Mother has copious diarrhea and low milk production

[UbiCaritas]

A cow with a 2-week-old calf is producing large amounts of diarrhea, occasionally with white mucus in it. I first noticed this 3 days ago. She is also not producing a whole lot of milk (perhaps due to dehydration?). Her calf has been growing well but is now looking rather gaunt. He won't take a bottle. The cow is alert, active and protective. What would you suggest doing for her?

 

[randiliana]

A cow with a 2-week-old calf is producing large amounts of diarrhea, occasionally with white mucus in it. I first noticed this 3 days ago. She is also not producing a whole lot of milk (perhaps due to dehydration?). Her calf has been growing well but is now looking rather gaunt. He won't take a bottle. The cow is alert, active and protective. What would you suggest doing for her?

Check out this link. It is possible that this is what is wrong with her. Hopefully it is not. Other causes of diarrhea are too much protien (but she shouldn't have dropped in milk production.), or other diseases of the intestines or even stress. Have you taken her temperature?
http://www.johnes.org/

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

A cow with a 2-week-old calf is producing large amounts of diarrhea, occasionally with white mucus in it. I first noticed this 3 days ago. She is also not producing a whole lot of milk (perhaps due to dehydration?). Her calf has been growing well but is now looking rather gaunt. He won't take a bottle. The cow is alert, active and protective. What would you suggest doing for her?

Check out this link. It is possible that this is what is wrong with her. Hopefully it is not. Other causes of diarrhea are too much protien (but she shouldn't have dropped in milk production.), or other diseases of the intestines or even stress. Have you taken her temperature?
http://www.johnes.org/

I agree with the possibility of Johnes. They don't ACT sick, they eat really well, but have diarhea, lose condition, which will cause low milk production.
She should have a test run by a vet. If she has johnes, she should be slaughtered (shipped for slaughter) and the same with her calf. If she is positive, you should diligently test the rest of your herd - several times.

 

[milkmaid]

What number calf is she on, and what breed of cow is this?

 

[milkmaid]

I have a pair of twins born on March 10. One was 45 pounds, the other 35. Mother showed little interest in either. I took the little one to the house and have been bottle-feeding her since, while the mother eventually took the other calf. She doesn't have a lot of milk, but should be enough for one small calf. The trouble is, neither twin is growing. At 2 weeks, the little one weighed 36 pounds and she hasn't put on much more since. She's getting milk replacer and calf starter. The other is getting her mother's milk, with mother on extra feed. We've been medicating mama, too, who is not looking very good, and I don't think she ever cleaned properly even after all the meds. I'll post questions about mama elsewhere.

This the same cow?

 

[UbiCaritas]

No, it's not the same cow. This cow has a month old bull calf. On Thursday when we corraled her to medicate, she went down in the squeeze chute. When she was still down Friday afternoon she got flucort and banamine, and was up for a little while that night. Today she was down again until this afternoon after dexamethasone and banamine. Hopefully she'll stay up this time... plan to dose her again tomorrow. She's mostly lost her milk, so baby's got to learn to take a bottle or a bucket, and he sure doesn't want to. I guess I'll know more tomorrow when I see how she does overnight.

 

[Beefy]

sounds like its a little too late to be doing much. could be something as simple as a heavy parasite load or as complex as johne's disease. good luck and let us know what you find out.

 

[milkmaid]

Was she a heavy milker?

 

[UbiCaritas]

She's simmental/hereford. This is probably calf #4. (Grandpa doesn't keep track, much to my dismay). She was not a particularly heavy milker, but she raised her calves fine in the past.

 

[milkmaid]

Read through this...
http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index ... /80900.htm

 

[TheBullLady]

Sounds suspiciously like Johnes... that's about the right age. They tend to develope symptoms after stress.. like calving.