Scours changed colors

needstoknowmore · #1 06/12/06, 08:48 PM

They had been dark green. This morning her poop was half normal half watery. Noon normal. 3:30, more water than normal. 5 ish. It was lighter in color,more brownish than green and all watery. The grass has been removed other than little nubs sticking up. She has been eating grass hay and drinking water. I thought she was out of the woods, so I didn't call the vet today. They open at 8:30am and I will be calling. But is there anything I can do between now and then?????

agmantoo · #2 06/12/06, 09:19 PM

If the calf is not dehydrated I would not be concerned. You are observing the changes brought about by the different forage intake. Cattle do not have a consistent consistancy to their waste. Poor quality feed will create more solid higher stacked cow pies and high protein will result in thin pies. My entire herd is so loose from eating clover that you do not want to pass within 10 feet of their derrieres

john in la · #3 06/13/06, 01:33 AM

If you can change her diet and her poop changes colors it would seem that her diet is controlling the scours (or what you are calling scours) and not a virus.

Is she back to drinking her bottle? If not keep up the electrolyte solution to keep her fluid intake up and settle her stomach.

Has she changed any over the past 24 hours? Still no temp and not showing signs of dehydration. If she gets a temp or starts to look weak and dehydrated then you need to worry.

I recon the best way for me to try and describe it over the internet is to say a young calf on milk is NOT going to have a pie like a grown cow. It is going to seem watery. NOT ENOUGH FIBER IN THE DIET. This is normal as long as the color is good and it does not dehydrate her. Milk also has a high protein count which can cause a watery pie. At 3+ weeks old you should have free choice hay and fresh water for her 24/7. Start her on some sweet calf starter. Once she eating 1 pound of feed a day you can wean her.
I usually have 80% of my calves off milk by the end of week 4. One 50 lb bag of replacer.

needstoknowmore · #4 06/13/06, 06:36 AM

I probably am worrying about this too much. I didn't take her temp yesterday. She is bright eyed and seems normal. I did put her back on her milk bottle. She has starter grain but hasn't seemed to touch it. I will see if I can get her to start eating it. She has fresh water and does drink it. She is getting grass hay. Waiting on mother nature to cooperate so I can get some of this years.

I learned a whole lot about calf poop with Ellie Moo, because I watched it constantly. To me her poop should be like pudding. But it has been more like unset pudding. Not sure if I will ever be able to eat pudding again.

I will just keep watching her. If I can avoid another vet bill that would be great. Already owe them a bunch and the dog needs to go in for x-rays. I will get a new thermometer. Can't get the old one shook down enough to use it and I don't think I trust the digital.

It is just starting to get light here. Looks like the thunderstorms that they have been predicting for the afternoons are going to hit this morning.

milkinpigs · #5 06/13/06, 07:02 AM

To touch on what John and Agman told you;without being gross; think about how your body reacts when you eat a lot of watermelon or tomatoes. Loose does not mean scours.Calves getting nothing but milk will be like pudding and more protein will turn them dark.

needstoknowmore · #6 06/13/06, 09:22 AM

Well duh!! Give me an F in Poopoligy 101. The color is what it should be. Got to thinking back to what color Ellies was before she started eating lots of hay and grain. And gee they are about the same. Sorry for being so slow to catch on to things. And it is back to pudding this morning. Yum, nice thought before breakfast.