Scours-- before long

[denoginnizer]

I was wondering if anyone had found a magic cure since last year? Does isolation and rehydration still work? Will someone review , for us , what to do when a calf gets the scours?

 

[msscamp]

dennogginizer, our treatment is fairly simple and straight-forward....calves are checked on a twice daily basis and anything that looks depressed, droopy ears, dull eyes, any indication of off-color manure on behind, etc, immediately receives 2 terramycin pills. Checked again in 12 hours and probably receives another one, but not always. We have not had to do anything besides this for years. I would add one word of caution to this, though - our herd is and has been a closed herd for many years, it is my understanding that terramycin is not as effective on an open herd. Hope this helps.

 

[Aero]

msscamp:
how often do you have calves die from scours with this approach?

anyone:
how effective are the vaccines that are injected into the cow before calving?

 

[MikeC]

The best way to end problems like scours is to get on a "GOOD" mineral/vitamin program......tailored to the forage in your area.

Build the cattles' natural immunities first and your problems will lessen significantly. Although it doesn't happen overnight....in the long run you'll be glad you did.

Putting out those generic mineral and/or salt blocks won't cut it. You'll see conception rates rise, calves grow better.........the list goes on and on.

 

[msscamp]

msscamp:
how often do you have calves die from scours with this approach?

anyone:
how effective are the vaccines that are injected into the cow before calving?

I cannot even remember the last time we lost a calf from scours. Scour-guard works very well. We scour-guard our cows, also. Unless we get rain or snow where the calves become chilled, don't have many cases of scours. I think we had 3 cases last year out of almost 40 head.

 

[DiamondSCattleCo]

I'm a big believer in diatomacheous (sp?) earth. While I've never had a big scours problem around here (as was mentioned, a proper balanced mineral program and proper feed make the biggest difference), when I started using diatomacheous earth, I dropped from a couple scouring calves a year to none at all.

When I did have to contend with scours, I used a couple scours bolusses, with maybe a third the following day. If it was persistent, I used Trivetrine. About 4 years ago, we had some kind of viral infection running rampant around this area (can't recall the name offhand) but its chief symptom was a greenish scours. I needed Nuflor to combat this stuff.

I've never lost a calf to scours following this approach.

As for an injected scour guard, a neighbor of mine swears by it. He didn't like diatomacheous earth, as someone said it causes respiratory problems, but he had big problems with scours each year. He switched to the Pfizer Gold innoculation plan with a scour guard and he swears its eliminated scours. I'm going to go back to the Pfizer Gold program, so I may pull the earth next year to see what happens.

Rod

 

[Scotty]

The best way to end problems like scours is to get on a "GOOD" mineral/vitamin program......tailored to the forage in your area.

Build the cattles' natural immunities first and your problems will lessen significantly. Although it doesn't happen overnight....in the long run you'll be glad you did.

Putting out those generic mineral and/or salt blocks won't cut it. You'll see conception rates rise, calves grow better.........the list goes on and on.

I couldn't agree more. Its been said a million times on this site and at every cow calf clinic I have attended. Yet many still go for what is the cheapest. Might as well put out saw dust. I have heard many say they did not get good results from products like scour boss and the like. Anyone else use these and what are your results.


Scotty

 

[Workinonit Farm]

The only time I've really had to deal with scours was when I was raising Holstein bottle-babies, years ago. I treated with Terramycin, elctrolytes and yogurt and all was well.
Last year I did have one that I swear was born with scours. Within 3 hours after birth, after passing the meconium, it was shooting yellow putrid liquid out the rear-end. Neither the vet nor myself could figure out why. I posted about it on the health board. The calf was treated the same as I had done with the bottle-babies in the past and was fine. Other than that, It is rare for me to have a scouring problem. As others have stated, good nutrition, good vaccine program and clean/dry (as clean and dry as a field can be) birthing area really help.
Sorry this was so long.

Katherine

 

[Aero]

do most of you use a full vaccine regimen as prescribed by the drug companies or just what you know works?

i did some math on Pfizer's prescibed program and the costs were as follows:

calves < 1 yr old
$20.18/hd at 9 mo old

bred heifers
$6.48/hd/yr

mature bred cows
$8.09/hd/yr

bulls
$13.20/hd/yr

does this seem high?

http://www.pfizerah.com/health.asp?coun ... ype=3&sec=

 

[DiamondSCattleCo]

do most of you use a full vaccine regimen as prescribed by the drug companies or just what you know works?

I use a modified Pfizer Gold vaccination program that my vet developed over the years. A hair cheaper than the dollars that you list, but not far off.

By the way, I find it odd that Pfizer recommends vaccinating at weaning time, then boosting later. Several Universities and Colleges have done studies over the years that show heightened stress (like at weaning) will decrease effectiveness of any vaccine.

Rod

 

[Aero]

they have 3 different progrms for that.

• 1 no shots after weaning
  2 no shots during weaning
  3 no shots before weaning

for my calculations, i used the one they said offered the best protection. i think it was program 3 on the link above.

 

[DD RANCH]

Afew years ago we lost 25 out of a 100 calves no matter what we tried we could'nt stop it we loaded every animal and moved them to a different place worked fine till we had a cold damp rain then it started again.

The following winter before calving we Vacc. with scourboss 9 and boosted it with scourboss 4, 3 weeks later we had one calf that spring with the scours and it was an easy treat as it did'nt get that sick.Proper nutrition is key but at $3 to $4 a head that scour shot is money well spent in my book...

 

[TK Ranch]

We started using a scour gaurd after a bout of Bovine Carona Virus cost us over 30% of our calves within the first two days of them being born. Spent a lot of $ trying to find out what was causing them to die. Sat down with our vet and disscussed a scour gaurd vaccine and have used it ever since also we give the calves a 1st Defense bolus within 12 hours of birth and Knock on wood so far so good. People say it is costly $12 a bolus but start adding up all the other stuff and it is cheaper in the long run