Scours in Calves

By late morning yesterday four of the five calves were scouring. Diarrhea. Bad. All except Difficult. 

Here is what I know. Any loss of fluids needs to be replaced very fast or a small newly born animal like these calves will die.  The scouring needs to be attended to immediately. If caught early and I can get at least a quart of fluid down their throats every three or four hours there is a good chance the calf will survive.

Little, who is drinking Lady Asters milk, went down first. The calves in the other barn followed close behind and they are drinking milk replacer.  So it is not the milk powder. But it is nutrition related  –  (they were scouring white water).

There are no vets on the weekends so I have chosen to treat the symptom rather than waste precious time  searching about for a cause as this point. In the end the cause of it takes second place to replacing the lost minerals, keeping the baby hydrated so she can flush her system without killing herself.  All through this episode their noses have remained moist.

They just cannot find their balance.  Scours is a very real threat to bottle fed babies.  And I really think that these calves did not get colostrum at birth.

I had electrolyte on hand for exactly this problem and a plan. You must have a plan for fighting this kind of thing it is very hard work and extremely tiring so it is best to create a plan ahead of time. Trying to work out what to do in the middle of a crisis leads to errors.

By this morning after 20 odd hours of three and sometimes two hourly force fed drinks of electrolyte (if they would not stand up I fed them lying down or if they refused to drink  I held  their heads and bodies against a wall with my legs, put the teat in their mouth then reached in and squeezed the fluid into their mouths with my own fingers – you cannot give them too much of this stuff.)  I have gone through almost a box of gloves. But by this morning they are at least improved.

Separate. Make sure the calf has water close by so they do not need to walk far.

By this morning all the calves but Little are back up, and were able to have a little milk in their electrolyte mixture. All but two ran to the gate and sucked their little portion right down.  Some were even peeing which is a welcome sight! 

I will continue with three hourly drinks.

Little is the slowest to recover but has come out of his house and is tottering  about in the sun, he is such a mess, he still will not voluntarily drink more than a few slugs, after that we go to battle. But it is honestly a battle for his life so we fight.

I have been up and down with them all night really, giving endless drinks and I am now deadly tired but we are not out of the woods yet.  They are hydrated again now, but they need to Eat.

So now I am adding milk back in to the electrolyte.

I know many people believe in starving the animal of milk for 48 hours but there are two schools of thought here. And i err on the side of cautious nutrition. Even if it is expelled at speed the calf will get a little goodness and develop a little more strength,  as long as I am still pushing the other fluids. But if they do not get nutrition into their bodies they will deteriorate and they will not grow properly.  It is a juggling act.

OK back to work.

Your friend on the farm,

celi

P.S. If I do not post tomorrow morning it will not be because something is wrong it will be because I am sleeping or just late posting.  Probably both!