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Cure For Scours? Never mind, I don't need it anymore :(

Milkmaid, all we have is some pennicillin........not even any LA200..... :roll: Do you think that would help? Since we're drenching them anyway, it wouldn't be too hard to add some of that to their electrolyte solution, too. I just don't know, I've never been around anything this bad before.

The cow was on a starter/grower until last night, we got her some sweet feed in town, because she likes the loose grain a lot more than the pellets, she won't hardly eat them at all. And Tillie wouldn't eat the starter/grower, cause she likes cake better (and what girl doesn't? :lol: ). I tell ya, we got some mighty picky critters around here..... :roll:

When her calf was born, we shut them up in the corral together the first night, then turn her out in the morning, she comes back in at night for feed and milking, then back out until the next morning, so they aren't getting a whole lot of milk. That's what doesn't make sense to me.....I've seen them scour, but as soon as you decrease the milk consumption, they clear right up.....it ain't workin this time, though.

We know it can be done, have done it before......in fact, the yearling Lumpy is Sweet Pea's adoptee from last year.......raised another a few years back, on another cow, he dressed out at 700#.......pretty fair for a Holstein.

Thanks again, and Mike, :lol: :lol: :lol: Thanks for the laugh, I needed it!
 
kolanuraven said:
I've used Gatorade as a electrolyte drench for years and had wonderful success with it!!

We also buy the $$$$ store version of Immodium in tablet form and use that along with the Gatgorade....hadn't lost a calf in almost 12 years from scours.
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I like the gatorade as an electrolyte drench,but really am not fond of the Immodium for the simple fact your stopping the scours.. The scours are trying to get rid of the "BUG" thats in the body,thats a really important part of getting over the problam.I hope I got across what I was trying to get at. :)
 
Ranchy said:
Milkmaid, all we have is some pennicillin........not even any LA200..... :roll: Do you think that would help? Since we're drenching them anyway, it wouldn't be too hard to add some of that to their electrolyte solution, too. I just don't know, I've never been around anything this bad before.

The cow was on a starter/grower until last night, we got her some sweet feed in town, because she likes the loose grain a lot more than the pellets, she won't hardly eat them at all. And Tillie wouldn't eat the starter/grower, cause she likes cake better (and what girl doesn't? :lol: ). I tell ya, we got some mighty picky critters around here..... :roll:
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Pennicillin is better than nothing. Sometimes better than other things, although I don't usually use Penn for scours. What type do you have, short acting or long acting? Give it SC - not orally. Go ahead and double, maybe triple the dosage -- penn is really safe. For after surgery care on mature cows my vet has us go 60cc's for 10 days -- and that's the preventative therapy! :shock: Like I said, it's safe. :)

I've had a lot of sick ones; comes with having a good nurse cow. A full set is four calves for me, and I have nurse cows that still give way more milk than four can handle and I'll have them all scouring. :roll: I do run a really low death rate though -- as long as they're healthy when I get them they'll make it. (As opposed to me picking them off boss's dead animal pile and trying to save them :lol: -- in that case some live, some don't.) If they were healthy to start with they might have a rough time of it for awhile :P but they live.

When her calf was born, we shut them up in the corral together the first night, then turn her out in the morning, she comes back in at night for feed and milking, then back out until the next morning, so they aren't getting a whole lot of milk. That's what doesn't make sense to me.....I've seen them scour, but as soon as you decrease the milk consumption, they clear right up.....it ain't workin this time, though.
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Yes and no -- just because the calves aren't getting a lot of time with the cow to drink doesn't mean they're not gorging themselves when she comes in. She may be a very heavy milker. (That's where you can cut her production by cutting her grain back -- some dairies also say you can slow milk production with use of dexamethasone -- have any of that?) But, if she is not, then it means it's not just milk scours - may have been started by excessive milk consumption but that's not the problem now.
 
When we went through all the problems we experienced in W. Montana, the vet had us take the calves completely off the cow. No milk until their stool starts to stiffen up. Lots of liquids, tho. We tubed them or fed them
a bottle. The milk just aggravates the situation.

Good Luck, ranchy. I think you are going to need it.

You might need to take a sample in and have it cultured so you know
what you are fighting. I hope it isn't crypto. That's a tough one and it
will hang around forever. Those darn dairy calves can be full of that
stuff.

Bio-moss in milk replacer has a protein that the bugs bind to, and they
are passed out the rear end of the animal. Can you get some Bio-moss
somewhere to give them? Bio-moss has become very popular with dairies because of it's success.
 
I think Penni and.. Oh crud, can't remember the drug, something with a S I think is what my vet gave me for some Salmonella scours we had this year. Big doses too but it was about alll that would work.. Darn bottle babies.. Darn heifers....Darn calving in -20 degree nights...


Next year will be so much nicer... Turned the bulls out yesterday...
 
Lilly, about the same.
I have a call in to our vet, but he's out of the office for who knows how long, on a call........
They're holding their own, with the electrolytes and started them on some anti-biotics yesterday, but it's kinda soon for that to be doing much yet.
Thanks for asking!
 
Doc just called back, said it sounds like an ecoli scour to him, and told me what to give them........we don't have any A180, so will probably go to town tomorrow and get some. I would have gone today, but don't have time to get there before he leaves at 5:00........2 hour trip each way.......unless I can find someone going to town and get them to bring it back! Anyway, he said they need 2 doses each, one 48 hours after the first, and to be sure to give the second dose. Said it clears them right up, so a lot of folks don't give the second dose, and then in a week, they're back where they started. You can't just make the bug sick, ya gotta squish it!!!!!! :evil:

He also gave me this recipe for electrolytes:

2 tablespoons Baking Soda
2 tablespoons white salt (said Morton's is good, it has potassium in it)
per quart of warm water.......

So, guess I'll revise my recipe (now that I've finally learned it :roll: ) and try that, maybe they'll start doing better.

Thanks again for all your input and suggestions. I surely do appreciate them! :D
 
I might be wrong, but it sounds like you might have clostridium scours. They hit quick, kill fast -- was your calf a little bloated? Sometimes that's also a sign. We give any of our calves, especially the Holsteins, a shot of pennicillan as soon as they look even a wee bit off or loose. We give 5 cc in the muscle and 5 cc in the mouth, for about 100 - 250# calves. After that, they usually don't get it (but can...).

FYI - I know about picking up bugs from new calves. When we first started with the Holsteins, we had a horrible time with the scours in our beef herd. We've worked through it and buy calves from one farm. For the most part, it's ok now. It took a few years though....and I don't ever want to do it again! :shock:

Good luck with your calves!
 

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