blood in poop

Welcome aboard Brian...

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TOPSIDE FARMS

All of you guys overanalyze. If it is some blood in the manure, it is a small amount, it is completely normal. What happens when they get the runs is they strain, small blood vessels in the anus break, and some blood goes into the manure. I have seen this is many calves we have had here, it goes away when their loose manure goes away. What you should do, give the calf something to harden the stool, it will help.



Jeff

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"Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death" Patrick Henry, March 23rd, 1775

Just a warning: I raise goats better than calves

Our second calf was born one week ago today and she is a angus/jersey cross. Healthy and looks great, but after reading this thread, I've realized that I'm WAAAAYYYYY over feeding...don't kill me for this, but she was drinking close to a gallon of raw milk from our jersey every feeding 3x a day. Now that I know my mistake, I will be trying to fix it (if it's not too late).

Do you think that the overfeeding is the cause for finding a little bit of blood in her stool today?? There was like clear jelly mucus with blood in it...in her stool...not a lot, but enough to notice. The rest of her stool seems normal despite it's smell lol.

Thank you for your help - I'm a goat girl trying to raise this calf for meat.......I don't know if it's Cocci, Salmonella or overfeeding. thanks.

Sorry, can't advise you on bottle feeding, but others here can. One thing you can do is take a fecal sample to your vet or regional animal health lab for testing. I'd do this as soon as possible.

FeminineFarmgir

Occasional blood in a calf's stool as you described it is normal. If the calf hasn't scoured on the milk you are feeding it you haven't hurt it, if you keep it up it will be a fat little butter ball though.

First, from the old thread, someone insisted a 2 week old calf had coccidiosis. But it takes 3 weeks to become sick after ingesting the bug.

http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/in...m/bc/21202.htm

Undigested milk goes to the lower intestine and is fermented, which is irritating to the lining, and causes inflammation and potential limited blood. So blood does not mean an infection. Though the excess undigested milk, and inflammation can predispose to certain infections.

Undigested milk occurs from either overfeeding, or poor quality milk replacer which the calf lacks enzymes to digest (e.g. soy in the first three weeks of life).

I bottle raised some hereford/jersey cross calves this spring and was giving them 4 quarts a day. More would be okay - but there is probably a limit. You might cut her back to 2 gallons.

Great explaination DJ....

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TOPSIDE FARMS

DJ also mentions a good point about soy milk replacer. You should always read the label and get milk based.

Thank you all! I have cut her back to a gallon and a half each day and as she gets older, I may give her a little more...just to clarify, she gets milk from her own momma (I milk the cow then put it in the bottle and feed the calf) not milk replacer.

I didn't see any blood in the poo this morning and I've got my fingers crossed!
Blessings~