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Need a little imput

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Shelly

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We have a calf here that has something wrong with it, but don't know what. It's about two weeks old, no stress on it coming into the world. The last few days, it's just been sluggish. No scours, no naval infection, no respiratory problems. No visible signs of sickness at all, except for the sluggishness. It looks bright and alert in the morning, but as the day wears on, it just seems to go down. Ears will droop and doesn't feel like nursing. But the next morning, seems fine and has nursed. This is a repeat performance every day now. I have him on antibiotics and sulfa pills. Any thoughts?
 
This might sound so stupid but if it was a human baby I would question a congenital heart defect. Good luck
 
Shelly, it's too late to help this year, but do your cows get a high selenium mineral or salt?

Lathargic calves can be lacking, but a shot at birth doesn't seem to help much. We used to have a real problem with our calves, but a trace mineral salt has saved us a world of trouble.

We traced the lethargy to a pneumonia that was almost impossible to detect, a thermometer became our best friend and at 102 we would treat with micotil.(normal is 101)

Since we have fed the 120 mg/kg selenium salt we have not bought a bottle of micotil and maybe have given 5 shots of cheap oxy-tet to calves in 4 years.
 
Shelly,


We ve had a bit of trouble with a calf doing this. We treated him with Micotil and electrolyes but he ended up taking the short road out on life. He jsut seemed like this from the time he was born. He was out an older cow so I guess I have a reason to take her to town now. Do you vaccinate your cows while they are open for BVD, this can cause cows to have weaker than usual calves. WE don't do this but I think we should be starting to vaccinate them.
 
Temp is normal, cows get minerals with selenium in them. It's hard to figure, he had alot of get-up-and-go for the first week. Maybe he's just one of those calves that will always be sickly, but makes it to weaning time and look unthrifty. Oh, when he passes manure, the smell just makes you gag. Does that give anyone any ideas?
 
Sulpa Pills, Electolytes and Probias, maybe some Bo-Se

I would also notch the ear and haveit tested for BVD

Doesn't maTTER IF MINERAL HAS SELENIUM, DOES IT HAVE ENOUGH,

I found this from personal experience. My mineral now has 120 ppm, a lot of troubles gone. I still give Seleium shots,


PPRM
 
Shelly, be kinda careful with the sulfa pills. They can be very hard on the kidneys.

I don't know what the problem could be, but giving Bos-E wouldn't cost much and helps many times in a questioning situation. Also Vit. B12 is another good one and you might try some Banamine. It makes calves feel better.

Also, if you have given him a lot of antibiotics, you might need to give him some probiotic to get his guts working again.

Good Luck!
 
FH,

You are right in that Sulpha Pills are hard on the gut in general, that is why I suggested the Probias. Some guys in our area have scours troubles. They have gone to giving Probias or similar products when tagging calves at birth and it has eliminated the problems.

When Shelly mentioned the odor, I felt it meant something was wrong in the gut, probably bacterial. Kinda got kill everything and replace the good all at the same time. Good preventative measures such as Mineral and vaccinating along with calving out on open ground and choosing the right buills make life a ton easier and calving a bunch more successful at a lower cost. Cows work for you rather than against you. Also, a lot of this is why I went to fall calving in good weather and on clean ground. Most of what I have learned, I learned the hard way, life is better now, LOL,

I agree on the Banamine and B-12. Sometimes animals will get better only if they feel better,

PPRM
 
I noticed you had mentioned Probiotics and just wanted to reinforce what you had posted.

Seems like the banamine cuts the cycle of pain, not feeling good, not eating correctly, etc. Never heard of using it on calves until a vet at Ronan, Mt. said to use it on scoured calves. That has been many years ago and he was ahead of everyone else in recoommended it. I do see it recommended more often now, and he was sure right on at the time.

Shelly, how does the manure out of this calf look? Does it look normal?

And as I recall, there is something to do with Vit E and selinium. You can't just have selinium without the Vit E or the selinium can't be utilized.

Good luck!
 
We use a product called Cronyxin instead of Banamine. Does the same job at much lower cost, if I recall correctly. But I can't remember prices. I guess that's a good thing, because it means we haven't had to use it much lately!
 
Calf was just fine this morning, bouncy and wanting to play, so I put the pair back out. I'll keep an eye on it for a few days to see how it's getting along. Thanks for all your thoughts and suggestions.
 
Thats good Shelly,somtimes its just really not a big issue Any baby can feel a little under the weather at times.
 
Maybe I'm just a little too paranoid about calves being sick. I just can't stand the sound of a mama bawling for her calf nonstop because he or she won't get up and suck. This morning it was another cow, she couldn't find her calf anywhere, so I went to looking. I looked for a loongg time before I found the little bugger in the most unlikely of places. Him and another one had somehow managed to get themselves wedged behind a calf hut. Took some doin' on my part , but I got them out and reunited with their mothers. They'd been there awhile because they latched on those cow's udders and wouldn't let go!
 
Calves getting lost reminds me of a story.I had been watching one of our cows because we knew she was about to calve,was one of those ma mas that wouldn't let you near her when calving started.I went out about hour after,cow had afterbirth hanging out no new calf ANYWHERE that I could see :???: After half an hour or more of looking for calf heard a little beller,from across fence.Ma ma must have backed butt up to fence gave birth,then went to eat!Grrr I had heck of time getting little stinker through barbwire fence back to mom.
 
New born Calves will go right thru a two strand electric fence, they don't have the cognigant abilities to figure out the fence is the problem.


PPRM
 
This little guy was laying right where he was born,even after hearing him,I had to look because the guy that farmed that half hadn't got his crop off the year before.
 
Our cows stash calves in the treelines all the time_I usually leave well enough alone-if you ever spook one of those hidden calves and he rns off from where momma hid him you can have quite a jackpot on your hands.
 

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