Lactose intolerant???

[Oakshire_Farm]

Can cows be Lactose Intolerant???

I bought a holstein bull calf about 4 months ago now, we got him as a 3 day old (he got all his colostrum from the dairy) When I got him he had scours (I really didn't want him but the farmer threw him in my truck with the other 3) I treated him and treated him with 3 different scour meds, he kept looking worse and worse! He was loosing weight, I was at my wits end I finaly said to my hubby that if he didn't start to perk up we would just put him down! By the time he was a month old he refused to drink milk, I tried milk from my jersey and milk replacer. As soon as he weaned him self he started to purk up??? He had free choice of hay and 16% dairy text with minerals mixed in. I gave him a shot of vitamster (a vitamin supplement) After a week of being off milk he was looking beter than he ever had? My concern was he was way to young to be weaned? So I decided that I was going to start bottle feeding him and make him have some milk. Well as soon as I started this he was sick again? Scouring badly, looked more like water comming out that a BM. Started loosing weight, generaly pathetic looking? So he is now almost 4 months, he looks like a runt But he is healthy! He is eating about 2 flakes of good quality hay/day and still free choice of 16% dairy test and minterals, we have had a cold snap so I have been putting electrolites in his water.

Any one ever seen anything like this before???

[lasergrl]

yes this happens all time with mine. the hay and grain will firm up the scours. If just cause the bad bacteria LOVES milk.

[Jay]

Sticking with one medicine at a time and especially one type of milk (replacer OR raw milk) is easiest on their system. Raw milk is always best--you get faster growth and healtheir calves.
When you do the "switcheroo" of meds and/or type of milk it further upsets the digestive system (good bacteria/bad bacteria)....so the original problem is generally still there (and possibly made worse), there is more disruption/confusion to the digestive system. When you give anti-biotics you also need to give pro-biotics (live culture yogurt or probios) to help the good bacteria gain a foothold and help fight the bad bacteria.

In a nutshell--calves stomachs are designed to take on milk....as they get older and are weaned the "milk stomach" gets smaller and the rumen gets larger.
This is another reason why when people get weaned calves and then put them back on milk this causes problems. The "milk stomach" has or is shrinking and the rumen is already larger and used to hay/feed.

[Oakshire_Farm]

Thanks Jay!

Well he is done milk now When I tried different meds they were all a couple of weeks in between the change. The dairy that I got him from gives them 2 days of colostrum and swiches them over to milk replacer? So I had him on the milk replacer untill my Jersey calves and then tried him on milk.

He is healthy now, just a little to thin for my liking, just waiting for the green grass to help him out now