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Calf Scours---Treatement--- Help

R

redbull

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Joined
Jan 2, 2006
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8
I've had about 6 calves this spring with scours that have died. All were tubed ~3 times per day with a quart of water mixed with ReSorb. The calves didn't respond. All the cows are given scour guard. They were all within 2 weeks of age. I've had several other calves that I treated and are doing fine.
What do you use to treat calves with scours. Are there any other products that seem to work?

We will probably move our calving back to late April next year.
 
i use resorb also but with 2 qts of water then i mix in some meds from the vet with it,also i mix in an egg for protein for them,hydration is the key,scours doesnt kill them being dehydrated does,i cant remember whats all in the mix from the vet,he mixes his own potion,also a lil baking soda helps mixed in,buffer for the guts
 
This thread on Agriville gives several recipes.
http://www.agriville.com/cgi-bin/forums/viewThread.cgi?1207212955
 
We haven't had scours for a while but we used Kaopectate,{stops the runs}followed up by electrolytes. The electrolytes are really important to get the lost minerals back in thier bodies,mostly thats where the death is stemming from.
 
The next time a calf starts to scour, follow him and collect a sample. Do it before he gets any antibiotics. You need to find out just what kind of scours you have. Your vet can check to make sure it's not a virus, or something unusual like cryptospiridia.

If it's viral scours you need to handle it a little differently than if it's just garden variety ecoli scours. There is an oral vaccine that you give the calf at birth that works extremely well to prevent this, (Calfguard) and it can stop an outbreak in it's tracks. If it's ecoli, the lab can tell you which drugs will or will not work on it.

Lab work to find out what you have going on can pay for itself pretty quickly.

Are you giving them antibiotics with the electrolytes? We use pills, and give them an injectable like Trivetrin or Nuflor as well as the fluids. Also, if it's been more than six weeks since you used the Scourguard, you may want to give the cows a booster. This vaccine wears off in about 45 days.
 
Go to www.cellarater.com or www.loomix.com. Either site should take you to the same place. The product you need is Cellarater TURBO. Comes in an 80cc or a 300cc tube. Internal results in 20 minutes, observable results in one hour. No antibiotics or things the calf doesn't need, but contains everything the calf does need. European technology, very affordable, and totally safe.
 
All good advice.
You could try Dr. Holman's Drench (he is from Aberdeen, SD)
1 qt. warm water
1 heaping tbsp baking soda
pinch of salt
1 tbsp Pepto Bismol
1 tbsp cooking oil or mineral oil
no sugar the first few hours

Sometimes we have taken them off the cow for 24 hours. If they get weak and can't get up they need IV electrolytes.
Our best solution was giving the cows Sour Bos 9 while pregnant. Scour Guard didn't work for us. I guess it depends of the bug they have. It could be more than one bug so testing just one probably won't tell all. Went from doctoring half the herd to a handful every year with Scour Bos.
 
My calf ate sand, and in that sand was probably chicken poop, he was out for a day from his very clean pen and was also found to be licking pine trees. He's 4 weeks old, and yesterday I noticed he was laying down looking morose, then when i got him to stand up, he shot out a yellow liquid from his rear end, not a clear liquid. I walked him over to the grass, and he eventually laid down again. This morning he's still walking around,(when made to)(he's not shaking, was a little this am but not after he ate) still has the projectile poop. Last night i gave him an electrolyte replacer and Probios, He was fed this am, but didn' finish the gallon he usually snarfs, I will wait a couple hours to give him the electrolytes and WHY DOES THIS ALWAYS HAPPEN ON A SUNDAYYYYYYYYYYYY? The vet almost out of the question on sunday.

My question is, HOW MUCH KAOPECTATE!??? This diarreah has to stop NOW! and, what about Lomotil? I have that. The only thing the local feedstore has for him is LA200 which, i think is an antibiotic. He's on the medicated milk replacer. What else am i missing??

Thank you all in advance.
 
A lot of guys around here have found a Probiotic to be a good preventative measure. Basically, if you ear tag calves as tey are born, give them a dose of probiotic....It has made a huge difference to a lot of people in our area...

If I ever doctor a young calf, I tend to also give Probiotic....

Sorry this has happened...


PPRM
 
Keep up the electrolytes. He can survive on them quite nicely for a couple of days with no milk replacer at all. It will give his gut a bit of a rest.

We never hesitate to give antibiotics to a scouring calf. :!: Fluids treat the symptoms, Kaopectate slows down the scours and helps cut the dehydration, but neither stops the cause. The medication in your milk replacer is probably not a high enough level to cure, more of a preventative level.

Does your feed store have scour pills? That would be a good place to start, at least until you can call the vet tomorrow.

Good luck! Let us know how he does.
 
going to the feed store for the LA200, Kaopectate, and have given my husband the drench stuff, I got him to drink a quart of water with electrolytes and probiotic in it. He is fading. Not sunken, but lethargic. I will leave my husband to give him some every 15 minutes or so. thx.

We were advised 2 gallons a day, one in the am and one in the pm of the replacer with antibiotics. He would eat more if we let him, usually. Hell, is that too much? Its a hereford calf.

ALSO he was banded immediatly, like 2 days old, he's never minded the band, and his huevos are dried and almost ready to fall off. Could this be some sort of infection? Off to the feedstore i go. I'm going to encrypt my own # in case anybody needs to call me if what i am doing is incredibly totally wrong, so read between the letters. its 2 and a 39 and 2 and 90 and 40 and 55, thanks guys. I'll be on the road with it and here, all day. audrey
 
You need to get a vet in there and ck all this out.

If you're loosing calves at that rate....you got a PROBLEM that needs a definite answer.
 
I only have that one calf, a dropoff from the dairy at the auction. $25. Healthy, tho, seemed. Read up as I've amended my last post! thanks!!
 
Audreyvgs said:
I only have that one calf, a dropoff from the dairy at the auction. $25. Healthy, tho, seemed. Read up as I've amended my last post! thanks!!
Click to expand...




$25 calves.......there's usually a reason they're only $25.00!!!

Still, I have a vet ck it out in case the calf has something going on and you don't want to bring any bad problems onto your farm.


I've rarely seen a $25.00 drop off calf not cost more than $25 to fix it's problems. But good luck.


PS.....don't be putting a phone number on this or any web site. There are some crazy people on the 'net'.....take it off ASAP
 
Audreyvgs said:
I only have that one calf, a dropoff from the dairy at the auction. $25. Healthy, tho, seemed. Read up as I've amended my last post! thanks!!
Click to expand...
So hes a bucket baby.A gallon at one time seems to be an aweful lot.And nothing the rest of the day until evening,then another gallon?Is that right?No mommy to suck off of?Just the bucket-bottle?And hes eating grass?
 
kolanuraven said:
PS.....don't be putting a phone number on this or any web site. There are some crazy people on the 'net'.....take it off ASAP
Click to expand...
"Crazy people"? No stalkers on this site, is there, Sugar? :lol:
 
Two litres (a half gallon) at a time is plenty. To give him two gallon of electrolytes, you'd be better to split it up into four feedings. I would take him right off the milk. It will do him no harm, especially if you've got some good electrolytes.

And call the vet first thing in the morning. If he's getting worse, that's not good.
 

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