Milk Scours???

[I luv herfrds]

When I went to feed my milk cow this morning I discovered white diahrea on the floor of the barn. Her calf is with her at night.
The calf is not as active as she was a couple of days ago. I have not taken her temp yet. It has been raining off and on for the last 3 days.
She was born on the 25th last month.
Any ideas?

 

[rockridgecattle]

Hi, if this was our calf we would treat with calf span and trivetrin or trimedox or borgal (i think they are the same). as directed. the calf span lasts three days and the injectable daily. For us usually one shot is good if we get them before they get to bad.
If you don't have scours with your other calves keep this one separate...spreds like the comon cold.
We would also wear gloves when treating and wash the bolus gun. And if the calf crapped on us wash our clothes before going near an uncontaminated area. And for sure wash those rubber boots
Drench with electrolytes if she gets dehydrated. Makes a big difference.
Good luck.

 

[Alice]

Try to get some electrolytes down the calf...and give it a big slug of probios! Also, make sure you have calf feed out and some good grassy hay. The calf may be drinking more than it should at one time. It needs to be munching hay and feed.

Once you take the temp, then you'll know of antibiotics are in order.

Alice

 

[I luv herfrds]

The calf looks full and I leave grass in her pen.
She likes the 12% dairy feed I give her mom.
She is the only calf down there, so should I worry about her mom?

 

[Alice]

Do you mean should you worry about her mom having white scours? Or worry about her mom for another reason? Work with me here...I'm having a hard time understanding your question.

Alice

 

[dun]

When I went to feed my milk cow this morning I discovered white diahrea on the floor of the barn. Her calf is with her at night.
The calf is not as active as she was a couple of days ago. I have not taken her temp yet. It has been raining off and on for the last 3 days.
She was born on the 25th last month.
Any ideas?

Stop govomg the cow grain. It's nerv wracking bit the calf will get over it soon. Grass hay or non-lush pasture along with knocking off the grain will help to solid it up.

 

[I luv herfrds]

Dun, she would steal a little from mom.
Alice I am concerned about the possiblity of mom picking up the scours.
temp is 102.5
I have some sulphadimethoxine on hand, but no probios. I almost picked up a jar yesterday.

 

[Alice]

Dun, she would steal a little from mom.
Alice I am concerned about the possiblity of mom picking up the scours.
temp is 102.5
I have some sulphadimethoxine on hand, but no probios. I almost picked up a jar yesterday.

Do you have any buttermilk or yogurt? That'll work, also. And, electrolytes should be given to the calf if it is acting lethargic.

Mom won't get scours.

The only thing I differ with dun on is the feed/grain...altho, I'm wondering if maybe dun was referring to the mother...and knocking off the grain to her. If that's the case, then I can see where he's coming from.

We just always approached any kind of scours at that age (it being over 2 weeks old) with encouraging the calves to eat dry calf feed and crunchy hay. But then, we were working with bottle baby holsteins..

Alice

 

[I luv herfrds]

I have some buttermilk. How much should I give her?
She ran pretty good and was acting more lively then she did this morning.
I have her in a pen by herself right now.

 

[Alice]

I have some buttermilk. How much should I give her?
She ran pretty good and was acting more lively then she did this morning.
I have her in a pen by herself right now.

Give her what she'll drink...

Probably wouldn't hurt to water it down...at least so it will get thru a nipple...and won't taste quite so funky.

Alice

 

[dun]

The only thing I differ with dun on is the feed/grain...altho, I'm wondering if maybe dun was referring to the mother...and knocking off the grain to her.
Alice

Correct, the cow. Since the calf is nursinng and has milk scours it's because of the richness of hte milk. During the sprng flush and when cows are getting loaded up with grain are the only reasons I've seen milk scours.

dun

 

[Alice]

The only thing I differ with dun on is the feed/grain...altho, I'm wondering if maybe dun was referring to the mother...and knocking off the grain to her.
Alice

Correct, the cow. Since the calf is nursinng and has milk scours it's because of the richness of hte milk. During the sprng flush and when cows are getting loaded up with grain are the only reasons I've seen milk scours.

dun

Gotcha...and understand completely. Thanks, Dun...

Alice

 

[cattleluvr18]

when one of my bucket baby holsteins got the white scours, we gave a dose of nuflor and it got right over it.

 

[I luv herfrds]

The calf is in a pen by herself.
I got a hold of the vet yesterday and he said to get her away from mom and get as much electrolytes down her as I could. I got half a quart down her last night and half on me.
She was eating the dry grass in her pen and I filled a large tub with regular water this morning and she drank some of it. I have not found any more white stuff in her pen.
The vet advised to leave her off of mom for 24-36 hours then gradually re-introduce her to the milk.
Looks like I need to stock my cow shelf a bit better. Nuflor and Probias are first on the list.
Hey Dun, this cow gives "the" best cream I have ever had. Must be too rich for the calf.
Mom only gets 3lbs of grain a day.

 

[milkmaid]

Be careful -- if you're going to take the calf off the cow for 24+ hours you MUST milk that cow out every 12 hours, and she MUST be milked out completely prior to putting the calf back in with the cow. Absolute MUST. Otherwise you'll have a too-full cow with mastitis and a calf that gorges herself and is worse off than before.

 

[I luv herfrds]

I have been milking her since the calf was pulled off and I just sent a gallon of milk to a friend, because I ran out of room in the fridge. I still have another gallon and a half. We are drinking as fast as we can, but she's still ahead of us.
I hand milk her and I make sure the bag is very soft and I have been watching for mastitis.