Scouring Calf with its mother

[mcdowedd]

Have a 9 day old calf with its mother that started scouring today - I have dealt with bottle calves that scour, but not one that is with its mother. Do I leave it alone, treat it, or treat the mother? If I treat one or both of them, with what?

 

[Alice]

I'd sure try to give it some electrolytes every now and then to make sure it doesn't get dehydrated. Was the mother cow vaccinated before she calved?

You might try to put some dry calf feed...starter grower or calf manna...in front of the calf to see if it will eat it. I don't think it would hurt to try to give it some spectam, but be sure to give it a squirt of probios if you do. I'd give it a squirt of probios twice a day anyway.

And, I don't know if it would make any difference, but you might give it a shot of vitamin A,E, and D.

Just MY thoughts, and only MY thoughts.

Alice

 

[Susie David]

I wouldn't let it go on any longer...a scowering calf isn't a watch and see situation. IMO I would give a couple of boluses and another dose the next day along with electrolites and probios.
Just my two bits worth...asked for or not....Dmc

 

[jcarkie]

the boluses are cheap and easy to give. it still depends on how bad it is, too much milk or sick acting.

 

[MoGal]

My hubby called me this afternoon, and we had lost one of our calves about 3 weeks old. We never noticed any signs of it not feeling well or scours.... We got all the calves up and gave them baytril and vitacharge (similar to probios) and I went up to the vets office and they had two calves there that they were doing necropsys ( autopsy) on....... several have been losing calves.

Not sure if your weather has been crazy like ours above normal and then cold, and the last few days has been really really cold (4 degrees above on the porch this am) but I would not have a wait and see approach......... you lose one calf and that's like flushing $600 down the toilet (that's way I look at it as we wean at 7 months and even with low prices that's quite a bit to throw away.)

 

[mcdowedd]

Thanks for the replies - I'll give some more info about the calf. The scours is very loose - yellow/tan, complete liquid. The calf is very alert, running and jumping. Seems more active than the other calves we have around. Eating often and vigorously. The poop does not look like it has sand in it..no blood. The temp. here just recently took a nose-dive. Very cold. Cow is eating grain and good-quality hay.

I am going to try giving it electrolytes today...What are the boluses? A specific thing for scours? I will pick them up also.

 

[Dusty Britches]

Usually, yellow tan or gold color indicates extra colostrum and the milk is very rich. But, typically, you see that in them when they are 3-6 days old and it is very sticky.

Give him 1-2 Sustain boluses (1 for less than 100 pounds, 2 for 1-200 pounds, they are blue pills). That will stop the runs. Waiting until they are lathargic or depressed is too late - they are very dehydrated at that point. Boluses are giant pills, oral antibiotics. You will need a pill pusher, too. Your vet, co-op, or feed store should have what you need and buy the pills individually - don't buy that big huge jar.

If it turns brown/green or grayish white, treat ASAP - it is e-coli, which will kill them quick. You'll need to retreat 48 hours later. If it is real bad, you can also give a 6 cc shot of Nuflor, SQ. If you've had a lot of rain or moisture lately, that very well could be the case.

I just treated all my calves less than 6 weeks old for e-coli - and every one of them was very lively, but squirting everytime they stopped moving.

 

[msscamp]

Have a 9 day old calf with its mother that started scouring today - I have dealt with bottle calves that scour, but not one that is with its mother. Do I leave it alone, treat it, or treat the mother? If I treat one or both of them, with what?

It sounds like milk scours, but I would treat it. Talk to your vet as to what would work best for you, but I would treat it now because scours tend to cause dehydration and that can kill a calf very quickly. It's much easier to treat it now than to try to nurse the calf back to health later.