possible calf scours

[Anonymous]

We are new at raising Scottish Highlanders. We have 2 new "unprepared for" calves. The youngest is 3 days old and shows white clumpy diahrea. He is very spry, alert and seems to be nursing well. Is this scours or something else? Mom, baby and other 12 are out free range pasture 24/7. I thought nursing calves were pretty free of scours. Any help. Thank you, thank you , thank you

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[Anonymous]

Nursing calves are the most susceptable to scours. What I think you saw was just a health milk poop. The fist poop from a calf is call muconium (SP) and is generally blackish/green. It is what is inside the calf durring development in the whomb. This is pushed out by gut activity once the calf nurses from the cow, the Second or third poop will be a dark orange this is the colostrum, follewed by a lighter sometimes white poop after the calf has nursed out all of the colostrum.

Whatch to see that the calf is bright and alert, and nursing with urination and more poop production, if not you may need to seek treatment, call a vet as you are a newby.



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[Anonymous]

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[Anonymous]

Michelle, thank you for the info. It was not scours. That is the good news. The bad is really bad. On day six (yesterday) we got the calf and she is COVERED with flies and maggots. Literally covered from inside the ears to the tail. We sprayed her with insectidal spray and seem to finally have it under control. She did go shocky and was out of it. I gave her 20cc of Nutridrench and 2Quarts of electrolyte around 11pm via stomach tube. This morning she looked really good, She urinated and passed some brown stool. She will not drink out of a bottle. Which I have heard could be a lost cause in a week old calf. Mom was putting up a lot of fuss so we sent calf back to mom. A little licking and some nusing and now the calf is back to hiding. Mom is not protective, like the other cows in the herd. The other 6 calfs are always next to mom or within sight. I can walk up to this calf and pick her up and walk away with Mom not caring. I think we are going to raise the calf ourselves. Does anyone have any suggestions? Has anyone had a calf covered with flies and maggots? How do I prevent this again. Could this have started because Mom did not lick off the calf. We have another calf a week older. So we have been comparing the actions of the two moms and this latest one doesn't seem to be motherly. Any help is greatly appreciated.



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[Anonymous]

I bought a tiny, little (less than 30 lbs) newborn Angus heifer at the salebarn last year, late at night, and by first thing the next morning she was being eaten alive by maggots. Her hindquarters were covered and her vagina and rectum were literally full of the nasty things.

I immediately put the calf in the back of my pickup and took her over the vet's office. Because of her age and the involvement of mucus membranes, the vet said that he wouldn't use any of the preparations normally used in such a case. The calf was bathed, douched, and given an enema with warm, very soapy water that had had a product called "Pet Guard" added to it. "Pet Guard" is a mild product that is sold for dogs and cats to repel flies and other biting insects. Ours came out of it real well and is now 13-1/2 months old. The one thing that did come out of it, the vet determined that she is a freemartin, so she will be our freezer beef.

Ann B

> Michelle, thank you for the info.
> It was not scours. That is the
> good news. The bad is really bad.
> On day six (yesterday) we got the
> calf and she is COVERED with flies
> and maggots. Literally covered
> from inside the ears to the tail.
> We sprayed her with insectidal
> spray and seem to finally have it
> under control. She did go shocky
> and was out of it. I gave her 20cc
> of Nutridrench and 2Quarts of
> electrolyte around 11pm via
> stomach tube. This morning she
> looked really good, She urinated
> and passed some brown stool. She
> will not drink out of a bottle.
> Which I have heard could be a lost
> cause in a week old calf. Mom was
> putting up a lot of fuss so we
> sent calf back to mom. A little
> licking and some nusing and now
> the calf is back to hiding. Mom is
> not protective, like the other
> cows in the herd. The other 6
> calfs are always next to mom or
> within sight. I can walk up to
> this calf and pick her up and walk
> away with Mom not caring. I think
> we are going to raise the calf
> ourselves. Does anyone have any
> suggestions? Has anyone had a calf
> covered with flies and maggots?
> How do I prevent this again. Could
> this have started because Mom did
> not lick off the calf. We have
> another calf a week older. So we
> have been comparing the actions of
> the two moms and this latest one
> doesn't seem to be motherly. Any
> help is greatly appreciated.



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[Anonymous]

Sorry, I forgot about your other question!

Getting a week old calf on a bottle is NOT an impossible task, I do it all the time, but the calf has to be hungry enough to want to eat in this "strange" manner. 2 years ago when I brought home a 2-1/2 week old calf that had just come off the cow, it took over 48 hours before that stubborn calf would take the bottle (she's now gorgeous and pregnant with her first calf)

To get the calf started, I straddle him with his neck between my knees. Holding the bottle with one hand, I reach down and lift the calf's chin up and insert a thumb into the side of his mouth. Once he opens his mouth, I place the nipple in his mouth and immediately pinch the end of the nipple so that he gets a taste of the milk. Sometimes it works better to get your fingers wet with the milk and put them in his mouth to get him started sucking, I've even held the bottle/nipple in such a way as to allow the milk to run down my fingers and into the mouth (that worked real well on a newborn calf that hadn't nursed at all)

IF the calf is healthy and not dehydrated or already weakened from lack of food, he'll eat when he gets hungry enough and won't care how the milk comes.

Ann B

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[Anonymous]

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[Anonymous]

Clitoris enlarged, vagina extremely short, and the presence and shape of a particular tuft of hair on the tip of the vulva (as for the hair, he's seen freemartins that didn't have it, but has never seen a heifer with it that wasn't a freemartin)

Since then I have since palapated her rectally since she started to cycle and I was under the impression that freemartins didn't cycle, and she has ovaries, uterus, and oviducts, but there's no cervix.

Ann B

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[Anonymous]

They can even actually conceive, but they don't have the hormones to maintain the pregnancy. It all depends on the point of the fetal development when the cross "contamination" takes place.

dun

> Clitoris enlarged, vagina
> extremely short, and the presence
> and shape of a particular tuft of
> hair on the tip of the vulva (as
> for the hair, he's seen
> freemartins that didn't have it,
> but has never seen a heifer with
> it that wasn't a freemartin)

> Since then I have since palapated
> her rectally since she started to
> cycle and I was under the
> impression that freemartins didn't
> cycle, and she has ovaries,
> uterus, and oviducts, but there's
> no cervix.

> Ann B

 

[Anonymous]

Weird how that works!!!

I believe that this one probably would conceive, she bleeds after cyling so she is open all the way, the vagina obviously isn't blind. But her cycle is all messed up -- she cycles about every 8 weeks and stays in standing heat for as much as 3 days.

And an amusing sidenote, at least I find it extremely amusing -- the first time I ever heard anything about freemartins was as a child from old Aunt D. Aunt D and Uncle M raised cattle from 1927 to 1997, when Uncle M passed away at the age of 94 (he worked those cattle up until a year before death). Aunt D's aunt and uncle, Aunt G and Uncle G wanted children very badly but could never have any, and Aunt D used to tell everybody it was because Aunt G was a freemartin! She had to be a freemartin, she was born twin with a boy! Aunt D was convinced that anything that happened with cattle could happen with people.(actually, Uncle G had mumps at the wrong age, leaving him sterile)

Ann B

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[Anonymous]

Thanks for the answers. The heifer I bought was misrepresented as a mini cow and I've always wondered if her being a freemartin isn't going to be the icing on the cake. She cycles every 3 weeks like clockwork and bleeds out after the 3rd or 4th day, so I guess we'll have to see. She'll be old enought o breed in OCT, but we're going to wait until the beginning of DEC. Guess it's one of those things I trust God about. Thanks again!

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