Bottle Calves sick after one week

Once again I want to thank everyone for the advice, most stuff I am already doing and will incorporate the other things. I do not currently have any young calves but need to be ready when the spring birthing starts.

Thanks topside1 and sorry it took me so long to reply also. Can you describe your weaning process (age, what they are fed once weaned, amount, do you decrease milk slowly while introducing feed, etc. ?

Good to know francismilker. I always try to do my homework and get good advice before attempting something that I have no experience with.

Definitely too much milk replacer...

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I have raised a total of 10 bottle calves and currently have 12 right now. I made some changes and they have all done well. With the cold weather I increased the straw bedding but I think the main thing was decreasing the amount of Milk Replacer. I was feeding two quarts twice a day, now the first day I feed one quart twice a day and increase each day until I feed two quarts per feeding. It has stopped the scours which was my main problem. I have not lost a calf out of the 22 calf total.

Thanks to everyone who responded to my plea

You are very welcome, keep up the great work....Topside

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TOPSIDE FARMS

Did some reading and here's some points to consider. I wrote this in a word document and this site doesn't like the format, so I hope this is readable.

Bottom line is you need to get a vet involved to figure this out.

I looked up the instructions for your Milk Replacer and it says 1.5 to 2 quarts twice daily. I doubt overfeeding is causing your deaths.

Pneumonia is uncommon in calves less than 30 days old.
Diarrhea caused mostly by bacteria or viruses. Viruses aren't as severe, generally.

Most likely you are getting illness from one of these bacteria - E. Coli or Salmonellla.

They can cause bad diarrhea, or they can cause illness and death without diarrhea, by getting into the bloodstream (septicemia).

Need to get cultures done to figure out which bug you have so you can use the right antibiotic. Giving shots better than oral antibiotics, as oral ones can mess up the normal gut bacteria.
Salmonella causes a fever, so good to take temperatures if you catch them early in illness.
Calves get infected by ingesting the feces. Sick calves shed the bugs into their feces, so anywhere they are crapping will be contaminated. Need to isolate sick calves, and thoroughly disinfect their pens. Might need to move their pens and start over.

Stress of shipping also makes for infection, especially with Salmonella. Don't know how to prevent that when you have to haul them, but hopefully they aren't hauled far and are being treated gently.

Illness can also be prevented by proper feeding of colostrum within 2 hours after birth and soon thereafter. I have learned to not trust sellers and if I was you I'd be visiting their farm and verifying their procedures. Though it is possible you have a bug for which their colostrum does not have the right antibodies.

By the way, Salmonella can infect people, so need good hygiene and wash hands.

Some reading:
http://www.hoards.com/E_calf_heifer/CH06
　
http://www.merckmanuals.com/vet/digestive_system/intestinal_diseases_in_ruminants/diarrhea_in_neonatal_ruminants.html

We have been giving bova seria (? on spelling) to all our new calves will help boost immunity for e. coli and salmonella if not had enough colostrum or none at all we also feed first 2 feeding of baged colostrum but not sure if it really helps. We had one the scoured and went off feed sick this is what the vet prescribe gave a lot of it for 5 days. Now he has us just vaccinate with it while healthy and seems to be working. We also vac against bvd, brd, type shot. bovi-sheild is one type it is a modified live virus so no shelf life after mixing. This year vet talked me into kill virus so we could hold unused for revac to save on cost seems to be working fine. You really need to have some kind of dialog with a vet. I grow up in feedyards and starter yards and have always had a vet to turn to. Now that my boys are raising bucket calves have had to make myself go talk to vet and establish a dialog with him. They are more willing to help you out on meds and vac program that way. I know it is cheaper to try and do it yourself but death loss is eating up more then vet would and then you will know more next time. Probias is always your friend when they have scours or doctoring. Really helps keep gut in shape and working good.