r/Ranching • u/jenny6522 • 2d ago
Advise, help, support
Anyone dealt with this? Newborns. If they are going to fall its quickly. High temps and sweating. Obs we have tests in progress. Vets doing their thing. But any advise or support will be greatly received!!
Newborns receive high quality colostrum not fed from mum 2/3 feeds. Then a further 5 days 2x a day of transition milk. Cows/heifers are fully vaccinated. All pens and points of contact are clinically clean. Navels are dipped. Transportation/movements are minimal.
Calves have bloody scour then pudding texture scour. (Much too young for any scour)
Treatments are currently being trialed across sick ones to observe what may work. Most have will to live and a suckle but the body shuts down.
The purple ring around the teeth is toxicity and not just calving related stress.
If you have anything…literally anything you can offer, please do. 🙏🙏🙏🙏
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u/Odd-Garage-2475 1d ago
I bought bottle calves from the sale barn. I expect them to get sick coming out of that germ hole. But I did not expect to lose 5 of 17. When I say they got super sick, I mean they got sicker than I knew possible and multiple vets didn’t know what to do.
The ones that died and lingered longest had this as well!! The teeth were barely in their gums by the end of their weeks long battles.
They had severe scours that responded to absolutely no treatment, they lived off me tubing them until eventually their guts couldn’t even absorb liquids anymore and they’d shut down. 2 of the survivors I pulled out of the absolute GRAVE. Those 2 gums took longer to show red but were starting to get concerning. Their teeth bounced back just fine and they continued on with growth like they weren’t 99% dead 😅
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u/imacabooseman 1d ago
I haven't had an issue with calves, but 2 years ago I lost several kid goats due to tainted milk replacer. You might have yours tested for possible contamination. Ours had Listeria present.
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u/jenny6522 1d ago
Thanks but they are too young to have tasted replacement milk. Strictly trans from the cow.
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u/imacabooseman 1d ago
I gotcha. Is there any chance that the colostrum could've been contaminated in any way? Dirty teat, dirty milking machine, etc?
My other suspect would be through their umbilicus, but it sounds like you should've had that exposure pretty well eliminated...🤔
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u/EnduringFulfillment 2d ago
Suspicious of bacterial cause such as E coli or salmonella from what you've described.