Scours question

[Millerlanefarms]

[image][/image]We are a small cow calf operation. We are in our 3rd season and always had our cows on range with no scour issues.

This year we expanded and bought a few bottle calves.. running into a scours issue. We have 3 holstein nurse cows so the calves are getting alot of milk. 9 calves

Issue is one calf we brought in had slighkt bloody scours.. painful while passing stool, he presented well though with lots of energy, and he was aggressive eater. Stool was wet but not watery.

Put on some metcam, and trimadox, he seemed to maintain health. And was still eating well. Slightly ignored the issue 9-5 got busy and we continued on... within the week though, the rest of the calves started getting scours, some bloody some not.

Patient 0 and one other day old calf crashed hard, no energy, lots of diareah, lots of blood. Unable to get up, needed tubing rather than bottles

Reinstated metcam and trimadox, also added full oral electrolyte support, as well as terramycin powder mixed with the electrolyte.
Within 24 hours improvement was seen, but 4 calves are now showing bloody stool symptoms.

I will be contacting the vet and taking one of the calves in first chance i got, but figured i would post here too. As all 4 initial stool looked identical. Pic below... any thoughts?


Thanks in advance for the help

 

[greggy]

Take this with a grain of salt, but.....

Do they have plenty of fresh water ?

At that stage, it sounds like dehydrated.

Are they feeding from a teat and at the right height and milk replacer given as per suppliers instruction ?

I had same with some, but they were off milk, I gave some minerals and salt to make sure they drank water, started giving milk replacer so they could get nutrition, also made sure hay and pellet present, lost the bad ones, the others picked up and doing really well.

So it was a combo of hydration and being able to get enough nutrition to get them through.

I would look closely at the milk your giving them and how your giving it to them, and if it is not the feed, it is then something they contracted it would seem to me, but, yeah, act fast.

 

[Nesikep]

I don't know what's causing it, but keep up on the electrolytes.. bloody scours are often coccidiosis, but the incubation time is 4-6 weeks for that.. these are far too young for that.

Do you know if these calves ever got some good colostrum?

 

[Son of Butch]

This year we expanded and bought a few bottle calves.. running into a scours issue.
one calf we brought in had slightly bloody scours.. painful while passing stool, he presented well though with lots of energy, and he was aggressive eater. Stool was wet but not watery.

Within 24 hours improvement was seen, but 4 calves are now showing bloody stool symptoms.

Treat all forms of scours with electrolytes and re-hydration.

Bloody scours - 3 causes, Salmonella (a bacteria) Corona-virus and Coccidiosis (a parasite)
Antibiotics only work on bacteria (salmonella)

Salmonella - bloody scours- typically day 4-10 when it occurs in calves.
Salmonella is tough because several types and some have become resistant to antibiotics and it
can kill in under 8 hours. Prefers humid summer temps, but can adapt to survive in dry dusty barns.
Colostrum at birth is the best defense. Bovi-Sera 25cc sub-q at birth can help.

Coronavirus (which of course is a virus) surfaces in calves from day 5-30.
Coronavirus usually comes with it's partner in crime the rota-virus, but only corona-virus causes
bloody scours and can cause respiratory symptoms. 2/3 of adult cows shed the coronavirus in their
feces and it can survive up to 9 months in manure and loves cold weather... (aka winter dysentery)
Vaccinating calves at birth with Calf Guard (3cc orally) works very well for prevention.

Bloody scours in calves over 30 days old = Coccidiosis
Coccidia parasite infection can occur from 1-2 weeks to several months of age.
94% of infections are subclinical, but stress or an overwhelming number of coccidia will cause
visible symptoms, including the tell tale sign of blood in the stool.
Coccidia prefer a warm, moist environment and a hard frost helps break it's reproductive cycle.
Several medicate feeds available that work very well.
For an organic treatment I've seen Dr Paul's Cocci-Blast capsules advertised, but I have no idea
if it works... or just snake oil... ingredients: reed-sedge peat, pecan fiber and black walnut hulls.

Hope this helps you or others. :tiphat:

 

[gcreekrch]

This year we expanded and bought a few bottle calves.. running into a scours issue.
one calf we brought in had slightly bloody scours.. painful while passing stool, he presented well though with lots of energy, and he was aggressive eater. Stool was wet but not watery.

Within 24 hours improvement was seen, but 4 calves are now showing bloody stool symptoms.

Treat all forms of scours with electrolytes and re-hydration.

Bloody scours - 3 causes, Salmonella (a bacteria) Corona-virus and Coccidiosis (a parasite)
Antibiotics only work on bacteria (salmonella)

Salmonella - bloody scours- typically day 4-10 when it occurs in calves.
Salmonella is tough because several types and some have become resistant to antibiotics and it
can kill in under 8 hours. Prefers humid summer temps, but can adapt to survive in dry dusty barns.
Colostrum at birth is the best defense. Bovi-Sera 25cc sub-q at birth can help.

Coronavirus (which of course is a virus) surfaces in calves from day 5-30.
Coronavirus usually comes with it's partner in crime the rota-virus, but only corona-virus causes
bloody scours and can cause respiratory symptoms. 2/3 of adult cows shed the coronavirus in their
feces and it can survive up to 9 months in manure and loves cold weather... (aka winter dysentery)
Vaccinating calves at birth with Calf Guard (3cc orally) works very well for prevention.

Bloody scours in calves over 30 days old = Coccidiosis
Coccidia parasite infection can occur from 1-2 weeks to several months of age.
94% of infections are subclinical, but stress or an overwhelming number of coccidia will cause
visible symptoms, including the tell tale sign of blood in the stool.
Coccidia prefer a warm, moist environment and a hard frost helps break it's reproductive cycle.
Several medicate feeds available that work very well.
For an organic treatment I've seen Dr Paul's Cocci-Blast capsules advertised, but I have no idea
if it works... or just snake oil... ingredients: reed-sedge peat, pecan fiber and black walnut hulls.

Hope this helps you or others. :tiphat:

You are right about what antibiotics treat but better to give them to stop any secondary problems that can and will arise. Been through this more than I care to remember years back. Got so I knew a calf was sick before it did.

 

[greggy]

How did you go and what did vet do ?