Coughing calves ??

iano93

Hi think there may have been a thread on this b4?

Anyhow in the slatted shed we'v a mixture of dry cows, calved cows, last years weanlings and this years calves..
So recently the younger calves in particular and the weanlings are coughing quite a bit?:(
One weanling wasnt eating and had a snotty nose too injected him this morning and this evening so we'l see how he goes tomorrow...
Shed is fairly well ventilated i think anyway

vanderbadger

iano93 wrote: »

Hi think there may have been a thread on this b4?

Anyhow in the slatted shed we'v a mixture of dry cows, calved cows, last years weanlings and this years calves..
So recently the younger calves in particular and the weanlings are coughing quite a bit?:(
One weanling wasnt eating and had a snotty nose too injected him this morning and this evening so we'l see how he goes tomorrow...
Shed is fairly well ventilated i think anyway

there is antibiotic powder call ctc 10% that you can get in vets and feed with meal, very good for calves coughing..my own weanlings that i didnt sell were coughing alot at christmas time, i dosed them again but vet told me its just a virus much like the colds and flu we get ourselves, they all got out of it within a week id say, you could also give them that ctc powder

djmc

Could also be lungworms if they werent dosed for it.

whelan1

i second the ctc powder ... or a shot of long acting oxytet , keep a close eye on them though

24_7

If all were dosed for worms etc during the year then (i'd say) its probably just as above,small virus etc something that LA tetroxy or something should clear up. Wouldnt need a vet out. just ring and ask to recommend something and it should clear it up. had it happened to me too, but cant remember what i gave them. gave the injection and were fine after it.

lab man

i had this aswell gave the cdc powder and an inj called flokem gone in a couple of days flokem is the same as neuflor serious stuff

LostCovey

iano93 wrote: »

Hi think there may have been a thread on this b4?

Anyhow in the slatted shed we'v a mixture of dry cows, calved cows, last years weanlings and this years calves..
So recently the younger calves in particular and the weanlings are coughing quite a bit?:(
One weanling wasnt eating and had a snotty nose too injected him this morning and this evening so we'l see how he goes tomorrow...
Shed is fairly well ventilated i think anyway

Back to Leaving Cert Ag Science boys and girls:

First principles of control of any infectious disease are
- get the environment right
- avoid stress
- don't mix age groups
- have a strict all-in all-out policy (ie don't bring new stock in & mix with stock already on the farm) with disinfection between batches

Most slatted houses break all of these rules, which is why they are (from this point of view ONLY) a terrible choice for small Irish farms. Of course they have other attributes, like ease of use, ease of control of waste etc, that counterbalance this, but I still think they are not the best answer for small farms. Fine on big units, where you can have all stock in a shed the same age.

The advice above (esp re antibiotics) is a bit brave considering none of us know the precise problem here. Anyway, this approach is a bit like building your whole approach to fire prevention around extinguishers and fire blankets.

Most calf pneumonia problems are connected to shed design *with/without other factors. They are ultimately solved with a Kango hammer not a syringe.. Cattle are not athletes like horses and dogs, they have small lungs and any chest infection hits them hard and does permanent damage. They never do fully as well after pneumonia as cattle that did not get it.

Tetracyclines, Nuflor, CTC, whatever have no effect whatsoever on the viruses that cause virus pneumonia. Fire extinguishers for secondary bacterial infections, but damage is done.


LostCovey

LostCovey

lab man wrote: »

flokem is the same as neuflor serious stuff

It's called Florkem actually, but the same reservations about wading straight into recommending antibiotics for this or any other case apply.

LC

melly

Hi there during the snow we had the same problem with 2 slatted units with 140 weanlings coughing. One pen got an awful drowning with snow one night and I think that was the start of it. We since put a galebreaker outside those pens. Would walk into the sheds in the morning and this chorus of coughing would start. All were dosed for fluke and worms before this happened. Among these weanlings were a pen of older maiden hefs and the vet said these were probably the carriers of the virus. The extra stress of the drowning added to it. Anyway when the vet was called he took the temperature of a number of different weanling. They all had high temperatures which indicated the virus. We had two options. The first ctc 10% which was more expensive and there was no guarantee that they would all get it especially if they were off form as they wouldnt eat as much. The 2nd option which we took was to inject them all (140 some pain in the ass and the pocket!!) with alamycin la on day one and day three and dexameth on day one. The needed the second shot of alamycin. An awful job but it worked and the weanlings are thriving again. Apparently its rife this year. Best of luck with it!