Signs of coccidiosis in calfs

morphy87

just wondering what’s the earliest signs of coccidiosis in Calfs? When should you vaccinate for this? I got it last year and it’s a terrible thing, I have very little experience of it

Lime Tree Farm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058356995/signs-of-coccidiosis-in-calfs

Here with a suckler herd, any born and kept indoors with cows for a week or so get Vecoxan at 14-21 days. After that any put outdoors shortly after birth, with cows at feeders, get Vecoxan if they have black arses. A once off dose is enough. Vecoxan is diclurazil, you will get generics of same.

morphy87

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122294130#Comment_122294130

Is this a treatment for it or does it prevent them getting it? Maybe this lad just has a scour but he is very poor looking compared to the rest, hopefully after a few days he’ll improve as he’s eating and drinking grand

893bet

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122294615#Comment_122294615

get a clean container and work his ants worth finger and get a sample and test it.

I use baycox as a preventer in small suckler herd after almost losing a single calf three years on a row. Single dose 2-3 weeks after birth.

Lime Tree Farm

They dont seem to lose their appetite with it. Vecoxan is both a preventative and treatment. Coccidiosis is a parasite that they pick up and Vecoxan kills the parasite and its eggs. Hydro lime under/in their bedding also kills/hydrates the eggs in faeces. Sometimes we give Synulox tablets along with it. A lab can disgnose what the calf has. Calves seem to lick everything.

whelan2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058356995/signs-of-coccidiosis-in-calfs

Just do them all as a prevention, it sets them back big time if they get it

patsy_mccabe

Cubicle Lime spread on the straw while indoors seems to have worked great here. I also give Vecoxan when dehorning, usually around 4 weeks old.

morphy87

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122294698#Comment_122294698

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122294683#Comment_122294683

so I should do them straight away? My vet recommended baycox but said do them when they are been let out, they’re still in, going out this week as they are late Calfs, would other scours set them back? I’m just nervous of this coccidiosis, would bimastat be any good for this?

whelan2

Once they're over 14 days do them.

tanko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122294717#Comment_122294717

just give any calf over 20 days old a dose of Vecoxan whether they’re in or out. Baycox is muck, it doesn’t wok, don’t use it,

morphy87

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122294720#Comment_122294720

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122294771#Comment_122294771

If they have it will vecoxan cure it? Can you only by vecoxan off a vet?

Lime Tree Farm

You can buy Vecoxan over the counter no prescription - co-ops stock it. Stop the quessing - get a fresh sample into a sterile sealed container, testing samples is not expensive.

I think Bimistat can't be given to calves if the rumen is functioning, eg at grass, roughage? Someone else may know more than me about it.

morphy87

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122294979#Comment_122294979

If it wasn’t coccidiosis what could it be, they are eating and drinking but just they are slack and not thriving

whelan2

If it was me I'd do them for coccidiosis and a shot of multimin and have a chat with your vet

morphy87

I’ll will do them with vecoxan anyway, maybe it’s not coccidiosis as they don’t look too scoury but there not thriving, there coat looks terrible and they are gone very thin in the space of two days, would ibr be a possible issue? There not vaccinated for this

SodiumCooled

You will have blood in the scour with coccidiosis and you will see them straining a lot to pass dung (going around with the tail cocked up).

We had the worst ever dose of scour in the calves this year every calf got (normal) scour but only one got coccidiosis and he just about lived after a major hit of stuff from the vet. He had been vaccinated for it too along with the rest with vecoxan but it only gives cover for a certain period of time.

Calves were out a few weeks when the scour went through the herd too (none were in more than 3 or 4 days after being born anyway as we always let them out a few days after being born).

Mushy06

Dealing with Coccidiosis here with nearly 10 years now and this year is the 1st year that calves haven't gotten it………… (so far) dung sample from last week with 0 coccidia from my spring calves. Dairy calf to beef system here. Calves would be flying inside the house but its outside where they pick up the cocci and keep picking it up. Last year was my worst yet. i would've dosed 7 times last year for cocci, all after results from dung samples. They would go out to grass to a field ungrazed that year with high covers and after 4 weeks i'd do dung sample. Calves would go to different fields every year especially if there was issues in that field from previous years unless field got reseeded. Calves on grass always have access straw, and the ration would go into diet feeder with a mix of ration/chopped straw/oats/rumen buffer/minerals and molasses. and yet they were coming back with counts of 25k and excess of 50k for cocci. The diet feeder mix with hold them from falling backwards but they still wouldn't thrive as they should and yet they'd continue to scour even with high fibre ration. i could nearly write a thesis on cocci now.

So only about 10% of animals will actually show blood scour and rest it's the straining and projectile/transparent scour. Hence why they always suggest dose all calves. There are 20 to 25 species of cocci, Some are found indoors and others are outdoors species. Some type are in one field and different type in another field. So a calf might be immune to one type but get caught in next field. A single episode of scour and a calf could shed up to a 'Billion' oocyst out onto the environment and can remain there for up to a year if conditions are suited. Calves will have a certain amount of immunity to it but when the burren is too severe it causes problems. In last few years my 14/15 month cattle are picking up cocci but only with counts of 2000/3000 egg counts but not showing signs but i would dose for it, as i finish at 20 months so i'd want them firing on all cylinders.

I have used Vecoxan,Dycoxan,Bovicox,Cerivil,Baycox and few others but all the same in regards they kept getting cocci every 8/9 weeks. i was working with vets, and vets from above products and even was told to land idle for year. i was constantly told i was only one with the problem this severe. i found that the 1st calf that picks up cocci isn't the sick calf as it can deal with small amounts but by the time the cycle has gone through that calf, its the next calf or 3rd calf gets caught and fall foul immediately to such a high count of the oocyst, and falls foul FAST!!

i had a group of 70 heifers last year, and after i had dosed several times and not working i got a deccox in with the ration prescribed by vets. they were on about 2 kg a day it sorted out most of them but there was 10 still with massive counts and going backwards fast. i did lose 2 of them but saved the other 8. i was dreading checking on them every morning for that week. i put them back on milk ASAP and it was best decision i did as it reset the stomach and they made full recovery. In previous years they never made full recovery and you'd always have a few poorly looking animals.

So this year i had to change things up. i was f****** sick of it. i finished the internet a couple of times trying to find an end to the cocci problem i was having. i decided to do 40 Autumn calves as a trial. The thought process was that they'd be bigger and stronger heading out to grass to see could they deal with the cocci better. They got no cocci and furthermore i put them grazing in fields where the 14/15 months had cocci this year so i was really testing them to see would they pick it up. No cocci in autumn calves. So the issue was how i was rearing them.

So last xmas i got in contact with a retired nutritionist and we had great discussion on cocci. He maintained that part of the reason cocci was so prevalent is that first and foremost that the calf is just simply unable to digest the protein in grass. The excess protein starts to run through the animal. When that process happens everything starts to run through the animal a bit like acidosis in cattle. All good bacteria is dumped out of calf. There is little rumination going on and any cocci picked thrives inside calf as there's zero immunity in animal. Straw does help with the rumination but isn't the answer. Its soluble fibre is where its at. Soluble fibre helps with the breaking down of the protein in rumen.

So this year for the Spring calves (the real test) i left them on milk for 12 weeks (4 weeks with dairy farmer and 8 weeks with me) and all ration they got was 60% calf nut and 40% soluble fibre. Soya hulls and beet pulp. beet pulp has to be soaked in water for 12/24 hours before it can be fed to them. i also gave them precision microbes for 30 days as well. i went with a 26% protein milk replacer. Tbh i had a lot of trouble with milk replacer when it was on twice a day feeding but once i went to once a day they took off and really started to thrive. Calves went out to grass 4 weeks ago and have been thriving since with no cocci. Calves are off ration and just gone into after grass and still dung is solid. Hopefully will stay the same. i cant put it down to any one thing that fixed my cocci, on milk longer, hulls/pulp, precision microbes? but i cant remember any other year where my spring calves didn't have cocci.

sorry for long reply but that's just my take on cocci

White Clover

I gave up on calves a good few years ago as they started to go back on me every July/August. I kept them in completely one year and they thrived everyday. I'd agree with your contention that calves can't handle grass in their first year.

grange mac

I get it in bought in weaning without fail every year.... Its from birds **** on the nuts on grass... Had to get bovicox prescription and mixed in with nuts... Amd it does sort them. But at 400 kg alot required per animal.

greysides

Just a couple of points to add:

1. Not all calves will have blood in their dung.
2. The eggs for harmless varieties of coccidia will show up in counts, so be careful with interpretation.
3. Don't consider any of the mentioned products as treatments, regardless of labelling.
4. Especially indoors, coccidiosis goes hand in hand with pneumonia viruses.
5. Birds as a source of infection in calves is something I hear a lot, but anytime I mention to an expert it's discounted. And I'm inclined to go with that. Reason is coccidia are species specific. In fact in poultry, the species are so specific they can be identified by which part of the gut they inhabit!
6. The treatment of coccidiosis, imo, should include an anti-inflammatory, electrolyte solutions when needed (and that's probably more than is realised) and possibly co-treatment for respiratory infections.

One last remark, Summer Scour Syndrome is linked to calves being unable to digest grass and scouring. There is good reason to think this is a manifestation of Nitrate poisoning.

Another "IMO", is that all dairy farmers should be preventing coccidiosis, and particularly if using milk feeders. Beef farmers buying in dairy calves should be also, as a matter of course.

ginger22

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122299711#Comment_122299711

We used to have desperate trouble with "summer scour", then last year started adding yeast to the ration. No bother since.

lmk123

our calves always got it until 3 years ago, tried everything and nothing worked until I got a shotgun and .17 rifle, keep on top of the crows and it’s sorted, done the trick for me anyway

whelan2

Crows are feckers. Hopefully they'll feck off to someone's corn soon enough

Base price

We've never had any major issue with Coccidiosis in calves especially in the bought in dairy x beef calves. The odd later born sucker calf would get it mainly due to the fact that we didn't dose them with a preventative (Bovicox) due to the fact that they were out of cycle. Any bought in dairy x beef calves (19 to 35 days) are vaccinate with an intranasal vaccine on arrival or the next day. We mostly use Rispoval RS+PI3 but have found it hard to get in the past year so we now use Bovillis RSP which afaik is the same. We also dose them with Bovicox at the same time for Cocci.

We've never had issues with Summer scour cause we don't let calves out on fresh growing grass. We have a paddock beside the house that doesn't get any fertilizer/slurry/dung but the heads are well shot out before we let them out.

Mushy06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122300291#Comment_122300291

Everything you said there is on the button, initially i had a summer scour issue and that's when i started using the diet feeder to mix calf ration with chopped straw and the rest. it was great way of getting rumen bluff (yeast) into them. it did put end to summer scour. i really only had problem with summer scour in late August. i remember one year the damage of summer scour, i bought 2 bull calves (Fr) from same herd, same weight, same age, feb calves . 2 fine calves. both were in same condition and thriving well. one got summer scour at start of August and other didnt. 12 months later both left the yard on same day. One had a carcass of 315kg and they other had a liveweight of 315kg in mart the same day. it always stuck in my mind. Thats how far back it can stunt them.

Mushy06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122304061#Comment_122304061

i've exact same protocol as that for calves and i even give them a shot of multimin as well and they get done for black leg as well a few weeks later. One year i did them with bovicox 2 days before they went out to grass and 3 weeks later they had massive count for cocci and falling away to nothing and that was them in a steamy grass field. looking back on it they were probably too young going to grass too soon. they would've been 8 to 10 weeks heading out. i have it that the Eimeria i have were cycling in 10 days and maybe 2nd dose within that period might have helped but who knows. it was when the 14/15 months started getting it, it really hit the pocket. 160ml of vecoxan isn't cheap per animal.