Heat and sickness?

[kenny thomas]

I have trying to buy a few market calves for some friends. Having some getting sick and i think the heat is making it worse. They have plenty of cool, clean water and plenty of shade. What else can I do?
Even had one to bloat today. Can the heat make a calf more likely to bloat? Put mineral oil down her about an hour ago. Any other tips?

 

[angie1]

Heat will exacerbate issues in an animal that has a compromised/damaged respiratory system. If the animal is currently sick, it will become that much more pronounced. In an animal that previously suffered lung damage, but appears to be fine ~ it will present with difficulty breathing and lethargy when the heat and humidity climb. I had a calf that had pneumonia, the vet told me that in the heat of a Mn summer, this calf should only be out from dusk til dawn, and should be given banamine to ease its breathing (this was after the pneumonia was gone, but the lungs were scarred ~ anyone buying that calf from me would not have known there was a previous issue until the heat came, then they would wonder. Maybe that is what you bought? I don't know.).

Heat also makes a bad situation worse by, as we all know, causing dehydration. Maybe the calves get lethargic in the heat, and are slow to get to water? I have no experience with calves and the type of heat you are dealing with so I can't help you more. I don't know anymore about bloat than I have read on here, and I am sure you have read too.

Maybe the banamine. Maybe electrolytes in the water.

 

[Texas PaPaw]

KT

Never had a bloat that I could blame on the heat. Are they getting enough roughage?
Have as much sickness on light calves in the summer heat as in the fall. Have got to where I won't buy calves after May when it gets so hot, To tough on the calves and myself. Heat adds to the other stress they have just encountered. IMO, stress is the primary cause of many diseases, especially brd.

My receiving program starts with the calves going into a small grass trap with free choice hay and are hand fed corn gluten/soy hull pellets. On day 5 (sale day =day 1)they are processed with all vacs. band bulls, dehorn, etc and mass treat with Excede. The reason for waiting until day 5 is most brd bugs have a 10-15 day incubation period and the 5 day delay keeps the Excede (lasts 7+ days) in their system during this critical period. Been using this for about 3 years and my brd pulls have dropped dramatically. If Ihave to pull one, which is rare, I treat with Draxxin & flunixin. If I don't get one pulled when I should and it is really sick, I add 2cc/cwt of Baytril to this treatment. I've seen it turn around some really sick little dudes. Have found Baytil works really fast but doesn't hang around too long, where Draxxin works slower but hangs around a lot longer.

Don't know if this protocol will work for others, but it sure works for me.

Hope this helpful and you can get a handle on your situation.

 

[ozarkbulls]

How small are these calves?
Mine are suffering thru 110 degree heat indexes now. Keeping ground wet in areas helps, plenty of shade, helps, but if the breeze stops, look out!
Mine are all still bottle calves, feeding closer to cooler parts of the day and feeding electrolyte supplements has reduced many problems. Banamine will also help alot.
Never heard of bloat caused by heat though, not enough water possibly?

 

[kenny thomas]

The calves are 225 to 325 lb heifers. Bought Monday and by Tuesday afternoon one was coughing and another was bloated. The one that was bloated also had a tag mark on it meaning that it had already been on a market sometime recently. I bet both had been.
I usually don't buy any calves in the summer but needed to fill this order. More trouble than it is worth.
The calves are in a dry lot with very little grass. They are eating dry hay for the first several days. They have good cool water and plenty of shade.
Give the bloated one about 3/4 qt of mineral oil last night and it is doing fine today. Stool is firm and she is eating. I doctored the one that was coughing last night and she seems fine tonight also. Hope they are ok because I need the lot to wean some calves next week.

 

[larryshoat]

This heat is hard on cattle. I'll lock cattle out of the barn this time of year. Sounds like you've got ahold of some trader cattle. What I would do is a shot of Draxin and Bovi-Shield 5 Gold followed by another shot of Bovi-Shield every 14 days until they're dead or better.

Larry