Pnemonia

Jdunn55

Member
Hi everyone, after some advice please

10 days I had a group of 35 calves (4-7 months old) outside in a small field with shelter, all fine one day, next day a limo was on deaths door with pneumonia.
Got the vet out and ended up bringing the rest in as they were all coughing and panting, treated the worst with draxxin (those who had a very high temp and looked rough) and the rest I treated with alamycin along with metacam

Fast forward, the limo who was the worst one 10 days ago died yesterday and I've just had a friesian heifer die in my arms despite keeping on top of antibiotics and metacam as required :(

Vet has suggested to take some samples to find out exactly what type of bacteria is doing the damage which I've agreed to and then using a possibly using vaccine in future to prevent it (doing it at 10 days after birth and again in mid September along with possibly during January if needed)

The others are OKish bar one or two still a bit rough, they're all having an aspirin powder in their cake to try and provide some relief but still a lot of coughing and panting going on for my liking

Feeling pretty sh!t at the moment, any tips on helping my current ones get through it and preventing it in future?
 

Jdunn55

Member
Don't beet yourself up, everyone get a bad run at times. You had the vet out and did your best, you can't do much more. Colostrum quality may be worth checking.
Thanks, this has been the worst month so far, literally no sooner than I put the post up saying things were going well and 3verything started to fall apart with sh!t flying at me from all angles :( this is just the icing on the cake ATM

Regarding colostrum, I'm going to buy one of those things (the name has escaped me!) To measure all colostrum prior to tubing the calves and anything low will get topped up with the expensive colostrum made from cows on the himalayas or whatever it is that makes them cost £30/sachet (tbf it is good stuff)

Planning on being a lot more "on it" with my youngstock from now on, they've sort of been at the back of my mind this year what with trying to get on top of starting up and sorting out the milkers

Looking to rotavec all the cows prior to dry-off
Tag and test all calves for BVD
Treat all calves with halocure for prevention against crypto (had real problems with this (never heard of it before this year) which has affected growth rates massively)
Vaccinate against pneumonia at birth and again as needed
Vaccinate against lepto and ibr

Inside on milk, ad-lib straw and ad-lib pellets for first 90 days (weaned off milk at 60) then outside on grazed grass + 1kg of 16% cake
Then housed on first of October and fed silage and wholecrop (4:1 ratio) plus 2kg cake until March then back out and 1kg of cake until finished serving and then just grazed grass for as long as possible before haylage in the winter

Does that sound OK to everyone?
 

Jdunn55

Member
That’s what I mean. We think we are being helpful on a wet night but in reality we just stop them from spreading our properly along ahedge line.
So better off being in an open field rather than one with some shelter?
They'll be up in the crofts from next year and the only thing that grows up their (other than grass) is gorse so very little in the way of shelter really
 
Thanks, this has been the worst month so far, literally no sooner than I put the post up saying things were going well and 3verything started to fall apart with sh!t flying at me from all angles :( this is just the icing on the cake ATM

Regarding colostrum, I'm going to buy one of those things (the name has escaped me!) To measure all colostrum prior to tubing the calves and anything low will get topped up with the expensive colostrum made from cows on the himalayas or whatever it is that makes them cost £30/sachet (tbf it is good stuff)

Planning on being a lot more "on it" with my youngstock from now on, they've sort of been at the back of my mind this year what with trying to get on top of starting up and sorting out the milkers

Looking to rotavec all the cows prior to dry-off
Tag and test all calves for BVD
Treat all calves with halocure for prevention against crypto (had real problems with this (never heard of it before this year) which has affected growth rates massively)
Vaccinate against pneumonia at birth and again as needed
Vaccinate against lepto and ibr

Inside on milk, ad-lib straw and ad-lib pellets for first 90 days (weaned off milk at 60) then outside on grazed grass + 1kg of 16% cake
Then housed on first of October and fed silage and wholecrop (4:1 ratio) plus 2kg cake until March then back out and 1kg of cake until finished serving and then just grazed grass for as long as possible before haylage in the winter

Does that sound OK to everyone?
Give yourself a break perfection is an illusion very rarely achieved.
personally I would be doubtful on the pneumonia vaccine. They only cover certain strains and it doesn’t appear you had any during the Most dangerous time when their very young.
also we measure the colustrum of all
Cows and will freeze the best for any beef calves that have a mother with poor colostrum themselves. Rather than buying powdered stuff. We also Store Good colostrum from 4th calvers plus with low Johnnes readings for any dairy heifers that need higher quality.
 

Martyn

Member
Location
South west
Thanks, this has been the worst month so far, literally no sooner than I put the post up saying things were going well and 3verything started to fall apart with sh!t flying at me from all angles :( this is just the icing on the cake ATM

Regarding colostrum, I'm going to buy one of those things (the name has escaped me!) To measure all colostrum prior to tubing the calves and anything low will get topped up with the expensive colostrum made from cows on the himalayas or whatever it is that makes them cost £30/sachet (tbf it is good stuff)

Planning on being a lot more "on it" with my youngstock from now on, they've sort of been at the back of my mind this year what with trying to get on top of starting up and sorting out the milkers

Looking to rotavec all the cows prior to dry-off
Tag and test all calves for BVD
Treat all calves with halocure for prevention against crypto (had real problems with this (never heard of it before this year) which has affected growth rates massively)
Vaccinate against pneumonia at birth and again as needed
Vaccinate against lepto and ibr

Inside on milk, ad-lib straw and ad-lib pellets for first 90 days (weaned off milk at 60) then outside on grazed grass + 1kg of 16% cake
Then housed on first of October and fed silage and wholecrop (4:1 ratio) plus 2kg cake until March then back out and 1kg of cake until finished serving and then just grazed grass for as long as possible before haylage in the winter

Does that sound OK to everyone?
Thanks, this has been the worst month so far, literally no sooner than I put the post up saying things were going well and 3verything started to fall apart with sh!t flying at me from all angles :( this is just the icing on the cake ATM

Regarding colostrum, I'm going to buy one of those things (the name has escaped me!) To measure all colostrum prior to tubing the calves and anything low will get topped up with the expensive colostrum made from cows on the himalayas or whatever it is that makes them cost £30/sachet (tbf it is good stuff)

Planning on being a lot more "on it" with my youngstock from now on, they've sort of been at the back of my mind this year what with trying to get on top of starting up and sorting out the milkers

Looking to rotavec all the cows prior to dry-off
Tag and test all calves for BVD
Treat all calves with halocure for prevention against crypto (had real problems with this (never heard of it before this year) which has affected growth rates massively)
Vaccinate against pneumonia at birth and again as needed
Vaccinate against lepto and ibr

Inside on milk, ad-lib straw and ad-lib pellets for first 90 days (weaned off milk at 60) then outside on grazed grass + 1kg of 16% cake
Then housed on first of October and fed silage and wholecrop (4:1 ratio) plus 2kg cake until March then back out and 1kg of cake until finished serving and then just grazed grass for as long as possible before haylage in the winter

Does that sound OK to everyone?
Sounds all rather complicated, maby a dose of levacide after six weeks out grazing might sort the job. Can you keep a clean paddock just for calves?
 

Werzle

Member
Location
Midlands
Hi everyone, after some advice please

10 days I had a group of 35 calves (4-7 months old) outside in a small field with shelter, all fine one day, next day a limo was on deaths door with pneumonia.
Got the vet out and ended up bringing the rest in as they were all coughing and panting, treated the worst with draxxin (those who had a very high temp and looked rough) and the rest I treated with alamycin along with metacam

Fast forward, the limo who was the worst one 10 days ago died yesterday and I've just had a friesian heifer die in my arms despite keeping on top of antibiotics and metacam as required :(

Vet has suggested to take some samples to find out exactly what type of bacteria is doing the damage which I've agreed to and then using a possibly using vaccine in future to prevent it (doing it at 10 days after birth and again in mid September along with possibly during January if needed)

The others are OKish bar one or two still a bit rough, they're all having an aspirin powder in their cake to try and provide some relief but still a lot of coughing and panting going on for my liking

Feeling pretty sh!t at the moment, any tips on helping my current ones get through it and preventing it in future?
Buy some easy breather licks, i swear they help keep airways open and while they will not help sick animals they help those teetering on the edge imo. Worse thing you can do is start messing about shutting them in one day and then changing your mind the next, i would of thought with healthy worm free ,well fed stock the option to run in and out would be the best for them. Sheltering under a hedge in bad weather without anywhere dry to laydown isnt the best for young things
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 77 43.5%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 62 35.0%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 28 15.8%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.7%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.7%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 4 2.3%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

  • 1,286
  • 1
As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
Top