problems with calves dieing

[waterhen]

I am having a problem with some of my claves dieing and i cant figure out why, they seem to be dehidrated, runny nosed and they seem almost blind. The ones i can catch soon enough seem to walk into things, mind you it comes on very fast. I have tubed them with mild and electrolytes and it seems to help for a little bit then a few hours later they are dead. Any suggestions?
Thanks,

[Muttley]

I had a problem that sounds a little the same a few years ago. My calves were going blind and seem somewhat dopey. Our problem was poisoning from calves licking an old battery. We lost a couple and the sick ones straightened out with meds from the vet.

[ALICIA]

LIKING HYDROLIKE FUEL ALSO

[kato]

Antifreeze is deadly too.

However, they can also get septicemia (infection right in the bloodstream) that gets into the eyes. When that happens their eyes turn a funny blue green colour. It's really wierd looking.

Have you taken one in to the vet's for autopsy? I would recommend it.

[Harper]

We lost four calves last year - the first three were found dead and the last one was wandering around aimlessly and was dehydrated, licking its lips. As soon as we lost the first 2, I researched lead poisoning on the internet and found there are several things that cause it but old batteries is one common problem - one article said one old battery can kill up to 20 animals - we searched the pasture (it was a pasture that we had never used before) and found a stash of old batteries. After removing them, we still lost a couple more calves but the vet said even a flake off an old battery can be enough to kill them so we put an electric fence around the junk site and never lost any more. The article also said licking grease from old machinery can poison them.

Good luck -hope you find the source of the problem - know what you are going through and it sure is a sickening feeling!

[bombay_43]

Are any of your cows getting a swelling under their chins?

We have had what you describe and found out that the cows had some sort of internal parasites. This in turn caused their calves to become weak and stupid, and eventually die.(most also went through scours, and no amount of treatment helped)

Ivomec the mothers and see if it helps on the calves. First sign we had of a problem, appeared as swellings under the cows chin. Our vet said that the parasites were consuming the nourishment from the cows, and the swelling was the first sign of malnutrition.

Hope this helps.

[ianben]

If it is lead this can come from old paint. We lost two calves when we blocked a gap with an old green door. They licked it died most paint used to be lead based I m told.