A neighbor farmer's cow calfed and layed for 2 days before he realized the cow had no milk, so he comes over looking for milk replacer. Then he says he is going to take the calf to the sale barn cause he don't want to mess with it..bottle feed and so on. So I suggest he bring it to the neighbor girl as she is already feeding one so what is one more. So it has been a few days and this calf is now showing signs of scours, runny eyes, nose has a twinge of blue color. When the calf was delivered to the neighbor girl, we gave it a scours tablet, a shot of boSe and a vitamin a d & e. He, the owner of the calf had no milk replacer so he was feeding it canned milk and powder milk mixed. The girl is feeding milk replacer. I got to thinking when they called me toinght that the calf didn't seem to be doing so good, it never had any colostrum to begin with so I went over there and gave it a bag of colostrum...at this point what could it hurt, I also suggested that they cut down on the milk replacer but keep the the same amount of water, as it has been so hot and so it don't dehydrate. The next thing is to give it some antibiotics...I think combiotic would be ok. Any suggestions would be great. thanks a bunch
need some answers
- Thread starter ramrod3
- Start date
ramrod3":3co812s8 said:
Considering this calfs previous diet, colostrum could hurt a lot because it is much richer than the calf's system is used to and can cause some pretty severe problems. Rather than watering down the milk replacer, I would suggest feeding smaller portions (say a pint) more often (say every 3 to 4 hours), then adjust accordingly as the calf becomes used to it. That way the calf is receiving adequate nutrition, just in smaller doses that his/her system will be more likely to handle without further complications. I would also suggest no antibiotics - they don't generally help with scours, and they will mess up the flora in the intestines that the calf needs to digest and absorb the nutrients in the milk replacer. Anytime we have a calf with scours, we double the first dose then use the recommended dosage for any subsequent treatments. Just something to think about. The runny eyes are probably an indication of poor nutrition, but I don't have a clue about the twinge of blue color to the nose - oxygen deprivation (possible beginnings of pneumonia?)? Have you done a 'tent' test to see if the calf is dehydrated? If not, I would suggest you do one - simply pinch a fold of skin and see how long it takes for it to snap back in place. The calf probably needs electrolytes to get his/her system back in sync - some electrolytes can be mixed with the milk replacer, and some can't so be sure and check that out. Due to the lack of colostrum it is a very real possibility that this calf will always have health problems. You probably already know that, but I thought it might be good to mention it just in case you didn't. Please tell your neighbor that I wish her good luck with this calf.
showkid1200
Well-known member
best person to talk to is milkmaid she should have some pretty good tips might wanna try to pm her
MikeC":neire1gn said:
That is the generally accepted thought, but it appears that that may not be true - although I've seen no documentation of it. Hydration is very important, but even more important is treating the scours if possible. Parasitic scours have no treatment that I'm aware of, one can only provide supportive care - but the rest of them can be effectively treated.
