white muscle disease

[jonbri55]

Just a reminder to all who live in selenium deficient areas...ALWAYS make sure your calves get selenium (can be gotten as Bo-Se from the vet in single doses or a bottle). White muscle disease is a horrible way for a calf to die. I just had one die of the muscular form this past weekend. When I finally realized what was wrong with my calf and gave it Bo-Se, it was too late. My other calf is doing better, but he was starting to go down too. These were 3 week old Holstein calves bought from a broker who had bought them from the auction. Bo-Se can be given 2 weeks after the 1st injection. When you don't know the history of the newborn calf you can give him an injection of Bo-Se at 2 weeks of age to be on the safe side. (To little Jon...I am sorry I found this out at your expense)

 

[CKC1586]

We give our cows MuSe injection 60 days before calving and the calves all get BoSe in their first week.

 

[jonbri55]

These calves presented with what looked like pneumonia-scours, runny nose and after a course of penicillin they weren't much better. When I did some research, it turns out that sometimes selenium deficiency can initially look like an upper respiratory problem. I will ALWAYS make sure I have plenty of Bo-Se on hand. With goats it just shows as weak hocks or pasterns-calves are a little different. The other calf is doing well. He is eating well and running around. I am giving him a vitamin E supplement once a day and will continue for about a week or 2. Does this sound like enough? Should he get another Bo-Se in 2 weeks? What else do you all do for these Holstein bottle calves to help them gain well? Thanks for any input.

 

[Susie David]

Up here we give the cow Se & E at the start of the third trimester and again 30 days before calving.
The calf gets .5cc along with A & D.
DMc

 

[milkmaid]

I've been using Multimin lately, rather than Mu-Se or Bo-Se. It has selenium, magnesium, zinc, and copper. Have to be careful on the dosage to little calves, because the selenium concentration is the same as for Mu-Se, but I've been pretty impressed with Multimin.

Jo- as far as raising Holsteins, I always keep them on grain until they're about 600lbs. If I can afford to (esp on heifers) I'll often grain them until 1000lbs. Personal preference and just my way of doing it. I do get an average 2-3lb per day gain and the heifers will calve around 22 months of age and 1300lbs.

 

[jonbri55]

How much and what kind of grain do you feed them? I'm raising them as beef steers. I've also never heard of Multimin. Can you give me a little more info on that? Thanks.

 

[milkmaid]

I feed whatever I've got access to... generally prefer corn at 2% of their body weight. Have to feed it with high-quality alfalfa hay though since corn has such a low protein content.

Multimin... http://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html ... b0d0204ae5

 

[larryshoat]

These calves presented with what looked like pneumonia-scours, runny nose and after a course of penicillin they weren't much better.

Where did you get the idea that these calves had white muscle disease ? A shot of selenium is a good idea , but I think you have other issues . When you say they looked like they had pneumonia-scours, I'd bet you're right . For this you need a better antibiotic than pen, something like Draxxin .

Larry

 

[jonbri55]

I did do a 7-day course of antibiotics because I thought they had pneumonia. However, the one calf never really recovered and grew worse. At the onset he couldn't swallow well, was drooling, and getting fluid in the lungs. He was weak in his back end and could hardly stand. Eventually, he was not able to get up at all. He wanted to nurse but was clearly unable to and that is when I did the research on white muscle disease. I came across some information from one of the universities that said sometimes WMD presents as pneumonia but antibiotics don't help because that is not what it is. It seemed to have affected his tongue and mouth and that is why he could not nurse and was drooling and possibly the reason for the fluid in the lungs. After I gave him 2cc of Bo-Se (the goat dosage-I found out later he should have gotten much more), he was able to nurse pretty well and stood up-he almost looked bright. I guess it just wasn't enough, though, because the next day he was down again and not eating at all. That is when I decided to put him down. You are right, I cannot say conclusively that WMD was the only thing that was going on with this calf-I even treated him for cocci before the antibiotics. However, I think that if he had had the correct dosage of Bo-Se when I first got him-I am willing to bet that I would have not had to deal with any of that (except maybe the cocci) and would still have a live calf.