“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Although Benjamin Franklin was referring to fire prevention when he wrote that phrase, the same phrase can have literal implications when it comes to saving pounds through scours prevention in calves.
A study out of Montana State University that looked at herd health records over a 14-year period reported that, on average, a case of scours decreased weaning weight by 20 to 30 pounds. In today’s market, protecting weaning weight through implementation of scours prevention practices can be worth the investment.
Scours is the leading cause of early death loss in calves and can affect 10% to 60% of the calf crop. Multiple infectious agents, including viruses (rotavirus or BVDV), bacteria (E. coli or salmonella) and parasites (coccidia) can cause scours. The multifactor nature of scours infections means that there is no silver bullet when it comes to prevention. Instead, there are a variety of methods that can help avoid an outbreak and prevent future losses. Prevention methods can vary because of facilities management and health protocols, including feed additives. The following are some management tips for scours prevention.
Be proactive in facilities management
Planning is essential to get facilities ready for the calving season and ensure that calving pens are clean and dry at the beginning of calving. If multiple calving pens are available, have a plan that includes rotating areas to allow pens time to dry out between groups. Have clean bedding on hand in case calving areas get muddy. Sanitize the inside of calving barns if possible, as many bacteria can survive for long periods of time on surfaces. Sanitization of areas where calves congregate can help prevent the spread of pathogens as well. Spraying chlorine dioxide or a diluted bleach solution onto walls, gates, fences and equipment works well to disinfect surfaces.
Develop health protocols
Work with your local veterinarian to establish vaccination protocols that can help prevent scours outbreaks, and have an emergency calving kit prepared prior to calving. This kit should include essential medicines, needles, syringes, disinfectants, fluids, electrolytes and colostrum replacer. Your vet can provide a complete list of essentials for the kit.
Don’t overcrowd calving areas
Many of the causative agents of scours are present in manure. Overcrowding calving spaces can increase manure load within the pen, increasing the risk of pathogen exposure to young calves. Minimize commingling of animals early in the calving season to reduce the risk of older calves spreading scours to younger, more vulnerable calves.
Utilize feed additives
Scours is caused by inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract, making it a gut health problem. This inflammation is caused by an unhealthy balance of bacteria within the gut where pathogenic bacteria outnumber beneficial bacteria. There are multiple feed additives that can be incorporated into mineral supplements, cake, milk replacer, creep feed or weaning diets that serve to promote gut health. Probiotics and prebiotics are two classes of feed additives that promote a healthy gut microbiome and support healthy immune function. Probiotics are live, beneficial yeast or bacteria that support growth of healthy bacteria within the gut. Prebiotics are most commonly indigestible fiber portions that act to promote growth of beneficial bacteria. Mannan oligosaccharides (MOS) are a common prebiotic used in ruminant diets.
Act quickly
The most important tip is to act quickly once a case of scours is detected. The easiest identifiable symptom is diarrhea, which is loose watery stool and can be brown, green, yellow, white or even bloody. Other symptoms to watch for include calves with weak suckling reflexes, depression and dehydration, which can look like sunken eyes or abdomen. Remove sick calves from the rest of the herd as soon as possible to minimize contamination between animals. Scours pathogens can be highly contagious, so quick isolation of sick individuals could be the difference between calves getting sick or staying healthy. Immediate treatment with fluids and electrolytes is essential to shortening the recovery time of calves.
Getting calves off to a healthy start is a critical part of maximizing the profitability of your calf crop. In the case of scours, an ounce of prevention can be worth literal pounds.
References omitted but are available upon request by sending an email to the editor.
