selenium deficiency question?????

[farmerD44]

we have a purebred black angus heifer calf that was somewhat stunted from a selenium deficiency- she looks really good now- she's just way behind everything else for size. Is there any chance she can catch up over the winter and be good to keep for breeding or is she just ganna be feedlot material???? She has lots of energy and has been eating corn since june in creep feeding and now after weening. I really hope we can keep her cuz we only have 2 other purebreds for breeding next spring. we had one more that died from the deficiency- and of course it was the best one

We have just gotten started in purebred angus- the rest of the herd is mostly Simmental crossed with angus and hereford. I wish i had time to post some pics but it sounds pretty time consuming.

Dan.

 

[Larry Sansom]

Are you sure about the cause of death and stunting?? Have you confirmed this with vet? First time I've heard of that killing a young heifer pre weaning. Think I would check this out a LOT further.

 

[farmerD44]

yes i am sure- the 3 calves that had it were treated with BO-SE, which has selenium as its main ingredient, and that is what made them better. am not 100% sure on the one that died but had the same symptoms. Alot of people in our area had the same thing this past year. must of had shortage in the feed this year. but now we are going to be feeding selenium trace mineral salt and mineral with higher % of selenium to try and combat it. And all calves next year will be getting a shot of the bo-se. We had no problems in our simmentals but the shots are cheap so we will probably give them all one after birth.

Dan.

 

[farmerD44]

and the other people that had problems were also mostly in the angus- must be more susceptable to it??????????

Dan.

 

[certherfbeef]

You can also give the cows a shot of MU-SE before they calve.

What kind of mineral are you feeding? The american stockman has a mineral that has lots of selenium in it.

 

[milkmaid]

I've had problems with it in my holstein calves. White muscle disease will kill young stock...but so will an overdose of selenium. There's a fine line there.

Our area is VERY deficient in selenium and anything that walks or acts strangely gets hit with the whole load - selenium & vit E (Bo-Se), vit A & D, vit B12 complex. Takes care of the usual mineral/vitamin deficency and gives 'em a good appetite. :lol:

Neighbors nearby with beef calves give selenium shots on a regular basis. Every calf gets a shot when he hits the ground. It has to do with the soil/area and not the breed of calf.

 

[DavisBeefmasters]

Never heard of death due to selenium deficiency... all of our calves get a shot of Bo-SE and TSV intra-nasal the day after they hit the ground as well as a tag in the ear and weighed. Shot is pretty inexpensive (the vet actually preps them for us - syringe and needle) and we keep them in the fridge.

 

[Mahoney Farms]

Never heard of death due to selenium deficiency... all of our calves get a shot of Bo-SE and TSV intra-nasal the day after they hit the ground as well as a tag in the ear and weighed. Shot is pretty inexpensive (the vet actually preps them for us - syringe and needle) and we keep them in the fridge.

I haven't had the vet suggest giving TSV intra-nasal to our new calves....do you provide because of the area you live in? Do you give probias or something similar to get the gut movin?

thanks jmd :cboy:

 

[DavisBeefmasters]

As newbies, we're following the vet recommended vaccination schedule, but am unfamiliar with "probias"... interested in learning more, I'll do a search of this site first. Thanks.