Calves getting swollen navel’s and bedding with hay

Muck Spreader

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Limousin
no straw .
Yes new born
Can't think of any reason other than hay can heatup more than straw with a possibility of bacterial infection. If they are all getting joint ill that could be the reason, maybe get some sacks of gypsum power to spread a bit on the bedding every few days. If they haven't got joint ill have you checked they are not herniated? :scratchhead:
 

czechmate

Member
Mixed Farmer
Can't think of any reason other than hay can heatup more than straw with a possibility of bacterial infection. If they are all getting joint ill that could be the reason, maybe get some sacks of gypsum power to spread a bit on the bedding every few days. If they haven't got joint ill have you checked they are not herniated? :scratchhead:

We buy a white powder product from bio 3G (do they call on you - annoying as hell).
So normally we bed with straw but harvest was worse than awful, grass harvest was massive (we still have over a thousand bales), so, before we ran out of straw we started mixing with hay.
My man here said “oh I’ve had trouble with swollen navel bedding hay and my vet confirmed the link”. Yea yea I think.
Calving started about four weeks back , after a few days our 21 year old pet cow needed putting down😢, so the vet was out and the first calf was unwell with swollen navel. Vet had a look and gave AB (for 10 days!). I asked about the link. “No link at all”, our vet says. Since then, some 15 calves and another with the swollen navel. Now we havnt had one at all in 8 years, so hence this thread.
Both calves recovered well👍
 

Muck Spreader

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Limousin
We buy a white powder product from bio 3G (do they call on you - annoying as hell).
So normally we bed with straw but harvest was worse than awful, grass harvest was massive (we still have over a thousand bales), so, before we ran out of straw we started mixing with hay.
My man here said “oh I’ve had trouble with swollen navel bedding hay and my vet confirmed the link”. Yea yea I think.
Calving started about four weeks back , after a few days our 21 year old pet cow needed putting down😢, so the vet was out and the first calf was unwell with swollen navel. Vet had a look and gave AB (for 10 days!). I asked about the link. “No link at all”, our vet says. Since then, some 15 calves and another with the swollen navel. Now we havnt had one at all in 8 years, so hence this thread.
Both calves recovered well👍
Yes, we get the powder from Vital Concept its cheaper.
Sounds like joint ill, I would keep a close eye on them even when you have finished the treatment as it can sometimes flare up again.
 

Little squeak

Member
Location
Lancashire
We had huge naval infection issues (bedded on straw not hay) and I think oncethe infection is there, it is a nightmare to get rid of. We started using Stanislan on top of the bedding and it has made a huge difference.

What is Stanislan? I have never heard of it.

I always use my best straw for calving down and have never had a problem-so far. however that may not be enough if the infection gets established on your farm I know of 2 farms who calve outdoors solely to avoid joint ill.
 

Extreme Optimist

Member
Livestock Farmer

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