different sources I'm not sure I'd go that route, but it will help pinpoint the cause if it becomes an ongoing problem. Don't hesitate to stomach tube electrolyte to a calf that is weak and not sucking. Crossposted with Lucky who is of course entirely correct. [/QUOTE]
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