from 3 calves dying now up to 13

[Anonymous]

It sounds to me like the cows milk is too rich, and causiing the calves to scour. It also could be the calves are not nurseing enough. If they go to long without eating, it can cause scours when they do eat. They will also scour if they are getting to much milk.

 

[kjyoak]

We have vacinated all the cows again after the first one two weeks ago. We have lost a total of 15 but haven't lost any for a week and a half now. Had one calf come down sick not wanting to get up but after a shot and some electrolytes he actually got himself up the next day and took off with mama. He is still doing very well now. I don't know the name of the meds we gave them cause we ran out but things are looking up now. We are awaiting for about 20 more calves yet to be born. We have about 20 calves doing good so far for now.

 

[cherokeeruby]

Hope you have found out what is the problem with your calves. Have seen a lot of guesses here that it is E.Coli, sounds like it to me too. We had a run of a very virulent strain years ago. We did manage to keep them alive, only lost one. Still have the original 'house cow' in the herd.
Calves would be born, get up be active for 6-12 hours and then just crash. Was a very wet year and at that time we were calving them in the barn. Very bad idea.
Vet told us to give all the newborns E.Coli antiserum as soon as possible after birth. He also said to buy the bottle marked for Swine, mentioned that all E.Coli antiserum bottles came out fo the same vat. They were just priced according to the animal on the label. Don't ask what Equine anti-serum cost.
Please post your progess with the University.

Best of Luck!

 

[CattleAnnie]

:idea: We went through hell a couple of years back when we had two strains of scours going through our calves. We had just moved to the new place, and the virus was apparently in the soil. The worse strain was apparantly being carried from farm to farm by ravens (or so the vet said, sent samples away to a lab to confirm a "super-bug" type of scours had made an appearance in the area). We had both E. Coli and Coccydiosis types of scours. One of the neighbours lost one calf in ten to these bugs, and in the process of trying to keep calves alive (alot of people were even using Intravenous tubing to keep their calves alive) made himself so run down he became seriously ill with a bad flu and darn near ended up in the hospital (but didn't have time to go due to the problems he was having on the ranch).
It was getting so bad for us, that we were seeing day old calves starting to become sour with the runs. Some calves became chronic, one in particular we ran the full course of treatment no less than five times (at least three days of tubing electrolytes each time). Now we just Scourguard the cows when we do our fall processing of Dectomax and 8-Way vaccines, and it's helped a bit, but we still see a few calves come down with the scours, especially when the frost starts coming out of the ground in late April/ early May. All this through spring blizzards was pretty overwhelming.
Anyway, we found an electrolyte called "CalfLyte" to be the most effective for us...had a high amount of energy and was easily mixed (some brands seemed to have less dissolvability), it keeps the calves from dehydrating and provides them with some energy. We also used boluses (sorry 'bout the spelling, sleep deprived as now entering month two of night checks) to slow down the diarrhea. We also alternated tubings of electrolytes with colostrum, to try and keep some nutrients in the little guys.
We also used an antibiotic called "Biomycin" on all the calves that were infected, it is more expensive than good ol' Penicillin, but has more of a kick to it. We only use Nuflor and Micotil on calves that display symptoms respiratory infections.
I am not saying that this will work for you, or that this is the best course of action, and agree with everyone that your veterinarian is the most accurate source of information in diagnosing and treatment. This is only what was effective for us. Best of luck to you!

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Cattle Annie,
Does your post mentioning sleep deprivation due to night checks mean you are 'wasting' your time as I am being constantly accused?? When I know I have a calf due and can pinpoint it down to a few hours to a day I check momma constantly. Talk about sleep deprivation. I think this is my worst time of year here.
Glad to see someone else wasting their time at night!!!

 

[dun]

It may be the worst time of year, but it's also the best. Seeing those little calves makes the sleep lose all worthwhile.

dun

Hi Cattle Annie,
Does your post mentioning sleep deprivation due to night checks mean you are 'wasting' your time as I am being constantly accused?? When I know I have a calf due and can pinpoint it down to a few hours to a day I check momma constantly. Talk about sleep deprivation. I think this is my worst time of year here.
Glad to see someone else wasting their time at night!!!

 

[cherokeeruby]

Not trying to be flipant but why are you breeding cattle that need help with their calves?

If you are just excited to see the new babies that is something else entirely.

It may be the worst time of year, but it's also the best. Seeing those little calves makes the sleep lose all worthwhile.

dun

Hi Cattle Annie,
Does your post mentioning sleep deprivation due to night checks mean you are 'wasting' your time as I am being constantly accused?? When I know I have a calf due and can pinpoint it down to a few hours to a day I check momma constantly. Talk about sleep deprivation. I think this is my worst time of year here.
Glad to see someone else wasting their time at night!!!

 

[dun]

Backwards, breech, legback, twins, it happens in all herds at some time. It's irresponsible, in my opinion, to have a simple problem easily corrected that may cost you a calf or worse yet a cow and calf and not correct it.
We used to find a couple of cows a year dead in the brush, half eaten that had a calf with a leg folded back or backwards. Now we can monitor things more closely and we do.
My theory is plan for the worst hope for the best and take whatever you get in the middle.

dun

Not trying to be flipant but why are you breeding cattle that need help with their calves?

If you are just excited to see the new babies that is something else entirely.

It may be the worst time of year, but it's also the best. Seeing those little calves makes the sleep lose all worthwhile.

dun

Hi Cattle Annie,
Does your post mentioning sleep deprivation due to night checks mean you are 'wasting' your time as I am being constantly accused?? When I know I have a calf due and can pinpoint it down to a few hours to a day I check momma constantly. Talk about sleep deprivation. I think this is my worst time of year here.
Glad to see someone else wasting their time at night!!!

 

[Beefy]

I think learning to read cattle is an art. and there is a lot to be said about knowing your cattle on an individual basis, and i dont mean as pets. they are all different and if you pay close attention to their behavior its not that hard (generally) to predict when a cow will calve or where she will hide or where she has hidden her calf. of course there are exceptions to every rule, like heifers, you dont know how they will act and then theres always that one cow that tries to mess with you and moves to the opposite side of the ranch as soon as you leave b/c she knows you are watching her. but then theres #39 who goes to HER calving spot 24 hours in advance but doesnt have the calf until 4AM every year, like clockwork. if you really really know your cattle (and the only thing that can teach you is experience) you can identify a problem early on for the most part. for instance this past weekend i had to pull a breech calf and i knew immediately when i saw the cow that morning that i had to pull it, and that it was probably breech. i told my dad so he'd be around to help and he insisted on watching the cow for an hour (stubborn, but i'm all about letting nature takes it course). meanwhile i was setting gates in the catchpen and getting the rope, chains, and jack. my dad has been raisng cows for 40 years but even he admits that i can judge the situations better b/c i know the cows individually.

 

[Anonymous]

As with Kathleen and Dun, malpresentations at birth are one of the reasons I do night checks, but the main reason is that due to our extreme winter temperatures, a calf born outside can die of hypothermia within an hour if not brought into shelter.
I bring any cow I notice calving into the barn, but some of those girls are pretty handy at the fifteen minute delivery trick, and I've noticed quite a few that hardly bagged up at all before giving birth this year. Last night the windchill factor was in the minus 30's due to a wicked northeasterly blast, so it makes it vital to maintain checks.
It has nothing to do with poor quality cattle, as one poster implied, because even a good cow with strong mothering ability has the potential to lose a calf when it's body temperature drops. Also, any calves that do survive getting chilled usually show a marked lack of vigor, which can lead to lower rate of gain and susceptability to viruses. Even something such as frozen ears, tails and feet which might seem unimaginable to some producers in warmer climes, are a reality that will have your calf either cutback by the buyers in the fall, or kept back from being shipped completely. Due to the fact that my income is soley from raising calves, sleeping the nights away during Feb, March, Apr is a luxury I can ill afford.
Lost an old cow today that had chilled down from last night's weather, poor old gal drew her last breath this afternoon,so today's project has been trying to get a cow that aborted her calf last week to mother the dead cow's calf. So far so good! Gotta love it when things go well.
Knew I should have shipped her last fall, but with cull cow value I might have got fifty bucks, so at least this way I've got a calf. What can you do?
Have a great calving season all, and it's been nice to see the posts of my fellow night owls as well. (Also found out that it's a good idea to sign in before you post...oh, by the way, loved the Saskatchewan joke, Dun.)

 

[cherokeeruby]

Under the circumstances you described you have not choice regarding night checks. The only remedy would be to move the calving season to warmer weather. Good luck with your severe conditions.

As with Kathleen and Dun, malpresentations at birth are one of the reasons I do night checks, but the main reason is that due to our extreme winter temperatures, a calf born outside can die of hypothermia within an hour if not brought into shelter.
I bring any cow I notice calving into the barn, but some of those girls are pretty handy at the fifteen minute delivery trick, and I've noticed quite a few that hardly bagged up at all before giving birth this year. Last night the windchill factor was in the minus 30's due to a wicked northeasterly blast, so it makes it vital to maintain checks.
It has nothing to do with poor quality cattle, as one poster implied, because even a good cow with strong mothering ability has the potential to lose a calf when it's body temperature drops. Also, any calves that do survive getting chilled usually show a marked lack of vigor, which can lead to lower rate of gain and susceptability to viruses. Even something such as frozen ears, tails and feet which might seem unimaginable to some producers in warmer climes, are a reality that will have your calf either cutback by the buyers in the fall, or kept back from being shipped completely. Due to the fact that my income is soley from raising calves, sleeping the nights away during Feb, March, Apr is a luxury I can ill afford.
Lost an old cow today that had chilled down from last night's weather, poor old gal drew her last breath this afternoon,so today's project has been trying to get a cow that aborted her calf last week to mother the dead cow's calf. So far so good! Gotta love it when things go well.
Knew I should have shipped her last fall, but with cull cow value I might have got fifty bucks, so at least this way I've got a calf. What can you do?
Have a great calving season all, and it's been nice to see the posts of my fellow night owls as well. (Also found out that it's a good idea to sign in before you post...oh, by the way, loved the Saskatchewan joke, Dun.)

 

[jcarkie]

twenty years ago i had a five year old cow i had watched and followed until 3 a.m. it was raining and i was tired so i went to the house and went to bed i never do that i am persistant. i thought she has done this before, i found her the next morning dead calf stuck at the hips. i kicked myself pretty hard over that. i like to be there because you never know even old girls have problems.

 

[Tman]

We lost three calves so far. Symptom started with scours. Then wouldn't eat or get up. While laying down it looks like they are having muscle spasams. After about 3 - 4 days they die. They are only anywhere from 3days old to 6 days. They all have been new born calves. I wanted to say we had problems last year as well. The last two years we have been experiencing this. We were also wondering if maybe it could be one of our bulls. Maybe something genetic. We seem to be only losing a few not the whole heard. We have 55 herfers/angus cows. Does anyboday have an idea? My husband is really starting to get upset cause he can't save his calve. The vet always says it is scours but we think it is difinetly something else. My husband and his dad has had cattle all their lives and never experienced these many loses.