Scepticemia in calves

[Farmer Fin]

Most are dying at 24-48 but some are sooner.

The first 200+ calves are a picture of health and the ones dying are not coming out dopey. All the cows get a TE bolus at dry off.

I've had a couple of messages pointing me towards k99 ecoli and I think this is the likely cause.

I am having some PM's done as well.

PM is the way forward. Age plays a big part so try and give the vets as much info as possible. Ecoli will hit after 24hrs. Are your lads keeping all the colostrum handling stuff meticulously clean? Bottles / tubes? Good luck.

 

[Cows 'n grass]

All colostrum handling and feeding is done by me and I'm very particular

 

[Headless chicken]

No, I never have but I almost certainly will going forward.

It's doubtful whether it's worth it now because there's a three week time lag before you get any significant effect and by that point I'll only have a few left to calve and they'll all be calving outside as well.

you can get rota aid tubes. It’s not perfect but better than nothing if you think it might be a problem

 

[Cowmansam]

If it is ecoli you will struggle to find it in a pm

 

[Cowmansam]

You can get snap tests that come up with the different colours for different bugs swab the calves mouths and will give you instant results

 

[In the pit]

Most are dying at 24-48 but some are sooner.

The first 200+ calves are a picture of health and the ones dying are not coming out dopey. All the cows get a TE bolus at dry off.

I've had a couple of messages pointing me towards k99 ecoli and I think this is the likely cause.

I am having some PM's done as well.

Had this in september
Definitely ecoli
Had mine dying at 24 hrs old so stopped using that particular pen and everything was fine
Had to inject with marbocyl which was the only thing what hit it
50% died 50% lived
We did pm"s and it was a nasty strain of ecoli
There's nothing else that can hit a calf at that age

 

[In the pit]

If it is ecoli you will struggle to find it in a pm

Rubbish

 

[Cowmansam]

We never found anything in the pms we had done and that was at the vi center yet was showing up on the quick tests they said as it was hitting them that fast it wasn’t showing up yet it will on swabs

 

[In the pit]

We never found anything in the pms we had done and that was at the vi center yet was showing up on the quick tests they said as it was hitting them that fast it wasn’t showing up yet it will on swabs

Took ours to the vi centre in carmarthen died morning in canter by dinner cut up by tea only way to get results is from fresh dead

 

[In the pit]

Ours problems are exactly same as yours first 80 calves no issues and then next 20 problems .stopped using that particular pen and next 100 calves no issues

 

[Cowmansam]

Ours was the same

 

[Davy]

Happened here too, ecoli, same symptoms. Only thing that stopped it at the time for us was synulox. Vaccinating with rotavec has cured it

 

[Sparkymark]

Is your dump bucket which you collect colostrum completely sterile?

 

[Sid]

@Cows 'n grass
Get one up to Starcross ASAP

Top class service from them.

Edit- vet told us , calves don't die from scours they die from dehydration.

We have used chicken eggs to great effect in calves with scours. Crack one in their milk, not as a suppository!

 

[jimmer]

Yes, full health. Calving easily and milking well. The calves are all lively too, they're up in minutes and running round the shed.

The only thing is the calving cows are slightly looser than I would expect for a mature haylage diet

Probably not after reading last few posts, but is there something on the new steels, or concrete even that the cows are licking/ingesting, and passing onto calves
Different straw in that particular shed?
We calved a fair few in a shed last year, then started losing calves, weather turned, so calved outside and issues stopped
Bloody frustrating when the answer isn't obvious

 

[Muck Spreader]

Most are dying at 24-48 but some are sooner.

The first 200+ calves are a picture of health and the ones dying are not coming out dopey. All the cows get a TE bolus at dry off.

I've had a couple of messages pointing me towards k99 ecoli and I think this is the likely cause.

I am having some PM's done as well.

What exactly are the symptoms you are seeing? Are they showing rapid signs of dehydration, scouring, colour constancy, temperature up, down or normal, any physical signs like heavy mucus or muzzle lesions etc.

 

[Bennyhill]

Have you tested the quality of the colostrum? Ours was very low one year and we had similar problems.

 

[ollie989898]

Dehydration is a killer, not sure it would help in the situation described but using a proprietary rehydration solution for calves that have problem scours is a must as the use of sugar and electrolytes combined gets them from the gut into the bloodstream rapidly.

Have heard of people using eggs and yoghurt to good effect as well in sick calves.

If the situation the OP describes is ecoli or similar, how do you clean out a shed effectively to put an end to it? I'd be worried sick about using the building ever again? Pressure wash the floor and walls and use lime or something?

 

[Llmmm]

No, I never have but I almost certainly will going forward.

It's doubtful whether it's worth it now because there's a three week time lag before you get any significant effect and by that point I'll only have a few left to calve and they'll all be calving outside as well.

The vaccine will help within days with the severity of infection was in a similar situation few years back and the calves which were born less than three weeks from vaccine still got scour but not near as severe