The Rural Voice, 1990-04, Page 20AGRICULTURAL
EMPLOYMENT
SERVICES
Provide employment planning
assistance to the agricultural
industry
Recruit workers for agricultural
employment
Assist worker orientation and
transportation
Promote good employment
standards
Provide information about
government employment
programs
OWEN SOUND WALKERTON
371-9522 881-3671
s'9
Bear
SERVICES
WET BREWERS GRAIN
or
WET CORN DISTILLERS
can help your feeding program by:
• providing a protein supplement
• extending roughage supplies, protein
and palatability to stover diets
• an excellent rumen stimulant
• available in full and split load lots
Brewers Grain Storage
supply now available
Also available:
HOMINY
GLUTEN
SCREENINGS
BIG BEAR
SERVICES 1985 INC.
FEED DIVISION
Floradale, Ont. NOB 1 VO
(519) 669-1750
16 THE RURAL VOICE
DIAGNOSTICS
THE NUMBER ONE KILLER OF CALVES
by Dr. ABDUL REHMTULLA — VETERINARY LABORATORY SERVICES
Neonatal calf diarrhea, or calf
scours, is still the number one killer
of calves: farmers can expect to lose
from 4 to 25 per cent of their calf crop
because of it.
During particularly severe winters,
farmers out west have ended up treat-
ing up to two-thirds of their calves for
scours. Added to the loss from deaths
are even greater losses: the cost of
medication and labour and the poor
performance of calves that do recover.
Of paramount importance in pre-
venting and controlling calf diarrhea
are the key points in caring for new-
borns. Infectious diseases take second
place only to good management.
The immense benefits of some
rather common sense and simple pro-
cedures cannot be over -emphasized.
Providing the cow's colostrum to the
newborn immediately after birth and
for a couple of days after (followed by
the feeding of fermented colostrum for
two to three weeks), housing healthy
calves separately in clean, warm, well -
bedded hutches, and providing clean
drinking water and good care on a
regular basis by the same herdsperson
are all practices that go a long way in
preventing a problem.
If diarrhea occurs, affected calves
must be isolated immediately, and
recently born calves must be housed
away from scouring calves.
Promptly treating sick calves and
submitting appropriate specimens to
a diagnostic laboratory will be neces-
sary to determine quickly and accur-
ately if a specific infectious agent is
involved in the outbreak.
At all times, it is advisable to work
with your veterinarian, who will deter-
mine the best course of action in your
particular situation.
Why is an accurate diagnosis and
the submission of a proper specimen
important?
Many different agents are capable
of causing diarrhea. Bacteria such as
E. coli, Salmonella, or Clostridia,
viruses such as rotavirus, coronavirus,
or BVD, protozoa such as Crypto-
sporidia and coccidia — alone or in
combination — may be involved.
And if an untreated live calf is sent
to a diagnostic laboratory while in the
very early or acute stage (less than 24
hours after the onset of diarrhea), the
chances of finding the exact cause of
the diarrhea are greatly increased.
A common misconception among
farmers is that the problem can be
resolved by sending a dead calf to the
laboratory and obtaining a drug sen-
sitivity report. Nothing can be further
from the truth.
It is useless to send a dead,
decomposed calf which had been
scouring for many days and had been
treated with various antibiotics. By
this time, the agent responsible is no
longer present or is outgrown by post-
mortem bacteria, and the decay that
had started in the intestine within a
few hours after death has progressed
to the extent of obscuring the lesions.
It is virtually impossible to find
the cause of diarrhea from such a
specimen, and the whole effort will
be wasted.
Once a diagnosis is established,
the management of the outbreak and
future prevention will depend on:
1. Identifying and correcting
specific management deficiencies that
have helped the agent gain a foothold.
2. Removing the agent from the
calf and its environment by treatment,
disinfection, and sanitation.
3. Correcting the dehydration and
loss of electrolytes by replacement
orally or by other methods.
4. Increasing the level of immu-
nity by developing an appropriate
vaccination regime.
With a "multi -factorial" problem
such as neonatal calf diarrhea, a multi -
pronged approach is needed. The
resources of your veterinarian and
laboratory are needed to beat the
problem.0