scour remedies

[cowman]

The first time I heard of the "bleach" remedy I thought "well whatever"! This old boy told me about it when I was picking up some corral panels.
Later one of my neighbors told me he had heard about it and when he was having a BSE scours outbreak he gave it a try! The vet had been pushing all these expensive drugs and the calves were dying like flies...so he figured What do I have to lose?
He said one shot and the calves were away! Now I resect this guy and know he isn't a BSer!
Now I seldom ever have a scour problem but one year I got a couple of calves that got a vicious case of scours. When the old eyes start to sink into the head you might as well forget all the tubing and drugs...in my opinion!
So I figured...What do I have to lose?
Mixed it up, tubed those flat out calves, and went out the next morning expecting to drag them out to the coyote banquet!
When I went in the barn both calves were up and lustily sucking, their tails going a mile a minute! By the next day they were outside with their mommas and they never looked back!
Haven't had a case of scours since but know what I'll do if it happens!

[PureCountry]

All I can suggest is keep fresh bedding everywhere, and I would separate those that ARE SICK, from any that have yet to calve - if possible. I worked one a ranch that had a terrible outbreak, and we built makeshift pens out of bales with a panel and gate on one side. These were out in the middle of the calving paddock - 25 acres - for 230 cows. We did like emrald1 said, not 2 litres twice a day, but smaller doses more often. That is a much better way to rehydrate any critter - trust me. My boxing days taught me a few things other than breaking knuckles with my chin.

I hate to say it, but with June calving, I sure don't miss any of these '...having a wreck...' stories.

[grassfarmer]

Seperating the ones still to calf - that seems to be the key Purecountry. We read of a system developed in the states that has worked well for us. Calving in late April after the snow cover has gone on banked grass. As soon as the snow clears move the cows from their winter quarters, off feed and onto banked grass. We put about 90 cows in a 10 acre paddock, after a week we will have around 30 calves on the ground. Then move out the 60 still to calf onto another fresh paddock and so on. After a couple of weeks on the 1st paddock (first with 90 then with 60) the grass will be about gone so we then give that bunch a fresh paddock. We never have calves of more than a week age difference in the same field until they are maybe 5-6 weeks old. The key to this is understanding that the later born calves only suffer more from scours because they are born in a polluted environment. Thats why corral calving in wet or snow covered conditions makes it hard to avoid scours - it is a man made problem created by causing stress and unnatural concentration of the animals. When you calf out in the pasture cows get the chance to act naturally and remove themselves from the herd at time of calving - they know what they are doing!
This system certainly works a dream for us once we learnt that we were causing the wrecks by our management.
Afterall the deer and bison seem to have managed for quite a few years without their young needing treated with electrolytes!

[grassfarmer]

my cows come into an acre pen behind the barn, are brought into the main corral a day or two before they are going to calve and then they are in shelters with enough pen space available that they aren't crowded.
Once the calf is up and going, navel dried off and is tearing around the corral, mama and calf are kicked out on a side slope hill with calf shelters and lots of straw. Access to clean water all the time is a must so the calves don't start drinking the crappy water, that can get an oubreak of coccidiosis going in no time.
I feed diatamatious earth in the mineral feeders in the shelters. I know there are two trains of thought on it, the vets pooh pooh it but I find it keeps the calves from eating dirt and they don't seem to get coccidiosis.

[cowman]

Emerald: You should try living in my area where the darned moles out number every living thing in the world! The little buggers start pushing up the dirt before the frost goes out!
Now I don't know what it is about calves but they just love to eat that fresh pile of black dirt? And they just love to slurp that old scuzzy water!
The moles are so feroscious around here that you can only leave alphalfa down about four years before they have ruined it! They are a true joy when you are cutting hay? Especially with a sickle haybine!
There is a constant battle to keep them out of the garden and you get to be a good trapper or you don't eat!

[cowman]

Also in one of my posts above it should read "BVD scours" not BSE scours! This alzheimers can be a real problem sometimes! LOL

[cowman]

we knew what you meant !!! You can keep the moles cowman, it goes with the pricy land. They don't like this clay out in my area, and neither to gophers.

[kato]

The best treatment for scours is prevention. It can be done very effectively even when calving in corrals too. Pasture calving may be a good way to avoid scours, but it's not the only way.

Over the years we've developed a few tricks that seem to work pretty well. First thing is to make sure the calves have a clean dry place to sleep out of the weather. We've tried the calf shelter thing in the past, and found those things are nothing but scour incubators. Now we just string an electric wire across the front of the big cow sheds to keep the cows out. It's a big enough area that it stays really nice and dry with just calves running around in there, and you can bed them really well. They are not crowded, and there's room to even give them their own hay bale in there. They really appreciate that, because if you rely on the cows to let them eat out of their feeders, it ain't gonna happen. All the calves will get is the leftovers that have been pounded down, and we all know what that will lead to.

We also vaccinate. Cows get Scourguard, and as a backup, the heifer's calves get a dose of Calfguard when they are born. It's so much cheaper to prevent that try and survive a scour outbreak.

My best advice, learned working at the vet clinic is that if you think you've got an outbreak starting, get a sample of manure from an untreated calf, and get it sent to the lab. Find out what you are dealing with right off the start. We see so many people who don't come for help until after they've lost a bunch of calves, and it's a real heartbreaker to see.

Some types of scours, such as cryptosporidia, can totally demolish an entire calf crop if they get established. A viral scour outbreak is bad, but it can also be stopped in it's tracks by using the Calfguard vaccine. We've seen that happen more than once.

As for the scour remedies, no matter what you use, use it early. If they're 'easy to catch', they're really sick.

[grassfarmer]

Our local vet has some bizarre ideas on scours - not interested in taking samples and identifying what type of scour you are fighting. Instead its pour electrolyte into them, so much that they get bloated and are still squirting out scour a week later but sometimes can't stand. My Dad used to lament the fact that he could get scour samples analysed in 24 hours in the 1960s where it takes them 3-4 days today - how long does it take in Canada?

[kato]

You get an initial result in about a day, but the culture and sensitivity takes a couple of days. That's the part where they test the bug to see which antibiotics it's resistant to.

If my vet refused to send samples to the lab, I'd pester him until he did. How can you treat a problem if you don't know what it is?