Methods include: Oral administration: This option is most appropriate for scouring calves that are still able to stand and who are alert enough to follow their dams and move away when approached. Since most beef calves will not accept being fed by a bottle, water and electrolytes are most often delivered by an esophageal feeder.
Electrolyte powders that have been prepared by veterinary pharmaceutical manufacturers are carefully balanced to provide the correct proportions of salts relative to water for optimal benefit to the calf; these are recommended over home-prepared recipes. Depending on the size of the calf and the severity of the scours, 2 - 6 quarts of electrolytes may need to be administered each day. Typically, the total volume of fluid is divided into two or more feedings per day.
Intravenous administration : This route of fluid administration is typically reserved for those calves that are too weak to stand or too lethargic to follow the dam or avoid being caught. The fluids are typically administered through a catheter placed in the jugular vein. Nutritional support: A calf with severe scours may not want to nurse much in the first day or two of the illness.
Most calves will regain their appetite with appropriate fluid therapy, as described above. However, since scours can last several days, baby calves who fail to nurse or be fed milk are at risk of starvation.
Consult with your veterinarian to develop a feeding regimen for scouring calves. Thermal support: Providing bedding, shelter from wind, rain, and snow so that the calf does not experience excessive cold stress on top of its existing disease.
Practicing proper biosecurity is critical. Ideally, people working with infected calves should not work with healthy calves. Whenever possible, isolate scouring calves and their dams from healthy cattle. It is important to note that some infectious agents that make calves ill can also make people sick.
People working with scouring calves should wash their hands before and after handling calves, their feed or their bedding. Calf scours prevention: Ensure that all newborn calves receive colostrum. If the delivery was difficult, the dam may be tired or painful, and the calf may be weakened as well; this may result in a failure of the calf to nurse colostrum.
In such cases, it is prudent to milk the colostrum from the dam and feed it to the calf via an esophageal feeder. It is much the same case when a calf gets the scours. Skip to main content. Content ID By Jordan Anderson. Read more about Cattle. More Cattle. Keep them healthy from the start. If a calf is still on its feet and drinking, acidosis is probably mild and can be corrected with oral electrolytes. But once the calf goes down, some may respond to electrolytes, some may need intravenous fluids.
It's important to make sure the electrolyte solution meets the principles of treatment — correct dehydration, replace electrolytes and correct blood pH — and that diarrhea is caught early.
By the time the calf isn't drinking its milk or is down, it's probably too late to treat with oral electrolytes. If diarrhea is recognized early and treated aggressively with oral electrolytes, "we should be ok with treatment most of the time," said Smith. One of those pathways is glucose, which many oral electrolytes contain. But typically, either a neutral amino acid, like glycine, or volatile fatty acid, like acette, or sometimes both, are also pathways to help facilitate the absorption of sodium in the intestine.
Most of the better products will contain glycine, Smith said. It's one of the more expensive ingredients so cheaper products will cut out glycine. An alkalinizing agent like acetate, propionate or bicarbonate will help increase the pH level in the blood. Additionally, there should be some energy fuels for the calf, like glucose, "particularly if withholding milk for any length of time," said Smith. It's also important to stay away from products with high osmolality, which refers to how concentrated the product is.
The higher the osmolality the more sugar there is in the product. If osmolality is pushed too high Smith said there is a risk of having more severe scours and abomasal bloat. Alkalizing agents like bicarbonate, acetate and propionate, increase the pH level of the blood.
In the U. While bicarbonate works, Smith said there are several advantages to acetate or propionate, which produce energy when metabolized whereas bicarbonate does not. Also, acetate helps with sodium absorption. Using bicarbonate products day after day could increase the pH of the stomach and promote bacterial growth in the stomach.
Smith recommends feeding oral electrolytes at least once a day as an extra meal for dairy calves, twice if scouring is bad.
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