What do you make of it?

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Black and Good

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I had a funeral to go to out of town,and I was out of feed, did'nt have time to get it before I left. As, where I get it is 30 miles away. So, I went to the local COOP and got 2 50# bags of feed to give 3 calves I'm weaning. The feed was fairly comparable to what normally feed which is Cargill 16% this other was Purina 14%. Anyway I fed them night before I had to leave the next night they were bucking around acting perfect, then yesterday morning one of them is laying down with the runs. I had touch to make him get up could barely do it, and he very weak in the back end kinda like he's drunk. I took off feed all together good Brome hay only right now. I can't tell for sure but I think the other two are acting kinda mopey also. BTW this calf had touch of Pneumonia coule weeks ago LA-220 and he got over it. Could switching feed have caused this? Is this calf Dehydrated? Could they have just got too much of the this new feed? How should I treat? Thanks B&G
 
My first thought is that it was a 'sudden change in feed'. It may have been similar to what you were feeding, as in protein content, but what about the actual ingredients that make up this 'new' feed? Going from one to another without a transition phase.

It could very well have caused digestive upsets, resulting in (poss.) diarrhea, discomfort in the gut etc.

Are the calf's eyes 'sunken' looking? When tenting the skin does it return to normal imediately? Its possible that there may be some dehydration going on.

Is there any evidence that they have been drinking water? Is it a trough/tub where you can monitor the amount of water they drink? That would be one way to know if they are drinking more or less than normal.

Katherine
 
I've seen him drink some water. BTW these calves are seven months old and weigh over 600#. Would you give him Draxxin or something or should I just keep them on hay only for coulple days?
 
The 2 tings that first come to mind is the feed change or a bizarre change of weather
 
How are the others doing? Do they have the runs and are they eating / drinking well?
 
Limomike":377qj0wr said:
How are the others doing? Do they have the runs and are they eating / drinking well?

The others seem to be eating and drinking OK. One other one has slight runs but not real bad. I hope its just the feed change I've got them on straight hay right.
 
I doubt a feed change knocked him down that bad. I quit a feed company because they were constantly changing ingredients. I had a lot of diarrhea, and gain loss, but nothing that severe.
 
If he is eating his hay really good & not acting "sick", I would just observe. When you decide to start them back on grain, only give 1% of their body weight for a while (split into two feedings would be best).
 

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