Coccidiosis

jfh

Hi all,
we had two weanlings die the last few weeks with what looked to be a blood scour, the 2nd one we sent to the lab to investigate cause.

results came back as Coccidiosis, never had a case of this before.
anyone else experience it before? is it due to the wet year.

we had cattle out, altought the we're in while been weaned.
Vet mentioned vecoxan, is this for treatment or prevention? as vet didn't say a whole lot.
is this something we should vaccinate every year from now on..

thanks

bob charles

jfh wrote: »

Hi all,
we had two weanlings die the last few weeks with what looked to be a blood scour, the 2nd one we sent to the lab to investigate cause.

results came back as Coccidiosis, never had a case of this before.
anyone else experience it before? is it due to the wet year.

we had cattle out, altought the we're in while been weaned.
Vet mentioned vecoxan, is this for treatment or prevention? as vet didn't say a whole lot.
is this something we should vaccinate every year from now on..

thanks

get a good few causes each year but usually during winter feeding probably due to the amount of rooks/starlings etc around carrying disease. never remember loosing an animal from it. treated one this morning, second one this week. My treatment would involve using Sulfadimidine powders and injecting with something like Norodine. presume your vet would be recommending such treatments. my info is for animals over 18month old that are being fattened

vanderbadger

jfh wrote: »

Hi all,
we had two weanlings die the last few weeks with what looked to be a blood scour, the 2nd one we sent to the lab to investigate cause.

results came back as Coccidiosis, never had a case of this before.
anyone else experience it before? is it due to the wet year.

we had cattle out, altought the we're in while been weaned.
Vet mentioned vecoxan, is this for treatment or prevention? as vet didn't say a whole lot.
is this something we should vaccinate every year from now on..

thanks

cant really vaccinate for it i believe, i give all new calves a few shots of it at different stages...this year i gave a calf a dose at about 2 weeks of age when he was dehorned, i did him again maybe a month afterwards when he came indoors, about a week ago i noticed him with the dirty backside dark drown in color, its a kinda precursor to the blood scour so I gave him a 3rd shot of vecoxan and within 2 days he had dried up..so I could be wrong but i find it doesnt always work as a preventative but i find if the calves do get it and you dose them then they dont ever get it again..hope that helps..expensive stuff by they way

pakalasa

Vet on the Journal recommended giving Vecoxan at 10 days old as a preventative. Since I started doing them. I haven't had any blood scour. Maybe just lucky, but I had a had a few every year up to I started using Vecoxan.

whelan1

keeping the creep area or feed area clean will help aswell, i give vecoxan at 10 days old and repeat as necessary... good cleaning/ disenfection of sheds needed too

jfh

bob charles wrote: »

get a good few causes each year but usually during winter feeding probably due to the amount of rooks/starlings etc around carrying disease. never remember loosing an animal from it. treated one this morning, second one this week. My treatment would involve using Sulfadimidine powders and injecting with something like Norodine. presume your vet would be recommending such treatments. my info is for animals over 18month old that are being fattened

yes i heard that it was spread by birds, wasn't sure if that was fact though.
not sure what the vet treated animal with as i wans't there, he didn't say anything, just injected animal and more or less said that he came across several cases recently & all had died. Weanling was running around at that stae, dead 2 hrs later.
if it was up to me, he wouldn't be our vet, not blaming him for death of animal but asking him a question usually results in a grunt, not sure if he knows anything or else it's his manner

jfh

vanderbadger wrote: »

cant really vaccinate for it i believe, i give all new calves a few shots of it at different stages...this year i gave a calf a dose at about 2 weeks of age when he was dehorned, i did him again maybe a month afterwards when he came indoors, about a week ago i noticed him with the dirty backside dark drown in color, its a kinda precursor to the blood scour so I gave him a 3rd shot of vecoxan and within 2 days he had dried up..so I could be wrong but i find it doesnt always work as a preventative but i find if the calves do get it and you dose them then they dont ever get it again..hope that helps..expensive stuff by they way

yeah we're in clare too, working out very expensive but if we'd used it all along it would be cheap, considering we lost 2 weanlings already. think i read somewhere that's there's a lick one can get.

jfh

pakalasa wrote: »

Vet on the Journal recommended giving Vecoxan at 10 days old as a preventative. Since I started doing them. I haven't had any blood scour. Maybe just lucky, but I had a had a few every year up to I started using Vecoxan.

hi pakalasa, where do you buy the vecoxan?

jfh

whelan1 wrote: »

keeping the creep area or feed area clean will help aswell, i give vecoxan at 10 days old and repeat as necessary... good cleaning/ disenfection of sheds needed too

thanks whelan1, i did read that alright, but the first animal that died was out in the field, so in this case it seems that it was around some wet ground.

jfh

whelan1 wrote: »

keeping the creep area or feed area clean will help aswell, i give vecoxan at 10 days old and repeat as necessary... good cleaning/ disenfection of sheds needed too

hi whelan1, do you do all the calves as a preventitive measure.

whelan1

jfh wrote: »

hi whelan1, do you do all the calves as a preventitive measure.

all calves are done at 10 days old... waste of money dosing at birth as they are not born with it, they meet it.... its around €125 for 1 litre of vecoxan

bob charles

jfh wrote: »

if it was up to me, he wouldn't be our vet,

Why cant you change, when communication breaks down for whatever reason its time to move on

PatQfarmer

We use Baycox on all bought-in calves. Works well with single dose.

vanderbadger

PatQfarmer wrote: »

We use Baycox on all bought-in calves. Works well with single dose.

not seen that before patq
where do you pick it up, vets?

PatQfarmer

vanderbadger wrote: »

not seen that before patq
where do you pick it up, vets?

Yep. Vet supplies it.
Found it better year on year versus Vecoxan. More expensive, but no repeat dose needed in our experience if done as calves.
Link here: http://www.bayeranimal.com.au/default.aspx?Page=50&ItemId=83

pakalasa

jfh wrote: »

hi pakalasa, where do you buy the vecoxan?

112 Euro (& Postage, I Think) from Magenta Direct. Widdess, a wel known Chemist in Limerick had it in stock too.

1 Lt & 2.5 Lt bottle available.
http://www.magentadirect.ie/proddetail.php?prod=MVE0174

The doasge rate is 30cc for 75Kg & 40cc for 100Kg. That works out at €3.60 or €4.80 per head (€120 per 1 Lt).

The hawlk

Vecoxin wont work as a vaccine until you have an out brake otherwise you are wasting your money,
Also cattle grazing recently slurried ground are very susceptible.

whelan1

pakalasa wrote: »

112 Euro (& Postage, I Think) from Magenta Direct. Widdess, a wel known Chemist in Limerick had it in stock too.

1 Lt & 2.5 Lt bottle available.
http://www.magentadirect.ie/proddetail.php?prod=MVE0174

The doasge rate is 30cc for 75Kg & 40cc for 100Kg. That works out at €3.60 or €4.80 per head (€120 per 1 Lt).

i give 20ml to a calf... i only buy the litre carton, as its very expensive ... does a great job though

kennedy138

baycox quick . way better than vecoxan . its a single cell parasite that lives on the outside of the gut wall hence very hard to get at with antibiotics . is there a vaccine for parasites news to me

pakalasa

"The effects of Vecoxan® should not be confused with the effects of a vaccine, which in itself provokes an immune response. Vecoxan® works by managing the animals exposure to the parasite, allowing the natural immune response to develop, while preventing disease."

From the manufacturer, but still;
http://www.vetclick.com/news/immunity-is-key-to-control-coccidiosis-p1255.php

jfh

ok so what i understand from the above is that, it's not a vaccine, but since we had an outbreak, we should do all the cattle anyway, cow's, bull the lot.
we also had a strong lamb that died, wonder does the same strain effect sheep?
also we're does one find that baycox?

PatQfarmer

jfh wrote: »

also we're does one find that baycox?

I get it from our Vet. Never saw it anywhere on sale.

vanderbadger

in fairness its no wonder calves are getting this curse of a thing, from work i just had a look at the camera at home , within 1 big enough shed there is a calf creep and 2 calving pens, no meal in the calving pens jsut 2 cows and calves, the cows are lying down and i can count 5 or 6 crows in boths pens just hoping about on the ground, in the creep the calves get meal but i can see the trough is empty but still a good few birds in there. not sure what can be done about it, i think i will take pen section off my creep feeder and move the trough and cover part into calf creep so that meal isnt available for these birds

dzer2

jfh wrote: »

Hi all,
we had two weanlings die the last few weeks with what looked to be a blood scour, the 2nd one we sent to the lab to investigate cause.

results came back as Coccidiosis, never had a case of this before.
anyone else experience it before? is it due to the wet year.

we had cattle out, altought the we're in while been weaned.
Vet mentioned vecoxan, is this for treatment or prevention? as vet didn't say a whole lot.
is this something we should vaccinate every year from now on..

thanks

Yep thats the stuff alright 20cc as a calf vacinates the animal I use it with all bought in calves never have had a blood scour.

Black Smoke

vanderbadger wrote: »

in fairness its no wonder calves are getting this curse of a thing, from work i just had a look at the camera at home , within 1 big enough shed there is a calf creep and 2 calving pens, no meal in the calving pens jsut 2 cows and calves, the cows are lying down and i can count 5 or 6 crows in boths pens just hoping about on the ground, in the creep the calves get meal but i can see the trough is empty but still a good few birds in there. not sure what can be done about it, i think i will take pen section off my creep feeder and move the trough and cover part into calf creep so that meal isnt available for these birds

Totally agree. I never, ever throw meals on silage anymore. If feeding meals to bigger cattle at the barrier, I use a corripipe, which I have split in half for the meal. Corripipe on top of silage, meal inside. Cattle eat the meal, and push it out of their way, to continue eating the silage.
Since I introduced this system, the number of birds around the shed, has dropped hugely.

Calves in the creep area is another thing. There was a picture in the IFJ of a gate mounted meal feeder with plastic curtain flap, to keep birds out of the meal. It was launched, at the ploughing championshis, by someone this year. I thought, it a must buy item, for this winter, in my case. I must follow up on that, and get one soon.

In any case, meals thrown on silage, or left in an open trough, where it might not be eaten in one go, will attract serious numbers of birds, and rats. Bad news:mad:

vanderbadger

Black Smoke wrote: »

Totally agree. I never, ever throw meals on silage anymore. If feeding meals to bigger cattle at the barrier, I use a corripipe, which I have split in half for the meal. Corripipe on top of silage, meal inside. Cattle eat the meal, and push it out of their way, to continue eating the silage.
Since I introduced this system, the number of birds around the shed, has dropped hugely.

Calves in the creep area is another thing. There was a picture in the IFJ of a gate mounted meal feeder with plastic curtain flap, to keep birds out of the meal. It was launched, at the ploughing championshis, by someone this year. I thought, it a must buy item, for this winter, in my case. I must follow up on that, and get one soon.

In any case, meals thrown on silage, or left in an open trough, where it might not be eaten in one go, will attract serious numbers of birds, and rats. Bad news:mad:

ya i see alot of the manufacturers are now making those gate mounted creep feeders, neat enough look but no doubt pricey, was thinking you would leave the standard trough back against wall and make a wall mounted canopy, you can buy the pvc strips on ebay

greysides

Talking about birds is a red herring.

The sources for calves are other cattle- older calves and cows.

Each species of Eimeria is host species specific and even location specific (where more than one species of Eimeria is present in a host).

whelan1

since i started using vecoxan ,regularly cleaning out sheds and disenfecting with oocide things have improved dramatically... make sure to keep the feeding area clean

Black Smoke

greysides wrote: »

Talking about birds is a red herring.

The sources for calves are other cattle- older calves and cows.

Each species of Eimeria is host species specific and even location specific (where more than one species of Eimeria is present in a host).

Acknowledge your superior knowledge of course. Nevertheless, birds crapping all over your animal feed, can't be of any help. In any case, they are dirty fukers! Anything we can do to thwart them, is well worth it, and very satisfying!!

bigdaddy1896

vecoxan is the best job, exspensive stuff but does the job black dirty arse and swishing off the tail usually the symptoms

greysides

Black Smoke wrote: »

... birds crapping all over your animal feed, can't be of any help. In any case, they are dirty fukers! Anything we can do to thwart them, is well worth it, and very satisfying!!

I think they can be reliably blamed for spreading other diseases, Salmonellosis comes to mind, so control would certainly be a good thing.

Given that coccidia are common in fowl it is easy to associate birds and the disease. However, despite several times having an 'obvious' link pointed out I'm yet to be convinced that the text books have it wrong. There's always other explanations that make more sense.

Drinkers are often fouled by faeces and it would be worthwhile keeping an eye on these. Many more calves are infected and shedding than are affected and sick. These are a source for their companions and where different age groups of calves are mixed the older calves can create a problem for the younger. While cows are only rarely affected, they again are a source for calves.

Another thing about drinkers is that they are frequently faulty and leak. Wet bedding will only help keep the coccidia happy in their environment.

Coccidia are parasites, and like all parasites are happy to keep a low profile and insidiously tax the health of calves. Where more than an occasional calf is falling prey to them there is a management/husbandry/other problem facilitating it. If many calves are getting it, look for the facilitator as sorting it may well sort the coccidiosis problem.

just do it

greysides wrote: »

I think they can be reliably blamed for spreading other diseases, Salmonellosis comes to mind, so control would certainly be a good thing.

Given that coccidia are common in fowl it is easy to associate birds and the disease. However, despite several times having an 'obvious' link pointed out I'm yet to be convinced that the text books have it wrong. There's always other explanations that make more sense.

Drinkers are often fouled by faeces and it would be worthwhile keeping an eye on these. Many more calves are infected and shedding than are affected and sick. These are a source for their companions and where different age groups of calves are mixed the older calves can create a problem for the younger. While cows are only rarely affected, they again are a source for calves.

Another thing about drinkers is that they are frequently faulty and leak. Wet bedding will only help keep the coccidia happy in their environment.

Coccidia are parasites, and like all parasites are happy to keep a low profile and insidiously tax the health of calves. Where more than an occasional calf is falling prey to them there is a management/husbandry/other problem facilitating it. If many calves are getting it, look for the facilitator as sorting it may well sort the coccidiosis problem.

Agree with you fully about the drinkers. I check mine daily as they are often full of faeces.

I'm starting to ponder given the wet year and the apparent increase in both blood scour and rumen fluke, would the two be setting each other off?

greysides

Rumen fluke, or even just common-garden Liver fluke, can be the underlying, hidden facilitator of another up-front disease.

For example:

Liver fluke + Salmonellosis
Liver fluke + IBR

Any insidious disease that weakens an animal will open the door for others- BVD viral infection being a topical example.

Coccidiosis is a disease where there is a strong immune component to the animals coping mechanism.

Rumen fluke will weaken the animals resistance.


A co-incidence of the two is quite likely. IMO.

Another factor this year is that the weather over the summer has not been great for any-thing's health and will have undermined the immune system too. Lots of things coming together to cause problems in animals....... 'multi-factorial'... lovely word that.

PatQfarmer

greysides wrote: »

Another factor this year is that the weather over the summer has not been great for any-thing's health and will have undermined the immune system too. Lots of things coming together to cause problems in animals....... 'multi-factorial'... lovely word that.

Agree entirely. Spring bucket-reared calves really struggled all "Summer". No sunshine to give them a boost. They had snotty noses, intermittent cough and poor thrive despite, vaccination and regular, varied worming.
Booster vac given start Sept and whether it was coincidental or the better weather, they all improved and are now healthy...so far:)

All new calves done with Baycox on arrival. No problems with Coccidiosis since I started using it.

onyerbikepat

I have a calf really sick with Coccidiosis at the moment.
The cow calved unexpectly in the dirty cubicle shed and I don't think the calf drank for about 12 hours. To be honest I was expecting the calf to get blood scour as it always happens when the calves get dirty at calving. That with late beastings and I was waiting for it.
At about 6 days old spotted the first blodd and the vecoxan seemed to cure it. 3 days later and scour is like water. I gave more Vecoxan, blood seems gone now and I'm giving 2 Lt of homemade electrolyte (AHI recipe) every evening and allowing calf to drink afterwards. In the morning, no electrolyte just drink cow.
What else should I do?

whelan2

onyerbikepat wrote: »

I have a calf really sick with Coccidiosis at the moment.
The cow calved unexpectly in the dirty cubicle shed and I don't think the calf drank for about 12 hours. To be honest I was expecting the calf to get blood scour as it always happens when the calves get dirty at calving. That with late beastings and I was waiting for it.
At about 6 days old spotted the first blodd and the vecoxan seemed to cure it. 3 days later and scour is like water. I gave more Vecoxan, blood seems gone now and I'm giving 2 Lt of homemade electrolyte (AHI recipe) every evening and allowing calf to drink afterwards. In the morning, no electrolyte just drink cow.
What else should I do?

are you sure its coccidiosis? normally wouldnt get it til 10 days or older. How is it otherwise? The vecoxan shoud cover it for 10-14 days

Justjens

AFAIK coccidiosis takes 14 days to manifest itself, so it's unlikely that a calf so young would have it, could be blood form a raw gut due to a severe scour.

Use a normal scour treatment, only one does of vecoxan should be necessary.

whelan2

would he have gotten an infection through his navel?

vanderbadger

onyerbikepat wrote: »

I have a calf really sick with Coccidiosis at the moment.
The cow calved unexpectly in the dirty cubicle shed and I don't think the calf drank for about 12 hours. To be honest I was expecting the calf to get blood scour as it always happens when the calves get dirty at calving. That with late beastings and I was waiting for it.
At about 6 days old spotted the first blodd and the vecoxan seemed to cure it. 3 days later and scour is like water. I gave more Vecoxan, blood seems gone now and I'm giving 2 Lt of homemade electrolyte (AHI recipe) every evening and allowing calf to drink afterwards. In the morning, no electrolyte just drink cow.
What else should I do?

natural yoghurt and mix a bit of kalen with electrolyte drink for scour, yoghurt is great for calves i find, also check for high temp

Greengrass1

I had a group of AAs like this last week.
10 ml of bimastat for a week a day and dipen.
There hoping now ye wouldn't know them

onyerbikepat

There was blood in the dirt before any scour, so that's why I thought it was Coccidiosis. He got a right doing at birth, poor devil. I'm normally very careful with them, have calving area powerwashed and disenfected, but this was a cow that was bulling right through the winter so wasnt expecting her to calf.
What do ye suckler guys normally do?
I'm stomach tubing him the 2 Lt of the electrplyte every evening, then let him drink the cow. Morning, he just drinks the cow. He is still lively enough. He's bawling for the cow and all that.

onyerbikepat

whelan2 wrote: »

would he have gotten an infection through his navel?

I washed down teh navel area when I found him first and sprayed with Iodine. I checked it and it dosent seem swelled.

Deepsouthwest

onyerbikepat wrote: »

There was blood in the dirt before any scour, so that's why I thought it was Coccidiosis. He got a right doing at birth, poor devil. I'm normally very careful with them, have calving area powerwashed and disenfected, but this was a cow that was bulling right through the winter so wasnt expecting her to calf.
What do ye suckler guys normally do?
I'm stomach tubing him the 2 Lt of the electrplyte every evening, then let him drink the cow. Morning, he just drinks the cow. He is still lively enough. He's bawling for the cow and all that.

Sounds like u've done as much as u can, and he'll be fine. I wouldn't lose too much sleep over a calf who's up around the place and calling for the cow, just let him off with her!

onyerbikepat

Ya, I let the cow into him this morning and he drank her. I'll tube him again this evening and see how it goes. Thanks.

onyerbikepat

Update - Had to get the vet out as no let up in the scour. Crypto, he reckoned. Scour gone by following day.
Next time, if in doubt as to whether the calf drank or not, I'll still tube the calf. :rolleyes:

milkprofit

dzer2 wrote: »

Yep thats the stuff alright 20cc as a calf vacinates the animal I use it with all bought in calves never have had a blood scour.

ll calves that have come into contact with a coccidia-infected calf, or that are being kept in an environment with a history of infection, all will need treatin

whelan2

onyerbikepat wrote: »

Update - Had to get the vet out as no let up in the scour. Crypto, he reckoned. Scour gone by following day.
Next time, if in doubt as to whether the calf drank or not, I'll still tube the calf. :rolleyes:

out of interest what did he treat the calf with?

onyerbikepat

Apralan Powders - Antibiotic
Cryptol liquid
two other injections but cant read vets writing

O2b

Greengrass1 wrote: »

I had a group of AAs like this last week.
10 ml of bimastat for a week a day and dipen.
There hoping now ye wouldn't know them

Does Bimastat not only treat scour if cause is ecoli or salmonella ?

agriman27

Just lookin for advice about a young calf with a bad dose of coccidiosis scour I've treated him for last two days with bactidyrl and sulpha no.2 powders. This morning the scour has dried up and he's well improved but he cant stand up yet. Just wondering should I continue with more powders and when would it be alright to get him back on the cow would it be better to keep milk away for longer

onyerbikepat

The general advice now is to keep them on the milk when they scour. It sounds like he needs electrolyses. Can you tube him with some?

Good article here from AHI.