Scours?

Tomcolvin

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 16, 2015
Messages
434
Location
Georgia
Bought a new heifer calf yesterday and picked her up this evening. Everything worked fine, loaded her up and headed home. When I got home and unloaded I noticed she had scoured a littl on her back end. . When I pulled trailer in to wash rack to wash down, I noticed where she had scoured on the trailer side. She was scheduled to get wormed, pneumonia vaccine, multi min shot and Cylence fly control down her withers to tail, also she will be tagged and booked. Due to a sudden funeral this will have to be moved to Thursday this week. She is now in the holding pen with 2 other heifer calves about the same age and all three will get the same treatment as outlined above. My concern is the scours I saw. Any thing I need to look for or do. She is 12 monyhs old and I have no history as to any wormers or vaccines given. I bought her from a guy that had bought her in a lot of 4 calves. She is full blood angus beef cow from her looks. Maybe 550-575 lbs. All 3 are with in a month of each other in age.
 
I just had a thought,
I keep fresh water out at all times. It could be from the feed he was feeding. He said it was very high (18%) in protein. It had a strong molasses smell and a lot of oats and other stuff. He just got her Saturday and I loaded her up today. Maybe be she is not adjusted to the new feed yet. As I said it was just a thought.
 
I wouldn't be concerned as long as she looks and acts fine. It may just be from the stress of being hauled. Mine will sure make a mess in the trailer and on themselves even if just moving them a little ways down the road. Getting her wormed and vaccinated like you are planning are good precautions. It's an adjustment for her with the new home and feed.
 
He just bought her, put her on an 18% protein feed, then you go and move her again to a new environment. I would say it was a combination of the whole change to her life in less than a week. Plenty of hay, fresh water and maybe just a LITTLE bit of LOW protein feed for a few days..... Give her a few days to get acclimated, then do the working of them.... As long as she does not get a snotty nose, heavy breathing, or listless acting.. I think it is just the sudden changes...
 
Do you know much about the outfit that you bought her from?
Was it bought recently by them and resold to you soon after?
Generally as has been said I wouldn't worry too much about scours in an animal that size, it should clear up, but if the calf is sick or in a weakened state it could be more susceptible to other illness especially if it's a traders calf that's been bought and moved around quite a bit and exposed to a lot of other cattle and as such a lot of potential illness and diseases.
I would watch for other signs of sickness over the coming days too.
Hoping it clears up and nothing else comes comes of it.
 

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