scours

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Anonymous

My husband and I are hand raising holstein heifer calves, and we are having problems with loosing the new born calves anywhere from 5-10 days after we bring them home. They begin to scour 2-3 days after we begin feeding them. The first day we get them we feed them clostirum, then we feed milk replacer, all from a bottle. The first week we give 3/4 of a bottle twice a day, and we gradually work up to full bottle twice a day. We give calf boluses to stop the scouring. We be sure to give clean water twice a day, we put a concrete floor in the barn, and we put lime on the ground out side the barn where the calves graze, but we still have calves that scour. The scours are yellow and very watery. Please help we don't know what to do.

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If this is a common recurring problem I would take a stool specimen to the vet and have it cultured to see what it is. That's the only way to know for sure what will work to kill it.

dun

> My husband and I are hand raising
> holstein heifer calves, and we are
> having problems with loosing the
> new born calves anywhere from 5-10
> days after we bring them home.
> They begin to scour 2-3 days after
> we begin feeding them. The first
> day we get them we feed them
> clostirum, then we feed milk
> replacer, all from a bottle. The
> first week we give 3/4 of a bottle
> twice a day, and we gradually work
> up to full bottle twice a day. We
> give calf boluses to stop the
> scouring. We be sure to give clean
> water twice a day, we put a
> concrete floor in the barn, and we
> put lime on the ground out side
> the barn where the calves graze,
> but we still have calves that
> scour. The scours are yellow and
> very watery. Please help we don't
> know what to do.
 
> My husband and I are hand raising
> holstein heifer calves, and we are
> having problems with loosing the
> new born calves anywhere from 5-10
> days after we bring them home.
> They begin to scour 2-3 days after
> we begin feeding them. The first
> day we get them we feed them
> clostirum, then we feed milk
> replacer, all from a bottle. The
> first week we give 3/4 of a bottle
> twice a day, and we gradually work
> up to full bottle twice a day. We
> give calf boluses to stop the
> scouring. We be sure to give clean
> water twice a day, we put a
> concrete floor in the barn, and we
> put lime on the ground out side
> the barn where the calves graze,
> but we still have calves that
> scour. The scours are yellow and
> very watery. Please help we don't
> know what to do. From your description, it sounds like these calves are from a salebarn or have ridden in a trailer that has hauled salebarn calves regularly. Your vet will probably find criptosporidiosis in the stool sample. Scours at 7 to 11 days that is thin and watery is usually roto or corona virus. With out secondary infection, these latter viruses generally result in no appetite depression but may cause treatable dehydration. Crypto will require electrolite solution to keep them hydrated. My experience is with sale barn calves in the central US (Texas, Kansas, Wisconsin). Respond with specifics on calf source, meds that are and aren't working, and describe your calf housing system. Also what are the major ingredients in the milk replacer you are using? Note soy or other plant protein products.

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Sounds like ecoli to me - the most important thing to do is give them electolytes at the first sign - when they don`t drink their milk like they should. Calf scour boluses and amoxicillin should also be given for three to four days. The electrolytes - two bottles the first day, the next day half electrolytes (I use resorb)and half milk (mixed together) and all milk the next day if they are better - just not too much. Hope this helps.
 
Your dedication to raising unweaned baby calves is noteworthy. However, you could save yourself a lot of labor trouble, vet bills, medication costs, and other worries if you would only buy weaned calves and/or unweaned calves along with their mama. In my opinion the only time one should consider hand/bottle feeding a baby calf was when the mama rejected the calf or it was an orphan and there was no other surrogate dam the calf could nurse off of. Finally, any seller that would sell a baby calf that was still seriously nursing is not a reputable "breeder" and has little concern for the problems the buyer will face in purchasing such a calf. I realize that with some of the milk-producing breeds (such as Holstein) that the dairy farm operators may take their calves off of milking mother (to perhaps save the milk for commercial sale) and then put the calves in little pens and feed them separately. As someone once said, "It's Not Nice to Mess With Mother Nature." Don't mean to ruffle anyone's feathers, just my opinion. -:)

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We house our calves in a barn we built specifically for raising calves in Sept. of 02. There are eight pens mde of cattle panels. One third of the pen is inside the barn and two thirds is outside. Recently we decided to pour a concrete floor, and we have had calves on it for five weeks. The same time we poured the floor we put lime down on the dirt on the outside sections of the pens. We spray bleach inside the pens when we remove the calves as they are weaned.

Meds. that we have used that are not working include Excenel, Batril, LA 200, Penicillin, Sulfa-max calf scour bolus, and Corid.

The milk replacer we have been using is Nurse Trate MPF Milk Replacer made by ADM Alliance Nutrition. Contains dried whey, dried skim milk, soy protien concentrate, animal fat ect.

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On the few occasions that I have had to bottle feed calves, I find that Unimax milk replacer by Manna Pro works the best. I have also found that feeding less amounts, but increasing the times I feed helps. Instead of once a day, try three times, just reduce the amount to what you would total in a day. I also give electrolytes.

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> We house our calves in a barn we
> built specifically for raising
> calves in Sept. of 02. There are
> eight pens mde of cattle panels.
> One third of the pen is inside the
> barn and two thirds is outside.
> Recently we decided to pour a
> concrete floor, and we have had
> calves on it for five weeks. The
> same time we poured the floor we
> put lime down on the dirt on the
> outside sections of the pens. We
> spray bleach inside the pens when
> we remove the calves as they are
> weaned.

> Meds. that we have used that are
> not working include Excenel,
> Batril, LA 200, Penicillin,
> Sulfa-max calf scour bolus, and
> Corid.

> The milk replacer we have been
> using is Nurse Trate MPF Milk
> Replacer made by ADM Alliance
> Nutrition. Contains dried whey,
> dried skim milk, soy protien
> concentrate, animal fat ect.

Plant proteins are not digestable to baby calves until they are 3 weeks old. Find a milk replacer that has no soy, one with only milk and blood plasma(they use dried pig blood plasma). What the calf can't digest, the scour bacteria do quite well on. Most scour bugs are transmitted by ingestion of fecal material. The calf eats bedding or licks himself grooming to become infected. Many diseases are spread by nose to nose contact. Fences between pens should be solid or seperated to isolate each pen. Each pen should be handled all in/all out. Calves are social creatures and are stressed by being moved and mixed with new pen mates. Feed should be introduced immediately. They won't eat much, but the sooner they eat solid feed the sooner their gut will support beneficial bacteria. We use a coarse textured calf starter. What is the source of your calves? Are you treating sick ones for dehydration and how are you guaging the need for electrolites? Whow big are the pens and how many in each pen? Are you using bedding inside the building and if so what? Are you seeing any sudden death? Happy, healthy calves that die abruptly? Corid only helps with coccidia on babies, it is sometimes too late to be effective after symptoms start. We use 2cc in one feeding(mixed with the milk) once a day for the first 10 days. Its cheap, and some scour bugs need help getting started, coccidia can open the door. Are you using a nasal vaccine like TSV-2? Any preventative med. program on arrival?

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You should follow Dun's advice. Take a stool sample to your vet and ask for a C & S - Culture and Sensitivity. This testing will take about 3 days. That's the ONLY way you will know what you are dealing with.

> My husband and I are hand raising
> holstein heifer calves, and we are
> having problems with loosing the
> new born calves anywhere from 5-10
> days after we bring them home.
> They begin to scour 2-3 days after
> we begin feeding them. The first
> day we get them we feed them
> clostirum, then we feed milk
> replacer, all from a bottle. The
> first week we give 3/4 of a bottle
> twice a day, and we gradually work
> up to full bottle twice a day. We
> give calf boluses to stop the
> scouring. We be sure to give clean
> water twice a day, we put a
> concrete floor in the barn, and we
> put lime on the ground out side
> the barn where the calves graze,
> but we still have calves that
> scour. The scours are yellow and
> very watery. Please help we don't
> know what to do.
 
> My husband and I are hand raising
> holstein heifer calves, and we are
> having problems with loosing the
> new born calves anywhere from 5-10
> days after we bring them home.
> They begin to scour 2-3 days after
> we begin feeding them. The first
> day we get them we feed them
> clostirum, then we feed milk
> replacer, all from a bottle. The
> first week we give 3/4 of a bottle
> twice a day, and we gradually work
> up to full bottle twice a day. We
> give calf boluses to stop the
> scouring. We be sure to give clean
> water twice a day, we put a
> concrete floor in the barn, and we
> put lime on the ground out side
> the barn where the calves graze,
> but we still have calves that
> scour. The scours are yellow and
> very watery. Please help we don't
> know what to do. Along with all the other good advice you've been given try putting something over the concrete other than just the bedding so that they don't have to lay directly on the concrete. That might be sucking all the body heat right out of them. Try a rubber mat or strips of carpeting.
 

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