Joint Problem

[randiliana]

Just wondering what your thoughts are on these calves.

Calf #148, Born March 13. Big calf (108 lbs)at birth and mama had a bit of trouble having him. She did it by herself though. No problems getting up and nursing. Legs were straight yesterday, but today he is like this...

Calf #123 , born March 13 also. No problems at birth although he was a touch slow to get going. Weighed 84 lbs at birth. Mama didn't seem to be a great mama, but maybe that was just us worrying too much.

Calf #93, born March 14. No problems at birth and no concerns with mama. BW 96 lbs. No picture, but he is about the same as #123.

Caught all 3 of them, no heat, no swelling. Calves are running and bouncing around like nothing is wrong with them. No limping or anything else. Treated all 3 as though it was joint ill.

Any thoughts?

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Randi, I've seen them look like that at birth, but not go from normal to that. I'm like you, I would think naval ill. Keep us posted.

 

[randiliana]

Well, we gave them big doses of long acting Penicillin yesterday morning, by last night they were all looking better. The #148 calf was still crooked, but he was a lot better.

The other thing that I didn't notice right off is that they are all by the same sire, don't know if that has anything to do with it or not...

 

[rockridgecattle]

joint ill can be contagious in newborns until their cord dries. So if one gets it and you have a string of calves in a tight time frame where they bed in the same area, chances are they will come down with it.
Since you are seeing improvement, keep it up. I would, for the one worse off, step it up to nuflor and also add in an anti inflam like flunazine to all of them.
Even though there is no heat or swelling that we can see, the anti inflam will help alot.

I would also offer to say a shot of selenium would be good, with a follow up in the appropriate time frame. Both of us have been so inudated with rain and moisture the last couple of years, methinks it is taking a tole on the herd as a whole. We also stepped up and give the calves a mutli vit shot along with the ususal A&D and ESel.
Just a thought

 

[randiliana]

Thanks, RR. We'll see how they look this morning. It'll be 24 hours since we treated them.

Cows are kept on a mineral containing Sel, we've had big problems with it over the years.

I'll check back in here after chores and let you guys know.

 

[CKC1586]

I would give them a shot of BoSe can't hurt and may help. We are deficient in selenium here, Mommas get MuSe 30 days before due date, and babies all get BoSe in first 24 hours.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

We used to give our cows MuSe prior to calving, prior to breeding & again in the fall - quite costly. Had blood work done & started increasing the dosage in our mineral program. Finally got to over 3x the "normal" dose in order to get our cows up to where they needed to be. All calves get BoSe after birth.

 

[randiliana]

Update

Well, today all calves are looking better if not pretty much normal. To be on the safe side we gave another dose of LA penicillin and also gave them a shot of Selenium/E.

These calves never did look or act sick, no temp and they were hard to catch, they were up and galloping around like all the other calves. Tails inthe air as fast as they could go.