Post by mazurzoo on Jan 15, 2008 14:31:37 GMT -5
Its a pain when you change more than 1 thing at a time and then you end up with sick animals, you dont quite know whats the cause. So I figured I would run this by you.
The 2 changes both occured within 2 days of each other and they are 1) A new kind of hay from a different farm, very green hay, 3rd cutting alfalfa grass mix. I did try to mix it with the old kind for a few days to buffer the change, but I did 1/3 old and 2/3 new because I did not have much left of the old hay.
2) Sale barn calf in w/ the cows. The sale barn calf was brought here 2 days after the hay switch. He was kept seperate for only the first couple days, but was allowed to nurse Bella immediatly. He was a happy bouncing baby boy at the sale barn. Other calves looked sickly he was bouncing and trying to suck the man that was showing them off. He was very heatlhy Tues-Fri, then I went away for the weekend, so I didnt get to see him until Sunday night, when he looked down. Goobery eyes, hunched back, diarea. His poops were yellowish and normal for a calf the first couple days he was here. Sunday and Monday I was seeing white scours. His butt is all pastey now and he stinks.
So all the cattle have diarea as well, they didnt have it friday when I left, but sunday night they were all messy. The cows have very green, loose poop, I am assuming from the hay, its actually just a darker shade of the color of the hay. The cows and steer all seem like they are pulling out of the diarea phase as I see the plops are forming up nicer now. Oh, then there is our calf that is Bellas baby. She also has the diarea, its not white scours, more yellowish, and she's not acting as sick as the sale barn guy. Sometimes the sale barn guy is still boucing around happy and other times he will be looking like Eyeore really sad. I did give him a half gallon colostrum each day since I have been back, along with his nursing times on Bella. He isnt nursing as vigorous as he did before we left, but he's does.
Now we also have 4 sheep in the mix, and they seem just fine!
So with all this descriptiveness, is it the hay or is it an illness that the calf brought to everyone?
On a side note: Its truley one thing after another here, mastitis, for 6 weeks and running, and then the week before we put them on the new hay was the week the 3 adult cattle ate the 150# of feed!!! They did recover from that by the way.
Should I be giving some probios to all these guys to help them pull thru? The only one I am really concerned about is the sale barn calf, but I might be wrong. The rest to me look healthy and strong and will get over it. But if its some kind of infection in the poo then maybe not.
The 2 changes both occured within 2 days of each other and they are 1) A new kind of hay from a different farm, very green hay, 3rd cutting alfalfa grass mix. I did try to mix it with the old kind for a few days to buffer the change, but I did 1/3 old and 2/3 new because I did not have much left of the old hay.
2) Sale barn calf in w/ the cows. The sale barn calf was brought here 2 days after the hay switch. He was kept seperate for only the first couple days, but was allowed to nurse Bella immediatly. He was a happy bouncing baby boy at the sale barn. Other calves looked sickly he was bouncing and trying to suck the man that was showing them off. He was very heatlhy Tues-Fri, then I went away for the weekend, so I didnt get to see him until Sunday night, when he looked down. Goobery eyes, hunched back, diarea. His poops were yellowish and normal for a calf the first couple days he was here. Sunday and Monday I was seeing white scours. His butt is all pastey now and he stinks.
So all the cattle have diarea as well, they didnt have it friday when I left, but sunday night they were all messy. The cows have very green, loose poop, I am assuming from the hay, its actually just a darker shade of the color of the hay. The cows and steer all seem like they are pulling out of the diarea phase as I see the plops are forming up nicer now. Oh, then there is our calf that is Bellas baby. She also has the diarea, its not white scours, more yellowish, and she's not acting as sick as the sale barn guy. Sometimes the sale barn guy is still boucing around happy and other times he will be looking like Eyeore really sad. I did give him a half gallon colostrum each day since I have been back, along with his nursing times on Bella. He isnt nursing as vigorous as he did before we left, but he's does.
Now we also have 4 sheep in the mix, and they seem just fine!
So with all this descriptiveness, is it the hay or is it an illness that the calf brought to everyone?
On a side note: Its truley one thing after another here, mastitis, for 6 weeks and running, and then the week before we put them on the new hay was the week the 3 adult cattle ate the 150# of feed!!! They did recover from that by the way.
Should I be giving some probios to all these guys to help them pull thru? The only one I am really concerned about is the sale barn calf, but I might be wrong. The rest to me look healthy and strong and will get over it. But if its some kind of infection in the poo then maybe not.