Bottle calves w/diarrhea???

[skyedobb]

Newbie to bottle calves. We have 2 5-wk olds that we're starting to wean and 3 2-wk olds that are on milk replacer. Both older ones and one of the younger ones eat calf starter and nibble on hay. We've had these calves for just over a week now and they came from a small (closed, assuming) dairy herd.

What should the consistency of their poo be? Color?

Two of the younger ones have diarrhea that is completely liquid and yellow. Looks more like a heifer peeing than a bull calf pooing. The other younger one is a bit more solid but still pretty loose. One of the older ones has green colored poo that is half liquid half solid, and the other older one is a little more solid than loose.

We have them on Arrest, just to stay on top of the diarrhea/electrolyte loss.

Have no idea what to expect! They're on milk replacer so should we expect liquid out since we're putting in liquid? Since they came from a closed herd and were previously on milk, perhaps they're still adjusting to the change in environment and food?

Appreciate the help!!

 

[aggieterpkatie]

IMO, you're weaning your 5 week olds too early. Their rumen starts developing around 4 weeks, and at 5 weeks it's not developed enough to take them off milk. I'd wean at 8 weeks, no earlier.

What kind of milk replacer are they on now? Is it a good quality one? It could be dietary changes if they were on waste milk or something at the dairy vs. replacer at your place. Do any of them have fevers? Their manure should be soft, but not liquid.

 

[she-earl]

I agree that five-weeks-old is too young to wean calves. We wean ours between sic and seven weeks. From the start, we put fresh water in front of them and a calf starter feed. They should be eating the feed good when it is time to wean them. We offer hay when we begin weaning them.
You need to be concerned about dehydration if they have scours. You can feed alternate feedings of electrolytes and milk replacer. If they have the scours really bad, you may need to put them back on whole milk and gradually switch them back to milk replacer. The dairy where you got the calves may have "fresh" milk that isn't able to be put in the tank so soon after freshening. If they do, I would suggest you put them on whole milk for several feedings. Then for several feedings, I would give them 3/4 of whole milk and 1/4 of milk replacer. Then I would give them more feedings of 1/2 milk and 1/2 milk replacer. Then a couple of feedings of 1/4 whole milk and 3/4 milk replacer.
I have been taking feeding the calves on our farm for 20+ years. I have used this switching method on all our newborn calves and have found it to work real well for preventing scours.
Let us know how they do.

 

[goodhors]

We had problems with our bottle calf too and the Vet advised feeding 3 times a day. So calf got a bottle at 6A, 12P and 7P. Calf's system did settle down from the runs with the 3 feedings. This made him get extra milk to help fill him up. He had calf pellets, which appeared to be dairy cow alfalfa. He liked them but was not eating a lot real quick.

With the heat then, we were also giving him an extra bottle of water between feedings, since he didn't seem to like drinking water from a bucket. I was worried about him dehydrating, wanted extra liquid in him. No meds at all except in his milk replacer with antibiotics. We went thru 2 bags of replacer, I think he was about 8 weeks old. But with only one calf, I wanted to use up all the replacer. He liked his replacer warm, which did seem to mix better as well.

He still will holler if he sees the bottle, runs over to you and will drink water if you offer the bottle. Now about 8 months old. Daughter thinks he is funny, and likes to give him the bottle now and again.