How increase calf appetite

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Safeguard is ok i guess. Is it possible since it has been sick that it is chronic? Does it breathe well, cough any, stand with its ears and head down?
A good injectable wormer plus vit B as suggested might help if not chronic. On the vitamin follow the label instructions. Some are long term and some are given often.
He does have a little bit of a cough. Seems to be better than before. If he's up he's usually eating or drinking. Ears don't seem droopy to me. About a week and a half ago he was breathing about 100x a minute. We did a multi day dose of baytril 100 and he's much better. RR has calmed down, he looks happier. Just not eating a whole lot.

Guy I bought from just said he does a safeguard drench
 
Are these calves off a market sale? Were they weaned from the bottle when you bought them?
I bought them privately. But my understanding after the fact now that I dug into it, is they were probably split pairs from the sale barn. They were transported to this guy on 18 wheelers. He runs a huge ranch down here. So no telling where they came from.
 
I know pics can be deceiving. He looks too young to have been off milk for that long in those pics. It can provide a lot of easily digestible calories.
Yea I received a video of them before I agreed to purchase and I was shocked how small they were once I showed up to pick them up. They were definitely weaned too early
 
I know pics can be deceiving. He looks too young to have been off milk for that long in those pics. It can provide a lot of easily digestible calories.
The vet told me to stop because the rumen wouldn't digest the milk and at that point he had not been on milk for at least 12 days when he got sick and we start to feed him milk until the vet told me I was causing harm to him if he was weaned
 
Safeguard is ok i guess. Is it possible since it has been sick that it is chronic? Does it breathe well, cough any, stand with its ears and head down?
A good injectable wormer plus vit B as suggested might help if not chronic. On the vitamin follow the label instructions. Some are long term and some are given often.
Is there anything I can do if it's chronic? At what point do I know that?
 
The vet told me to stop because the rumen wouldn't digest the milk and at that point he had not been on milk for at least 12 days when he got sick and we start to feed him milk until the vet told me I was causing harm to him if he was weaned
Maybe one of the vets here will see this and chime in. I didn't think going back on milk could hurt in any way, but maybe so. My guess is he was weaned in the sale barn and his stomach never really adjusted properly, on top of his other issues. The fact you kept him alive is impressive.
 
I bought them privately. But my understanding after the fact now that I dug into it, is they were probably split pairs from the sale barn. They were transported to this guy on 18 wheelers. He runs a huge ranch down here. So no telling where they came from.
You are describing exactly what I suspected. They were taken away from the cow and never properly weaned. Good luck with them. Tough way to get started. Work them with Cydectin or other good injectable wormer. Vaccinate them with whatever your vet recommends. Get some good 16% feed that has molasses or if mixed feed have them add molasses.
Another good way to get small calves to eat feed is to crumble up cornbread on top of their feed.
 
You are describing exactly what I suspected. They were taken away from the cow and never properly weaned. Good luck with them. Tough way to get started. Work them with Cydectin or other good injectable wormer. Vaccinate them with whatever your vet recommends. Get some good 16% feed that has molasses or if mixed feed have them add molasses.
Another good way to get small calves to eat feed is to crumble up cornbread on top of their feed.
Thanks for the advice. It definitely has been tough. Not what I was expecting. I've got some 12% sweet feed I mixed with 14% pellet and dried distiller grains minimum 25%. He seemed to like the sweet feed and distiller grains but doesn't seem to be eating a whole lot. I do see him eating hay. I'm going to try mixing his hay in with the feed and see if that'll help. I'll probably hit him with another maxi B 1000 tomorrow. I'll also try some dewormer tomorrow. I tried to attach this video but it says the file is too big. If you click the link, the right side is him on July 29, the left side is him 4 days later after Baytril 100 for 4 days. Today he still had some colored nose discharge and a little cough but not much. But very skinny obviously.
 
Thanks for the advice. It definitely has been tough. Not what I was expecting. I've got some 12% sweet feed I mixed with 14% pellet and dried distiller grains minimum 25%. He seemed to like the sweet feed and distiller grains but doesn't seem to be eating a whole lot. I do see him eating hay. I'm going to try mixing his hay in with the feed and see if that'll help. I'll probably hit him with another maxi B 1000 tomorrow. I'll also try some dewormer tomorrow. I tried to attach this video but it says the file is too big. If you click the link, the right side is him on July 29, the left side is him 4 days later after Baytril 100 for 4 days. Today he still had some colored nose discharge and a little cough but not much. But very skinny obviously.

Calves take time to develop the biome in their rumen. They get started by the cow licking them and her saliva getting into their digestive tract via the mouth. Getting some stomach contents from a healthy cow and making it available to eat may infuse them with some good bacteria.

I've never done it, but I have taken the slobber from a cow's mouth with a finger and wiped it inside a calf's mouth to get them some bacteria going.

Of course any antibiotics are likely to change the gut bacteria.
 
When I've picked up calves like that I take a temperature, look at the color of it's gums/eye pigment for anemia, listen to it's lungs and treat accordingly for pneumonia if it appears to be present. If the calf is relatively stable I will deworm with a good dewormer like ivermec plus. We have liver flukes around so I am cautious to be sure they are treated for them. I check stool and be sure it looks normal for the situation. If I have any concerns about parasite overload I'll run a fecal so I don't cause problems by deworming an overly wormy calf. I'll give probiotics and vitamin B complex per directions on the bottle/tube to help stabilize the gut and increase appetite. I'll have some small grain out like calf starter along with fine stem hay. Something easy to eat and a little easier to digest until it's up and going well. I keep the hay free choice and the grain measured so I can keep track of consumption a bit and it doesn't get too dry and undesirable. I don't try and push calves like this too hard at the start. Even when they are really skinny. Slow and steady seems to be better in the beginning. I also don't vaccinate them until they are stable and going strong. I try not to tax the system anymore than necessary while they are not well. Most vaccine papers state not to give to unhealthy animals anyways. I know it's common practice for vets to give them but I personally do not until the calf is going strong.
This is just what I do when I pick up calves like this. Hope you can get him turned around and going strong. It should pick up on eating as it gets healthier. Good luck! Keep us posted
 
When I've picked up calves like that I take a temperature, look at the color of it's gums/eye pigment for anemia, listen to it's lungs and treat accordingly for pneumonia if it appears to be present. If the calf is relatively stable I will deworm with a good dewormer like ivermec plus. We have liver flukes around so I am cautious to be sure they are treated for them. I check stool and be sure it looks normal for the situation. If I have any concerns about parasite overload I'll run a fecal so I don't cause problems by deworming an overly wormy calf. I'll give probiotics and vitamin B complex per directions on the bottle/tube to help stabilize the gut and increase appetite. I'll have some small grain out like calf starter along with fine stem hay. Something easy to eat and a little easier to digest until it's up and going well. I keep the hay free choice and the grain measured so I can keep track of consumption a bit and it doesn't get too dry and undesirable. I don't try and push calves like this too hard at the start. Even when they are really skinny. Slow and steady seems to be better in the beginning. I also don't vaccinate them until they are stable and going strong. I try not to tax the system anymore than necessary while they are not well. Most vaccine papers state not to give to unhealthy animals anyways. I know it's common practice for vets to give them but I personally do not until the calf is going strong.
This is just what I do when I pick up calves like this. Hope you can get him turned around and going strong. It should pick up on eating as it gets healthier. Good luck! Keep us posted
Thank you for all these suggestions! I do have their vaccines waiting to go and also RALGRO but like you said, I am waiting for him to get healthy. This 100 degree 60-70% humidity is making life really hard on them all right now.

I noticed yesterday if I put his grain portion on TOP of hay in his trough he'll eat it right away so maybe I'll keep trying that. I also worked all day yesterday on our fencing to open up a 2 acre pasture for him and the others to get some fresh grass and hopefully that'll spunk him up. My only concern is these dummies couldn't find their way back into the pen for water 10 minutes after being let out into the pasture so I'm just going to have to keep showing them how to get in and out so they don't dehydrate themselves
 
I have known people that would add milk replacer to the grain, just stir in the powder with the grain.
What I don't know if there is a bad side to doing that.
 
Thank you for all these suggestions! I do have their vaccines waiting to go and also RALGRO but like you said, I am waiting for him to get healthy. This 100 degree 60-70% humidity is making life really hard on them all right now.

I noticed yesterday if I put his grain portion on TOP of hay in his trough he'll eat it right away so maybe I'll keep trying that. I also worked all day yesterday on our fencing to open up a 2 acre pasture for him and the others to get some fresh grass and hopefully that'll spunk him up. My only concern is these dummies couldn't find their way back into the pen for water 10 minutes after being let out into the pasture so I'm just going to have to keep showing them how to get in and out so they don't dehydrate themselves
If they have ever seen and drank the water they will return to it when they are thirsty. Dont worry a bit about that part.
 
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