scour in replacer fed calves

jack77

Bought in 3 calves last week, they're 7 weeks old, said i'd give them replacer for another 10 days as they we'rnt going mad for the nuts but eating hay ok. they've had replacer 3 days so far, 2 of them are scouring this morning 1 wasn't mad for the replacer anyway. they were fed on full milk up to this could it be the change in milk? should i cut off the replacer altogether is it doing more harm than good? the 3rd calf is fine eating nuts,hay and drinking replacer.

jack77

forgot to say vaccinated them yday for blackleg too could it have an effect?

Richk2012

jack77 wrote: »

forgot to say vaccinated them yday for blackleg too could it have an effect?

Iv never seen any of my calves scour from a blackleg vaccine .
Id say you could be right in your diagnosis with the sudden change from whole milk to powder replacer . Might of been an idea to wean them onto replacer over 2/3 days , but sure isnt hindsight a wonderful thing :rolleyes: !!
I suppose the rule of thumb is to cut off milk when the calf begins to scour , but having said that these lads are hardy at 7 weeks ...
Id proberly half the amount of milk they were getting and mix up a couple of litres of Liquid Life Aid as substitute for a couple of days , or something along those lines to stop them dehydrating , alongside caolin or biamastat to dry them up ????

bbam

I wouldn't cut the feed from a calf with scour, a scouring and not fed will get weak very quickly and then the trouble starts.
I'd be giving natural youghert in the milk fir a few days. Sulpha powders too. And keep up with an extra electrolyte twice a day along with the milk.
Double check your mixing the milk to the right strength, that the water is hot enough to dissolve it and don't leave any powdery lumps at all after mixing.

Clean all buckets and feeders thoroughly with hot water after each feed.

Are they sucking teat feeders or drinking from buckets. Calves on slow teats will fair better as it produces more saliva and the milk enters the stomach slower.

greysides

bbam wrote: »

I wouldn't cut the feed from a calf with scour, a scouring and not fed will get weak very quickly

This is the modern thinking on things.

I'd be giving natural youghert in the milk fir a few days. Sulpha powders too.

The sulpha powders would kill the bacteria in the yoghurt. Unless coccidiosis is suspected the sulpha powders are pointless.

And keep up with an extra electrolyte twice a day along with the milk. Double check your mixing the milk to the right strength, that the water is hot enough to dissolve it and don't leave any powdery lumps at all after mixing.

Clean all buckets and feeders thoroughly with hot water after each feed.

Agreed. Good ideas.


If the scour is due to the change of milk to milk replacer then I'd be inclined to stick with it a bit longer rather than risk yet another change.

Leave electrolyte available between feeds. Seven week old calves shouldn't dehydrate as quickly as younger calves.

ootbitb

as they are seven weeks maybe you overfed them with CMR.

the recommended level is only a litre twice daily for the first three days...makes for some noise though.

jack77

old lad said the same, think i over fed them alrite, was out with them earlier and there all eating hay and drinking water so shouldn't be too dehydrated yet , would it be better to just give them their 2 litres tomorrow and see if it clears in a day or get them on something straight away to dry it up? can't believe i messed up the quantitys of mix

ootbitb

if they are still scouring reduce the milk as Richk says above...someone said to me " when did you last hear of a calf dying from starvation".

roran

ootbitb wrote: »

if they are still scouring reduce the milk as Richk says above...someone said to me " when did you last hear of a calf dying from starvation".

The advice from Greysides (see above) matches very closely advice given from the AHI vets in their discussion following their "Calf Scour' seminars. I was at the Tullamore meeting and I thought it made sense ie "do not weaken calves by not feeding them".

ootbitb

obviously, as in everything, you have to strike a happy medium. two litres per day ,along with the electrolyte, will keep them going and should cure them.

continuous scouring will weaken them too.

bbam

We use the Tesco own brand natural youghert, .55c a carton is great value.
Also once the scour has cleared we'd introduce an egg into the feed to help build them up.
Is the scour creamy/milky in appearance? No sign of blood nor clear mucus type substance?

Don't be kicking yourself too much, I'd say we've all learned the hard way and still have scours from time to time.

jack77

ya creamy/milky colour very watery, no blood in it, how much yougurt do ye put in it? ill drop in to the vets and pickup something to help with it. hopefully should be cleared in a day or 2

bbam

A carton in each feed.

ootbitb

very useful stuff, I use it for ringworm:)

bbam

ootbitb wrote: »

very useful stuff, I use it for ringworm:)

Realy, do tell more!

ootbitb

apparently has anti fungal properties.

I've used it successfully for years. Yoplait full fat is my brand of choice though the Tesco low fat 55c job will probably do just as well.

Think you can buy a spray in the chemist for athletes foot which also works.

Has to be better than black oil anyway.

20silkcut

My god some diverse remedies. I give them a scoop of volac asgold in two litres of water switching to two litres of milk on the third dose.

jack77

ya vet recommended it too when i rang him, no milk replacer for two days gave me stuff to dry them up to give in the morning, then Liquid Life Aid in the evening for two days, seems to have done the trick, the yogurt thru the milk replacer for a few days then.