Hello I'm new to this board but not new to the cate business. My family has had at least a few cattle all my life, and 3 weeks ago there was a good run of feeder cattle run through our local sale barn and I came home with 30 calves (3 different farms). I brought them home, split out the smallest ones and put them on a small pasture, then put the biggest ones in my barn. They all did great until after I had them for 2 weeks they started showing signs of not feeling good and also the weather wasn't helping with getting 6 in of rain then havering 90 degree days with 90% humidity. Since then they calves are getting worse and worse. I've lost 3 and I've given them everything I have and everything the vet had in his cabinet with now signs of slowing whatever it is down. I've given shots of la 200 to start with along with oxytetracyclene in the water, then as pneumonia like symptoms got worse I gave the sick ones banamine and nuflor, and finally after waiting 4 days and no improvement I've given them draxin and dex with the calves getting worse and worse. Me and the vet are both at wits end and I'm just asking if anybody would have any other ideas as to what might work.
Sick calves
- Thread starter jsmyers
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Nesikep
Well-known member
Well, if it's pneumonia, and draxxin and nuflor aren't helping, I don't know what it would be. I'm about the farthest removed from an expert here, so I'll let someone with more knowledge take over.
Welcome to CT!
Welcome to CT!
redsimangus
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well if draxxin an nuflor don't help the only other 1 I would try would be baytril but if draxxin doesn't help then I doubt baytril will. also keep them on the banamine for 5 days. 1 cc per 100lbs. given every day for five days. the babamine is a great drug since it helps reduce fever, coughing, congestion, paon , an a bunch of other stuff. u could also try using a antibiotic in their feed such as auromycin but if they are that bad off it may not work either. the auromycin feed a half a pound a day for every 500 pounds an feed that for 4 to 5 days.
redcowsrule33
Well-known member
Time to necropsy some calves and send tissues into the lab so you know what you are dealing with.
branguscowgirl
Well-known member
X2 :nod:redcowsrule33":2le5fluu said:
cross_7
Well-known member
jsmyers":1qbfyfwa said:
This and 25 cents will buy you a cup of coffee
You didn't mention the weight of the calves
I suspect by the time you noticed the calves were feeling bad they were fullblown ill(An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure)
With money you've spent on drugs, vet and death loss it's going to be tough to turn a profit.
#1 In my book is getting them eating. If they aren't eating then that's a big problem
#2 Quality feed, clean water(keep it clean) and clean living conditions
#3 vaccinate the calves for respiratory
At this point you're trying to stop a train wreck. I'd would have thought the Nuflor and Draxxin would have helped.
Keep switching drugs till something works I'd start with Resflor gold and as mentioned aureomycin in the feed and get them eating
edit
Pull the sick calves and keep them separate from the healthy
cross_7
Well-known member
tom4018":2ohrtfbr said:
What would that do ?
Tell what your dealing with ?
Then your right back where you started. You know what it is but they aint responding to the drugs.
All your drugs are going to treat the same thing haemolytica, multocida, somni, mycoplasma, pasteuralla.
I aint being argumentative I'd just like to know what it's gained with a necropsy ?
denvermartinfarms
Well-known member
Might already be permanent damage, but if they don't respond to draxxin, baytril or nuflor, you need to start giving them all zuprevo. We have had good luck with it all around but it has worked well on the calves that didn't respond to anything else. Normally all I keep is draxxin and zuprevo, you can cost yourself alot not useing the best.
Hopefully that would tell what problem you are dealing with and have a better idea what to treat with. Maybe his vet already knows and did not feel it was needed. Most vets around here would be sending one to the lab after that many losses unless they knew for sure.cross_7":n6o5urii said:
With the price of calves I would sure be doing everything I could to avoid further losses. At least if you knew what you are dealing with you would know the best course of treatment. I would feel the need to try everything possible.
branguscowgirl
Well-known member
I agree. It helps to know the organism. You can create resistance by using all the different drugs on your shelf. (Though it does take time to grow out a culture and sensitivity, and it appears that time is of the essence here.) Kind of a catch 22.....But at least another tool to identify the culprit.tom4018":3sljx40g said:
cross_7
Well-known member
Let's say for example it's determined that it's mycoplasma
How would knowing that change how you treat it ?
How would knowing that change how you treat it ?
Workinonit Farm
Well-known member
I would think that locking 'em up in the barn for the last 2 weeks isn't helping anything either.
cross_7
Well-known member
cross_7":2puv6uy9 said:
How would your protocol differ knowing you are dealing with mycoplasma ?
I do a fair bit of feedlot work, might have some help for you... might be longer than a simple post can cover though. Need more info first. Weight, breed, bulls/steers/heifers, which calves are sick, when (timeline with dates preferable!), what dates were they treated with antibiotics, what are they fed, previous backgrounding history (vacc, deworming, weaning, etc), what you did with them when they arrived (vacc, deworm, castrate, feed, antibiotics), how far did they travel to get to your place, etc?
cross_7
Well-known member
milkmaid":1yio7cwt said:
I missed that the first time around. That is very good info
That had to be lot of work putting all that together. Thanks a bunch
Update: I got a necropsy done as soon as I could on tuesday. Im getting some reports of it being bacterial and not viral (which I found out as soon as we opened up the calf because the lungs were mostly discolored and had white abscesses in them). I'm still giving draxxin along with dex or banamine (tried both to see if anything would change). Hopefully tomorrow I'll get the full report, all they've told me so far is the draxxin is my best bet to try and combat the infection.
More info on the calves: The calves are mostly black steers weighing 300-400 pounds and were vaccinated as soon as I got them with bovashield gold. Also seemed to be just weaned but took to the starter and hay really well. As far as when I noticed them getting sick at almost exactly 2 weeks after I got them I saw 2 calves gritting their teeth and acted a little listless so thats when I hit them with a dose of la 200. Then within 2 days the those calves had their heads down and stopped eating feed but was still eating a little hay, so that's when I switched to banamine and nuflor then to draxxin later.
More info on the calves: The calves are mostly black steers weighing 300-400 pounds and were vaccinated as soon as I got them with bovashield gold. Also seemed to be just weaned but took to the starter and hay really well. As far as when I noticed them getting sick at almost exactly 2 weeks after I got them I saw 2 calves gritting their teeth and acted a little listless so thats when I hit them with a dose of la 200. Then within 2 days the those calves had their heads down and stopped eating feed but was still eating a little hay, so that's when I switched to banamine and nuflor then to draxxin later.
cross_7
Well-known member
cross_7":3klgkpb7 said:
I'll ask one last time
