sick calf

[Billdevaul]

Hi im fairly new to raising calves but im off to a really bad start and need some advice. i bought 2 calves new borns at a auction, they seemed fine the first day but went down hill fast. I fed the medicated milk replacer and they all had bright yellow diarhea... i lost both of those calves in just a few days.. Now i have another. was doing fine day one, took a whole bottle, the next day he was lathargic and had bright yellow runny stool..
i raised two other calves there 6 months old now and doing great.. i just dont understand why the yellow runny stool, no apetite and just lays there. gets up once in a while.. I forced a pint of replacer 2 times a day but still the yellow runs and now spotted with blood. had a checkup on this one on the way home and vet said it was fine... what am i doing wrong???

 

[Alice]

The calf is most likely dehydrated. Get some electrolytes into him fast, even if you have to tube feed him.

Auction calves are notorious for scouring. Treat him with an antibiotic such as nuflor, about 2 1/2 ccs in an injection, with a cc of banamine/supressor...get some liquamycin and pour about half a capful into the electrolytes. Squirt a whole lot of probios into his mouth.

Normally, I don't suggest this, but since he's had milk replacer for a few days, take him off the milk replacer and feed only electrolytes with the liquamycin for 2 days. And keep pushing the probios. Give him a cc of banamine/supressor at least once a day for a few days. And the nuflor...at least every other day.

Then you cross your fingers, ask God for just a bit of wisdom and help, and ride it out.

Right now I'm not buying anymore baby calves, holstein or otherwise, until the fall. When they scour in this Texas heat, too often it's all over but the shoutin'...even under the best shade trees.

Good luck,

Alice

 

[msscamp]

Hi Billdevaul!

How much milk replacer were you feeding at one time? A good rule of thumb to help prevent this scenario is anytime you bring a calf home that you don't know his complete history, start the milk replacer slow (I usually feed them a pint at a time every 2-3 hours, then increase it by 1/2 a pint and watch them to see if they scour) in frequent feedings. Too much milk will cause the yellow scours a lot of times - The bright yellow color sounds like milk scours, other types of scours usually have different color and consistency of manure. If your calves start scouring, back off on the milk and get some Spectam, SMZ, or some other type of antibiotics intended to treat scours, and TREAT THEM IMMEDIATELY. We use Terramycin, but I'm not sure if it will work on sale barn cattle or not as I haven't had to use it on them. Any time you have a scouring calf make sure they remain hydrated - pinch a fold of skin between your fingers, when you release it if it snaps back into place immediately, they are hydrated. The longer it takes to go back into place the more dehydrated they are and they need electrolytes pronto! I cannot recommend a good brand of electrolytes as I haven't had to use them years. I hope this helps.

Here is a pretty good link that explains about scours, causes and treatment.

http://www.aces.edu/pubs/docs/A/ANR-0998/

 

[Billdevaul]

I gave him 3cc of la-200 tonight and what do you give him for electrolites... do i get that from the vet???

 

[msscamp]

I gave him 3cc of la-200 tonight and what do you give him for electrolites... do i get that from the vet???

I don't know this for a fact, but I doubt LA-200 is going to be effective against scours. It might help some with possible secondary infections that have taken root. Electrolytes can be purchased at any farm supply store or feed store usually.

 

[Billdevaul]

thank you so much im going to the store now to get the stuff i need....

 

[msscamp]

thank you so much im going to the store now to get the stuff i need....

No problem! I hope everything works out for you.

 

[Horticattleman]

Hey guys another question related to this one. If you have a milk cow to latch these calves onto, does that necessarily solve these salebarn problems?
Thanks

 

[msscamp]

Hey guys another question related to this one. If you have a milk cow to latch these calves onto, does that necessarily solve these salebarn problems?
Thanks

It's not going to solve the milk scour problem, because that originates from an excess of milk. All a milk cow is going to do is resolve the need to bottle the calf, that's it!

 

[Horticattleman]

EXCESS of milk??? Really?

 

[Cheyenne]

I had a calf die a few weeks ago from dehydration. Was my own stupidity as I knew better. Anyway when I took the calf to my vet, after hours of course, I had the opportunity to hang around and learn a few things.

According to my vet when a calf is scouring 2 gallons of fluid can be given orally per day. More depending on consistency and frequency of scours.

Some signs of dehydration: As msscamp said pinch the skin, also if you give an injection and the skin is very tough to get through calf is dehydrated. If the muzzle, tongue and or limbs are cold to the touch calf is dehydrated. Loss of suck reflex or lack of, uncoordinated or has trouble standing and sunken eyes.

I knew some of these signs to look for but a few were new to me. I thought this calf probably had white muscle disease, no suck reflex, and his other sypmtoms along with scourse all pointed to that. Hind sight he need more fluid.

I am sure that those more experienced with calves know these signs but I hope this information will help some of us newer folks.

Also my vet has told me to use pepto bismal and yogurt to help with the scours. Pepto is to help firm the stool and the yogurt will put the "good bugs" back into the stomach.

Hope this helps you. Good luck.

 

[msscamp]

EXCESS of milk??? Really?

Yes, the calves that come down with milk scours are the calves that belong to high milking mothers. It usually happens within about 2, possibly 3 days of birth - although my timing could be off here, I'm going off memory and that's iffy at best. Usually they will clear up on their own if the calf is on his mother. I don't take a chance with bottle calves, because they are at a disadvantage to start with. We watch the calves with milk scours and, if it hasn't cleared up by day 2, they get dosed with scour pills. Watch your calves for dirty backsides and runny yellow-colored diarrhea - that's milk scours. Crypto is a white, curdled milk color and consistency, and I'm not sure if it's e-coli or rota-corona that produces the thin, white scours. Whichever one it is, the other one produces a different color, but I cannot for the life of me remember what it is.

 

[Horticattleman]

Thanks for the info.

 

[msscamp]

Thanks for the info.

No problem, I'm always happy to help a fellow cattle lover!

 

[Alice]

Hey guys another question related to this one. If you have a milk cow to latch these calves onto, does that necessarily solve these salebarn problems?
Thanks

A milk cow won't solve the salebarn problems, but a milk cow is preferrable to using milk replacer. A salebarn calf, as likely as not, has not had the benefit of colostrum...and a milk cow isn't going to solve that problem.

If you can keep the calf hydrated with electrolytes, keep nutrition up with the milk replacer (fed in small amounts at intervals of every 3 to four hours), and keep a secondary infection from setting up, then the calf will most likely make it, lack of colostrum or not. But that juggling act is hard to follow with all calves, as some just aren't gonna make it. They've come from a sale barn...they're already stressed from that situation...they've been exposed to every lousy virus and bacteria you can think of, they've had little or no colostrum, I could go on and on.

I do use spectam, but like anything else, when it comes to salebarn calves, you still gotta cross your fingers and HOPE that the scours you are treating responds. If the scours are from a virus, an antibiotic isn't gonna touch it...but it will help prevent a secondary infection, pneumonia comes quickly to mind as that is what will most likely result if you don't get the scours under control. If the scours are bacteria driven, nuflor or exenel and liquamyacin can help. As for scour pills, I don't even buy them anymore.

Alice

 

[ctlbaron]

I give salebarn calves 4cc of Nuflor or Baytril as soon as I get them home. If they begin to scour, back off the milk replacer to half the powder to the full amount of water. Give 10cc of Spectam and two sustain III boloses. If it is only milk scours that will usually take care of it. Be sure you keep good clean water in with them from day one.

 

[gendronf]

EXCESS of milk??? Really?

Yes, the calves that come down with milk scours are the calves that belong to high milking mothers. It usually happens within about 2, possibly 3 days of birth - although my timing could be off here, I'm going off memory and that's iffy at best. Usually they will clear up on their own if the calf is on his mother. I don't take a chance with bottle calves, because they are at a disadvantage to start with. We watch the calves with milk scours and, if it hasn't cleared up by day 2, they get dosed with scour pills. Watch your calves for dirty backsides and runny yellow-colored diarrhea - that's milk scours. Crypto is a white, curdled milk color and consistency, and I'm not sure if it's e-coli or rota-corona that produces the thin, white scours. Whichever one it is, the other one produces a different color, but I cannot for the life of me remember what it is.

I have never seen a white crypto scour. Here is a summary of Scours agent. For your info.



Summary of Scours Agent
Scours Agent Age of Onset Signs
Rotavirus (virus) Usually after 6 days - can be 0-28 days Mucus, watery brown or green diarrhea, blood
E. coli K99 Most common at 1 to 5 days Effortless passing of yellow to white feces
Coronavirus (virus) Usually after 7-10 days - can be 0-28 days Watery yellow feces
Cryptosporidia (protozoa) Usually at 7-21 days Watery brown or green feces with blood and mucus%
Salmonella spp. (bacteria) Commonly at 1 to 7 days Like E. coli, yellow to white feces (human infection also)
Clostridium perfringens Type C (bacteria) Commonly at 7-28 days Sudden death (blood tinged feces)
Coccidia (protozoa Usually after 7 days Mucus and often bloody diarrhea

Table and information provided by: Bill Kvasnicka, University of Nevada-Reno Extension Veterinarian, 775/784-1377 or [email protected]"
-- Clint Peck

 

[msscamp]

EXCESS of milk??? Really?

Yes, the calves that come down with milk scours are the calves that belong to high milking mothers. It usually happens within about 2, possibly 3 days of birth - although my timing could be off here, I'm going off memory and that's iffy at best. Usually they will clear up on their own if the calf is on his mother. I don't take a chance with bottle calves, because they are at a disadvantage to start with. We watch the calves with milk scours and, if it hasn't cleared up by day 2, they get dosed with scour pills. Watch your calves for dirty backsides and runny yellow-colored diarrhea - that's milk scours. Crypto is a white, curdled milk color and consistency, and I'm not sure if it's e-coli or rota-corona that produces the thin, white scours. Whichever one it is, the other one produces a different color, but I cannot for the life of me remember what it is.

I have never seen a white crypto scour. Here is a summary of Scours agent. For your info.



Summary of Scours Agent
Scours Agent Age of Onset Signs
Rotavirus (virus) Usually after 6 days - can be 0-28 days Mucus, watery brown or green diarrhea, blood
E. coli K99 Most common at 1 to 5 days Effortless passing of yellow to white feces
Coronavirus (virus) Usually after 7-10 days - can be 0-28 days Watery yellow feces
Cryptosporidia (protozoa) Usually at 7-21 days Watery brown or green feces with blood and mucus%
Salmonella spp. (bacteria) Commonly at 1 to 7 days Like E. coli, yellow to white feces (human infection also)
Clostridium perfringens Type C (bacteria) Commonly at 7-28 days Sudden death (blood tinged feces)
Coccidia (protozoa Usually after 7 days Mucus and often bloody diarrhea

Table and information provided by: Bill Kvasnicka, University of Nevada-Reno Extension Veterinarian, 775/784-1377 or [email protected]"
-- Clint Peck

That's interesting. That's what they were diagnosed with. Thanks, Gendronf

 

[IL Rancher]

The other thing about crypto ( and the stuff I have seen that was crypto was greenish) is that the smell is something you will never, ever forget.. Good god... :shock:

 

[msscamp]

The other thing about crypto ( and the stuff I have seen that was crypto was greenish) is that the smell is something you will never, ever forget.. Good god... :shock:

It's been so many years since we had Crypto that I don't remember the smell - only that it rank!