wobbly calves

[farmerboy]

We have had some cases of 10 day old calves becoming really slow, and difficulty getting up. Once they are up they are wobbling in the back end and weaving like they are drunk. They do not have scours, will still suck and have a fever of 103. We have talked to 3 different vets with no success. They mention selenium defficiency (we give the cows 5cc sel a few weeks before calving and the babies get 1cc sel at birth) lice (none found, ivomeced herd in Nov) ulcers (we know what ulcers are and they always result in rapid deaath) scours (none) eating strings (none; feed with bale pro and remove twine on bales fed) etc etc Has anyone heard of anything like this? They slowly improved when treated with a sulfa drug, steroid, Vit B, etc. The worst case was a week ago, after a sno storm, he could not rise without help; very weak. Any help or suggestions anyone? We just found a new case today.The last two we treated for a week.

[countryguy]

Have the vets ruled out joint ill? If not,try treating the navels of newborn calves with iodine and make sure the calves are bedded very well.You may have Streptococcus or some other germ living at your place which is getting into the calves via the navel causing the joint ill.If possible try moving the newborns to another place.Hope this helps.

[nerves]

This is a tough one we had this go through out herd about three years ago. Don"t what caused it but we had sucess with lots tubing three times a day and predef also noticed the noses were realy slimey on ends instead of dry or moist. We also changed fields putting the calves on hilly ares where there was very few puddles and made them drink well water. Some got it twice. Happened at the tail end of calving only the young got it and lost about 25% of the ones that had it, untill we switched feilds. Not much help I know would like to know myself what it was.

[skeeter]

Could be acidosis I have used a drench of Revibe and a couple of tablespoons of baking soda with some success. Even straight baking soda will help if thats the problem.

[CattleAnnie]

Had a week old calf come down with similar symptoms. Treated him with Nuflor. Seemed to do the trick.
Also have had some amazing success with Nuflor and navel infection (worked three times faster than Biomycin, our usual stand-by for serious infections).
Weird but nice for a drug we usually reserve for treating respiratory illnesses.
Good luck

[kato]

Calves can pick up infections through their navels which sometimes get into the bloodstream. It's called septicemia. It can kill them very quickly. It can happen so fast that the navel really doesn't look that bad, either.

It's a problem we deal with all the time in our yard. Don't know why, they have all the bedding and shelter they could ever ask for, but still get it. Dipping the navels doesn't help either. We treat with Nuflor too, and have good luck. We've had them go down so fast that they have had to be taken to the vet and put on an IV with antibiotics right in it. If he goes from healthy to flat out cold on the ground in a matter of hours, that's what he needs to save him.

Strangely enough, we tried double vaccinating the whole cow herd with Scourguard last year. Treated them just like they were heifers. We were thinking that if it's an e coli infection, maybe the extra shot of vaccine would help. It did help a lot, too. Dropped our infection rate by at least 75%.

[WoolyBear]

I don't know much about this but here goes.

When checking out Selenium a year or so ago, there are 2 different concentrations of Selenium on the market. One of which was 4 times the concentration. I don't have the lables handy to know what would happen if you administered the more concentrated version at the less concentrated doseage. Selenium I know is really toxic in small amounts, expecially if the cows had their shots before they calved too.......

[cowman]

No way can I tell you what this might be. But I will tell you that a really good salt/mineral mix can solve a whole lot of problems. There really is no need to give cows or calves a shot of selenium if the mommas have been getting the right mix. Don't go with what your vet tells you in the way of mineral/trace minerals go with what a nutritionalist tells you. The training a vet gets in nutrition is fairly inadequate when compared to a nutrtionalist. Get a loose mix not the blocks and make it the only salt available. At times you might think they are going to eat you out of house and home but it is well worth it in herd health. Go with a local company that mixes for your area instead of a generic mix.
The only other thing I might ask is hows your vaccination program? IBR can do some strange things, especially to young calves?

[farmerboy]

Thanks for all the suggestions. We forgot to mention that we are in a selenium defficient area and we HAVE to supplement AND inject selenium or we will have a wreck. We are using the same mineral as most others. Anyway had the vet over yesterday to take blood and stool sample from latest patient and looking and examining it he could find no navel problem, but suggested it could be a virus. He said viruses typically start in 10-day old calves. Hopefully will have an answer by end of the week. We watch our navels pretty closely and dip in iodine and use LA white penicillin on them if needed. Anyway the virus thing sounds likely as we are getting close to done calving and there is getting to be a buildup everywhere.
CattleAnnie, we have tried Nuflor at our place and never had any success with it, not even on navel problems.But thanks everyone for your replies; we have never seen anything like this and wondered if anyone else had experience with these kind of symptoms. There's something every year, isn't there.

[bombay_43]

Farmerboy, we have also experienced those symptoms in calves. Not this year, knock on wood, but I for one would certainly like to hear what results your vet comes up with. Please keep us posted.

[bunny]

We have a 10 day old heifer calf, swollen navel March 17, started her on Nuflor every other day as advise by the vet. She seemed to be getting better until yesterday, found her flat out and heavy breathing. Doesn't have much interest in sucking, just tastes it. She walks around with her tail in the air now whenever she's up. Haven't seen her have a bm for 3 days, urinated a lot yesterday. Her temp was 39 this morning. Got Anti-Gas from the vet and gave her 2 doses of that last night, still no stool..
We treated her navel with iodine, like we do all the calves, no probs before now. She got her first colostrum from the bottle too.
She's still not doing well, any suggestions???? Thanks everyone.

[cheetah]

bunny, I think you should give the calf "mineral oil", but be very careful. Since it is tasteless, it easily goes down the windpipe instead of the esophagus, unless you use a tube to feed it. I don't like tubes, so I mix the oil with molases or sugar and administer it with a syringe or even a small spoon. It help for me.There is mineral oil for vet use, dos.240 to 960 ml depending on body weight and severity of condition.

[bunny]

Thanks cheetah, she's actually had a stool since my question. And I don't like tubing either.
She's still very listless, and feels a bit warm, she won't eat any roughage like all the others. Gave her another dose of the Nuflor, not sure if it's doing the trick though. One more dose to go according to the vet directions. Hope she's better tomorrow. Thanks again for the advise.. Nice to know someone is there to help.

[farmerboy]

Bunny a vet told us once that there is barely any blood flow around the navel area, and so consequently you need to needle for a long time; told us to use white penicillin daily if it is very bad, otherwise LA white every 3 days. Someone told us to use Nuflor, only one needle needed and it will be good; however, we never got any response from Nuflor at all for navels. Does it work for you?

[kato]

Nuflor gets into tissues better than a lot of drugs. Joints too.

The poor circulation thing makes sense, and the navel is a tough thing to treat at the best of times. Sometimes it takes a lot longer than you might think. You think you have it cleared up, and it's back.

Could this calf have an abscess developing in there? Sometimes the infection carries on up into the gut, and gets pretty nasty.