Scouring calves

ddogsbollix

I was out at a meeting and found out alot of information that i was not aware of and people on this may not be either....

• you should never stop giving calves milk if they have scour. give the same amount of milk and electrolytes!
• you should not give them synolux tablets or oral antibotics as they might cause the slow down the intestines trying to repair themselves during the scour! they are an antibotic and the main forms of scour in calves in early weeks are from rotavirus which is a virus and crypotsporida which is a parasite so giving antibotics will not working unless its a bacteria

just goes to show ya the s***e that the pharmacies and even some vets tell ya....... money mad!:mad:

charityboy

its a subject that very few farmers know much about

snowman707

doctors differ and patients die

scours differ and calves die

whelan1

vet told me not to mix lectade with milk, you either give them one or the other , as they would not be getting the benfit of either and for the electrolyte to work it has to be mix at full strenght

charityboy

i would be worried if my vet told me to stop giving a calf milk ,not just about the calf but also what other bad advice they could be giving me ,very few calfs that are taken off milk during a scour make it through,

bbam

whelan1 wrote: »

vet told me not to mix lectade with milk, you either give them one or the other , as they would not be getting the benfit of either and for the electrolyte to work it has to be mix at full strenght

Herself works in nutrition.. She recommends both but about 15-20 minutes apart, electrolyte first then regular milk feed will be easier absorbed and the calf will have benefited from the increased fluids first... Better blood pressure and appetite and balance in the blood..

Electrolyte needs to be made up to the correct % solution to be readily absorbed into the system, it may be partially waisted otherwise and indeed may cause further scouring and dehydration... Making it body temperature helps too..

I could never see the point in with holding milk from a scouring calf... Can you imagine yourself with a dose of the sh1ts and having to live for three days on electrolytes, you'd hardly be able to stand never mind improve :eek:

funny man

whelan1 wrote: »

vet told me not to mix lectade with milk, you either give them one or the other , as they would not be getting the benfit of either and for the electrolyte to work it has to be mix at full strenght

never mix lectade with milk, feed milk as normal but give electrolytes on another feed mid-day and last thing at night. I never take a calf off milk.

whelan1

[QUOTE=bbam;76877273

I could never see the point in with holding milk from a scouring calf... Can you imagine yourself with a dose of the sh1ts and having to live for three days on electrolytes, you'd hardly be able to stand never mind improve :eek:[/QUOTE]
have read here on numerous occasions people giving half milk half lectade, the calf is getting the benefit of neither

PatQfarmer

funny man wrote: »

never mix lectade with milk, feed milk as normal but give electrolytes on another feed mid-day and last thing at night. I never take a calf off milk.

This is the ONLY way I have kept them alive. Even if it means electrolytes at 3am.
They need the milk energy to stay alive, imo.:cool:

RobinBanks

Hi All,

On Friday I moved a cow and calf back into the slats from the calving pin where they have been for 2 weeks. I noticed yesterday that the calf now has a yellow / white scour. Its not awful bad yet but I am worried it will get worse. He is flying around the place as normal and sucking so he isnt too sick.

I was wondering is there an injection or treatment I could give him to dry him up. The cow was vaccinated with Rotavec one month before calving but didnt appear to prevent this particular strain of scour. It seems to happen me every year that I will get one or two that will pick up scour after going back into the slats.

bbam

RobinBanks wrote: »

Hi All,

On Friday I moved a cow and calf back into the slats from the calving pin where they have been for 2 weeks. I noticed yesterday that the calf now has a yellow / white scour. Its not awful bad yet but I am worried it will get worse. He is flying around the place as normal and sucking so he isnt too sick.

I was wondering is there an injection or treatment I could give him to dry him up. The cow was vaccinated with Rotavec one month before calving but didnt appear to prevent this particular strain of scour. It seems to happen me every year that I will get one or two that will pick up scour after going back into the slats.

If the calf is in good form don't go mad with treatments just yet...
Catch him and check his temp is normal, how does his skin feel? If its supple and the eyes are good and prominent then the calf is probably not dehydrated which is the no.1 risk with scour..


If they are normal, personally I'd hold off and see how the calf goes, monitor closely that there is no blood or clear mucus in the scour.. Watch out for arched back, wanting to lie all the time, off its feeding...

It could just be a nutritional scour that will pass without intervention.. Or it I've had great success with the large cheap (tesco) natural youghert and a tablespoon of Kaolin powder (binding agent for all scour tablets, get it in chemists, ~€3/kg), small drop of warm water to take the chill of it, mix well and down the troath.

Icyseanfitz

could use a bit of info and help with regards to my first ever calf (just started farming last year), its two days old and i just noticed today that her poo is a runny yellow, is this normal? seems to be very lively when she is up on her feet running around and what not, although she does lie down a lot which i presume is normal, she has been suckling her mother from about 2 hours after birth yesterday.

any info would be much appreciated

bbam

Icyseanfitz wrote: »

could use a bit of info and help with regards to my first ever calf (just started farming last year), its two days old and i just noticed today that her poo is a runny yellow, is this normal? seems to be very lively when she is up on her feet running around and what not, although she does lie down a lot which i presume is normal, she has been suckling her mother from about 2 hours after birth yesterday.

any info would be much appreciated

Sounds normal.
As above.
If the temp is good, no signs of dehydration, no blood in dung them I'd let nature take its course. If it keeps active it should be fine.

If your not use to calves though I would caution that they get dehydrated very fast if the scour gets bad and they stop feeding. Two hours can be a long time at that stage.

Icyseanfitz

well she is very alert (ears up in the air), and she is running around whenever she gets up so fingers crossed, got some electrolyte stuff just in case anyway

bbam

If you have any concerns throw the electrolyte into her. It can only do good.