Sick Steer

[Mama_Mutschler]

My daughter has a steer that is not eating normally. We have had Teddy since November and he usually takes off after his grain like there is no tomorrow and leaves the hay alone. Lately he has been eating the hay and not touching the grain. Is there any ideas about what might cause this?

We have one steer in our group that has not been eating and unfortunately his pin is right next to ours. I'm afraid that it might be worms but I haven't noticed anything in his stool. The other steer has almost watery manure.

Any ideas? Thank you in advance for your help.

 

[milkmaid]

If you haven't changed amounts or types of feed recently and you're not just dealing with a digestive upset or mild case of acidosis, then you'd be best off to give your local vet a call. Best of luck.

 

[racekannon]

What's his temp ? The other steer w/ the watery stool does not sound good. Have they been properly vacinated and PI tested?

 

[Aubracusa]

I've often had cattle go off feed when I've had to switch feed. But the watery stool of the other calf has me worried, too. Is the stool off-colored? What do you know about the vaccination history of the calves? Is there any snotty discharge from their nostrils?

Aubracusa
http://www.aubracusa.com

 

[TNfamilyfarm]

has the steer been grazing? with all the warm weather here we have grass coming up. hows your water suppy? worms are an easy fix ivomax injectable, if you havent done that since you;ve owned him.

how old is he? how much does he weigh?

 

[Mama_Mutschler]

We bought all of our steers from the same seller and they have all be vacinated but not wormed. We were told to wait until Feb to worm but i'm beginning to think I want to do it now.

He is grazing just fine in fact he loves to go out into the pasture but since we aren't sure if he's got something that might spread we have not been letting him out.

He's 9 months old and weights about 800 lbs. Our scale hasn't been working for a couple of weeks. We haven't changed our feed but the others have.

I have talked with our advisor and he thinks it just stress from the other steer but I don't think he's right.

We had snotty discharge on all the steer but ours when they were shipped but ours hasn't had any snotty nose at all.

He's actually very playful and aggressive. It just seems to be that he's not eating. Since we're new to steers this year I am just worried.

Yes the other steer's stool is off colored. It actually looks like someone put sand in a bucket and added water then poured it out on the ground. That worries me. I have talked to the kid that owns that one and her parents but they don't seem really concerned. That worries me even more. I want to make them seperate that steer from the rest until we get it figured out.


Thank you all for the wonderful information. I will keep you a breast of our situation. The Vet is supposed to come out tonight.

 

[milkmaid]

He's 9 months old and weights about 800 lbs. Our scale hasn't been working for a couple of weeks. We haven't changed our feed but the others have.

Yes the other steer's stool is off colored. It actually looks like someone put sand in a bucket and added water then poured it out on the ground.

Without seeing the steer, I'd guess that one has a case of acidosis, caused by a large increase in grain and/or changing feeds when they're on a high grain diet. I could well be wrong though. It's not contagious.

Your steer... perhaps he needs a buddy? they don't always eat real well when they're alone. Or perhaps he needs more exercise? sometimes they aren't very hungry if they aren't getting to move around at all, and you did say you haven't been letting him out lately. If he's halter broke, take him out for a little walk around the place - that usually gets their appetite started.

Let us know what the vet says! Best of luck.

 

[racekannon]

How much grain is the steer w/ the watery stool being fed and what % protein? I would certainly give him some probios and back his feed down and see if that helps. Have you seen any bloody stools? Take a sample to the vet and he can check for parasites and coccidi. If you see sores in his nostrils and gums panic. I always temp something that is off, it never lies. One theory is the one calf is sick and spreading it around, yours isn't showing clinical signs but stressed thus off feed.

 

[MoGal]

I picked up some VitaCharge Appetite +Plus with the amaferm advantage (kind of costly $22 for a tube).

Its for all beef and dairy cattle, sheep, goats, horses and swine. Use at birth, weaning, transport, deworming, with antibiotic treatment or during periods of poor appetite.

Actually its what the vet recommends when you buy bottle calves especially from the sale barn (give them a shot of poly serum (especially in cases where you do not know if they rec'd colostrum), 5 grams of this vita charge and 5.5 cc's of baytril when you first bring home a bottle calf)

Nevertheless this VitaCharge is vitamins and minerals, bacillus subtillus and stimulates the appetite. You might want to do a search on VitaFerm as they have other products as well.

 

[Mama_Mutschler]

We are pretty sure now that the one steer has coccidiosis. I took their temps lastnight and they both had 103. We have taken those two steer out of our steer area and away from the other animals. I will be going out today to clean out their pens and sterilize them the best I can. We had run out of Corid so we will be buying more of that to treat the water of all the animals and then do what ever else the vets says when he gets the results for sure.

My daughter has been working really hard with this steer and we are hoping that since he's only been showing the signs for a few days that he will be easily treated. The other steer I"m not so sure that he will be as lucky but the young lady who owns him just doesn't seem to care. We will be asking her to remove her animal from our farm.

Thank you all for your help in this. I thought I was just being over cautious but it turns out that I had reason to be. I'll let you all know what the final diagnosis is when the vet has the final results.

 

[Susie David]

Agree with the acidosis...soundl like he over did the grain, How much was he getting?
DMc

 

[Mama_Mutschler]

He eats 40 lbs of grain a day, 20lbs at each feeding. His feeding schedule is 6:30 am and 4:30 pm That is what he was eating when we purchased him. We have not changed the type of feed that he is eating. We feed him Champion's Choice Cattle and Grass Hay. He doesn't like the Field Hay. He eats almost a flake a day. When he started getting runny we gave him oat hay but he dosen't like that either.

Vet should be back out any time now.

 

[milkmaid]

With that much grain they are VERY sensitive to any changes in amount or type. Like if you pick up a new bag and it has slightly more corn or less corn in the mix than the previous bag did, that right there can upset their digestion.

BTW, now that I think of it, if he's 800lbs and getting 40lbs of grain per day, that's 5% of his body weight.... which is WAY too much. You shouldn't feed more than 3% of his body weight.

Food for thought- he may well be "burned out" - sometimes when they get that much grain it's like giving a kid as much chocolate as he wants, all day long. Sooner or later he's going to get sick to his stomach and not want to even LOOK at chocolate again. That may be what you're dealing with in this steer.

Temperatures are highest in the evening... 103 might not be that abnormal given their diet and your location (CA) and the time of day. It's only just slightly over what I'd consider normal, and so slightly that given the other things I mentioned above, I probably wouldn't worry about it. JMO though.

 

[Mama_Mutschler]

My daughter just corrected me He only eats 20lbs a day. 10 lbs at each feeding.

 

[milkmaid]

My daughter just corrected me He only eats 20lbs a day. 10 lbs at each feeding.

That's still 2.5% of his body weight... which, while it's not "that" much, it's still a lot and I'd still consider the burn-out possibility. You didn't mention exercise or penmates, which may be another factor in him not eating.

Let us know what the vet says.

 

[Mama_Mutschler]

Well Finally the Vet came and yes it is coccidiosis. We have started giving them Corid in their water. We gave him some banamine and he was happy. He's eating alittle better but he's not drinking enough. If they are not showing signs of improvement by Thursday then the Rancher that we bought them from is comming down to help us out.

Anyway Thank you all for your advice and time.

 

[Mama_Mutschler]

Well just thought that I would update you all on my daughter's Steer. He seems to be eating better but he's still not doing that much better. We are going to be drenching him with something today. I don't remember what the vet said it was but I'll keep you all updated.

 

[Roadapple]

Sulfa drugs given orally will destroy the protozoa and treat the ulceration of the intestine caused by the cysts.

 

[3MR]

Drench all the ones showing symptoms with Corid and mix it in all the calves water for five days. Coccidosis is easily treatable and I wouldnt give up on any of them yet.

 

[Mama_Mutschler]

We are currently drenching them with corid and treating their water. I think we have one of them under control. I was wondering should I remove him from that pen when he's better? As I understand it this disease is in the ground and we would have to remove 6in of dirt to get rid of it. Is this true or will we be ok to stay in the pen??