Calf acidosis?

christmasdiane

I’ve noticed my calves , which are fed on whole milk , get scour when cows go to grass at the end of February. All ages will get it, the older ones will be fine after a day , but it’s the younger ones, 10 days and less, get very sick, some have to go for iv treatment. Had samples taken and showing rotavirus, but my vet tells me calves always have a certain amount of rotavirus in their system, and if it was rotavirus scour calves would be excessively thirsty, have very watery scour, and rapidly lose condition. Not what I see, mine don’t want to suckle, and would have loose white scour, not excessively watery. He thinks it’s acidosis from the milk. Any information would be welcome

patsy_mccabe

Bread soda will counteract the acidity from the milk.

CalfCare-Electrolyte-Solution-2021.pdf (animalhealthireland.ie)

christmasdiane

Any idea how much would I add to 3 litres?

patsy_mccabe

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120430142#Comment_120430142

Do you mean to milk or water? I've only ever used it when making up my own electrolyte as per the above mixture. Can't see why you can't add it to milk. I'd give the 12g even to the 3 litres.

1373

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120430865#Comment_120430865

My belief and that of my vet is , nothing should be added to milk that inhabits it curdling in the calves stomach.. if I've a scourey calf I'd let it have milk and then a big teaspoon of bread soda at least half an hour after in a small shot of water. The majority of calves here get only bread soda as a scour treatment. If you keep the stomach acid free then they should recover quicker