unthrifty calf
 

Got a 3-4 month old holstein bull calf, that just isn't looking good.

Was weaned at about 2 1/2 months old and looked great then, he eats his grain and hay fine, and was even out on pasture, but I think out there he got bullied around by the other bull calves and was shoved out of the food.

We brought him in about a month ago so we could monitor him and he just isn't putting any real weight on. His spine and tail bones are showing way too much, but he does have a little belly on him.

Poop wise though he is on the runny side, dark in color, but runny, it won't leave a pile just a puddle.

Thinking that he has white muscle and have given vit e, that is all I had,
trying to get the vet out to look at a calf is nearly impossible unless you have a problem with the horse. And most vets out here are the same way, haven't found on yet that does large animals in the area.


ANy ideas?

Try worming him. That's what it sounds like to me.

We did give him the safeguard pellets about a week ago, should I give it to him again?

I would use something stronger than Safeguard. Try Ivomec or Cydectin. Safeguard is one of the weakest wormers and may not be getting it.
Also....does he have a good loose mineral available?

White muscle is too acute to be the cause of untrhiftiness but it is important to know what deficeincies are in your area or the area you are buying feed from. A good trace mineral block is essential, plus ditto what the two above me have said. You can also try adding sugar beets, calf mana, something sweet as an appetite booster.

Could he have eaten the Twine from bales of hay. I sold A feeder once and the guy fed him with the horses ,Poor calf had A ball of twine weighing 20# in his belly when dressed.Try pressing on his gut. If its hard he may have A blockage. You may want to find A PRO botic for him to repopulate the gut. with the Digestive Bacteria A calf needs.

He has been getting a little claf manna in his grain, although he always cleans that up and also any hay we give him.
I'm going to the co-op in the morning so I will get a different dewormer for him and a mineral block, We have the basic mineral block, but will try to look for something different.

No eating baler twine that I know of, his gut feels like all the others will also get some probiotics.

Thanks for all the input.

Anything else?

I would try a good loose mineral that he can get at free-choice. Sometimes with a deficiency, they just cannot get enough from a block.

I was wondering about that, Emily.

If the block just wasn't enough.

The cruelest treatment I could imagine for a human would be to chain him to a hickory tree during the time the nuts are in season and give him 2 rocks and watch him slowly starve to death. The same goes for a cow given a mineral salt block! Feed loose minerals and salt to an animal that is essential parasite free and a good quality and quantity of feed and it will typically thrive.

If his manure is a puddle instead of a patty, it is possible that his grain/forage ratio is incorrect. Coccidosis is another possible suspect with unthrifty dairy calves of that age.
Agree with the above posts that loose minerals are a better product than blocks.

He doesn't get that much grain, but he gets all the hay he wants, cause we weren't sure what was causing the problem.

Got the dewormer, loose minerals but they were out of probiatics. Will have to try TSC tomorrow

You weaned him too early. You should never wean the calf before 6 months.

He's a Holstein. Frankly, I have never seen a commercial dairy that was still giving calves milk at 6 months of age! :eek:

Persistently infected (PI) calves who are the offspring of mothers with bovine viral diarrhea (BVD) often appear unthrifty. The vet can do a test using an ear notch.

Good luck with the lil guy!

Dairy calves are routinely weaned at three months or younger. I keep mine on milk till three-five months. But I have that option since I don't have a commercial cattle dairy.
Beef calves are another matter.

Are we talking commercial or natural cycle? Because the natural cycle for a calf is about 6 months. Give or take.

He seems to be getting better in the poo department, not quite there yet, but some of it looks to be trying to clump, shall we say.

Another issue now is that he is having a hard time getting up on his own, but once helped up he stays up and moves around.

I wean calves when they show me that they don't need/want it anymore. When they go for about a week of not running up to me to get a bottle and would rather keep their head in the feed bucket instead of standing there and drinkng the bottle, well that's when they start to get weaned.

I did check his age, he is 4 months old and this has been going on for about 2 1/2 weeks.

The others his age, same method, are fine. I really think they bullied him out of the feed, he's not at rough/tough as they are, he's more mellow.

Neither. We are talking about homesteaders raising a few or several calves on the bottle.

A natural cycle would be for a calf to stay with its mom for up to 9 months even though they can be weaned in as little as 4 weeks. The reason for this is a young calf can not get enough nourishment from grass alone to sustain itself.

A homesteader that is bottle feeding a calf would not want to do it for this long because it is a lot of work and milk is very expensive compared to other feed sources. So they will wean calves from about 8 to 12 wks old and supplement the ration with grain instead of milk.

On a commercial farm this time frame goes down to 4 to 8 wks. This can be done because the farmer has more experience in working with young animals. Personally; any calf that is not weaned around here by 8 wks old (unless their is a good reason) better pack her bags because she is fixing to take a ride down the road.

Just thought I'd give you an update on the calf.

He is getting up on his own again, and his pooh is looking more normal now, occasionally it will still be real soft, but most of the time it is pattying like it should.

Thanks guys for the help.


Now if I could just figure out why my little jersey heifer calf started to scour, I would be just peachy.

How old is the heifer and how much are you feeding at a time? To start with give her pepto bismal. This should start to help with the scoots.

heifer is about 1 1/2 weeks old getting 1/2 bottle 2x day. goat milk.