Signs of coccidiosis in calfs

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

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.