Calves

@podge 23 does your calves have access to water.if so you should get a bacteria sample taken of the water.
Only presuming that maybe as your spring calving that pipes / drinkers in your calf accomadtion may not have been used for 8 or 9 mths and could be harbouring bacteria
 
So here we are again 26 cows calved all cows done for rotavirus,didn’t do the first 15 calves with halocure but have been done from there on and there is a couple of calves already showing blood and won’t drink until they are injected with an anti inflammatory and phenoumonia injection it’s the start of trouble now again .
Most calves have been taken from the cows almost straight away and feed 3 liters of bestings,and cows have gotten soya before calving .
Calves are impossible to rear here .

What are you feeding the calves day 2,3,4 etc ?
What age are they getting sick ?
Any chance you could give us a few pictures of the calf shed ,inside and out ?
 
Ya calves have access to clean water .
They are getting 4 liters of milk in each feed
These bunch I am on about now are just a week old ,but to be honest some of them are in trouble straight away .
The calf house is a 3 bay purpose built shed especially for calves so loads of air and plenty of room .

3 liters of biestings
 
Ya calves have access to clean water .
They are getting 4 liters of milk in each feed
These bunch I am on about now are just a week old ,but to be honest some of them are in trouble straight away .
The calf house is a 3 bay purpose built shed especially for calves so loads of air and plenty of room .

3 liters of biestings
Is it just 3l of bestings in total? If so not enough. They at s minimum want 3feeds of 3l. Id also be doing a blood test on the cows to see if it will show up anything. You shouldn't be getting that type of trouble
 
That's an awful pity @podge 23 thought the soya might have helped with the protein in your beastings. Maybe testing the beastings with a refractometer might help there'd often be beastings here that looks like great stuff but when I test it it's below 20ig. I don't feed any beastings below 23.
Other than that maybe a blood test on your yearling heifers will tell you all infections that they have come in contact with over the course of the last year from birth up to now done it myself this year as calves were coughing a lot last year turned out it was Pi3
 
What age are your oldest calves? If you are seeing blood in the scour, it could well be coccidiosis but I would have thought that they would need to be around a month old for that to become evident, as it has a 21 day life cycle I think.
 
I find after 3 liters they are very full it’s a lot for a baby calf .
Ya I will have to blood test some cows to get to the bottom of this,I have done it before I think and nothing showed up.

All cows done with rotovec corona .

What do you then if you had bestings that is below 23 and you had nothing else to give a calf 0nly that ?....

These calves are only a week old .

Also if ye have a couple cows say calve at 4 o clock in the morning ye hardly go out and give them biestings at that time?...
 
How long are you giving the rotavec biestings for? They need to get it for the full 12 days after birth to get full cover from it
 
I find after 3 liters they are very full it’s a lot for a baby calf .
Ya I will have to blood test some cows to get to the bottom of this,I have done it before I think and nothing showed up.

All cows done with rotovec corona .

What do you then if you had bestings that is below 23 and you had nothing else to give a calf 0nly that ?....

These calves are only a week old .

Also if ye have a couple cows say calve at 4 o clock in the morning ye hardly go out and give them biestings at that time?...
If it's below 23 I feed it to older calves early in the season if it's above 20 and I have nothing else I'll use it but if it's below 20 I won't use it I freeze beastings from the year before and if I'm stuck I'll use that.
I get up during the night to feed a calf regardless of what time it's born at. At least then I know the calf has gotten his full feed. I find getting up for half an hour during the night to feed a calf can be a lot less hardship than having to deal with sick calves. Half a day for a week could be lost with sick calves so I'd prefer to lose a small bit of sleep. After two hours of birth the calves ability to absorb the full nutrients in the beastings drops every hour.
 
I find after 3 liters they are very full it’s a lot for a baby calf .
Ya I will have to blood test some cows to get to the bottom of this,I have done it before I think and nothing showed up.

All cows done with rotovec corona .

What do you then if you had bestings that is below 23 and you had nothing else to give a calf 0nly that ?....

These calves are only a week old .

Also if ye have a couple cows say calve at 4 o clock in the morning ye hardly go out and give them biestings at that time?...
What I mean is it only one 3l feed they get of bestings? We would feed the calf once born. And it would get it's mother's milk for another 2-3 feeds. After that they move to hole milk. Which excludes high scc and antibiotics milk. Have you every blood tested some of the calfs to see what is actually going on?
 
So I had the vet today and he thinks that the halocure is causing an up set in there stomach even though he told me to use it,but there is also calves that got no halocure that went off drinking for a day too so I dunno it’s hard to make it out .
As for the young calves that wouldn’t suck I think if they get any taste of the cow there are impossible to feed or at least they are here anyway .

I am going to cut the halocure dose from 8ml to 4 as the vet recommended, it’s hard on the stomach .
 
Did he take any bloods? Any mention about iodine? Iodine gives the calves get up and go after they are born. Something is missing.
 
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Sorry to throw a spanner in the works of a serious topic but what are British freisan bull calves trading at this year, I buy 50 off the same lad every year and he reckons they are making a lot more than last year
 
Sorry to throw a spanner in the works of a serious topic but what are British freisan bull calves trading at this year, I buy 50 off the same lad every year and he reckons they are making a lot more than last year
Calves are well up this year. I will throw a figure at it but could be way out as I dont know ur circumstance, all depends how well u know him etc etc.. I know a few lads asking for 130 and 160 lesser quality fr are at 80-100
 
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