# my 3 cows all have loose bowels is it the hay?



## gingersgoats (Jul 22, 2013)

I have 3 cows in a small pasture. 1 bred jersey we just got, a yearling Holstein/jersey heifer, and a 4 month old Holstein/jersey heifer. We just got the bred cow who is in milk, have had the others since they were day old calves. Never had any problems. We put them all out together and things seemed fine. Then we got a better quality hay to feed 4 days ago and loose bowels or scouring started. They all have it now. One came down with pink eye yesterday. We are wondering if we are feeding too much grain or if it the hay, or something else. I am new to this in older cattle we only raised bottle calves until last week. How do I determine what the problem is . The stool is pasty not watery.


----------



## G. Seddon (May 16, 2005)

You don't say where you're located, but it might be related to the flush of green grass coming up if they have access to pasture (providing a high-magnesium loose mineral is a good thing to do to help prevent grass tetany). Or it could be the change in hay, or a different grain, or any combination of the three? You could limit the grass and grain, increase the hay, and see what happens. Sometimes these things straighten themselves out with a little time. If not, contact your vet for advice.

Pinkeye is very contagious and is quite painful. Most on this board seem to think throwing pixie dust -- errrr, I mean salt -- is an adequate solution to pinkeye. :umno:

Here's an article about pinkeye: http://mcdowell.ces.ncsu.edu/Treatment+of+Pinkeye+in+Cattle/

Things to help with pinkeye prevention are cleaning up manure in small enclosures, keeping pasture trimmed to limit eye irritation, vaccinating for pinkeye, insecticidal eartags (keeps almost all flies off their faces for most of the warm months when flies abound).


----------



## gingersgoats (Jul 22, 2013)

We are located in southern TN close to Ga line. They are in a smaller pasture without a lot of grass growing yet. We did change grains last week also when we got the milking cow to a dairy pellet and went back yesterday to the cotton blend we had been feeding. The hay we had been feeding had a lot of straw in it, so we changed where we bought from. I am using the Vetermaciyn spray for our local co-op it is blue. She had a lot of drainage from her eyes. I just hate that things had been so well and now since spending a bundle on a dairy cow everyone is sick  I am just trying to figure out what is causing the problems.


----------



## G. Seddon (May 16, 2005)

Has it been windy there? It may just be chaff or something in the cow's eye. Can you check it?

Read the label on the Vetericyn; I think it is 99% "electrolyzed" (whatever that is) water. Not cheap either!


----------



## redgate (Sep 18, 2008)

I can't say about they eye, but since you describe the stools as "pasty," I'd suspect the feed. You have made a lot of changes in one week's time--changing grain twice, and changing to a richer hay. That would cause some rumen upset anytime of year. Just pick one variety and stick with it. It will take 3-5 days for the gut microbes to repopulate and then the stools should firm up. If they are able to be handled, you can also dose them with some probiotics. It will speed things up a bit. As a second thought, you could also eliminate grain temporarily, get the gut settled with the hay (which will happen faster), then slowly reintroduce the grain over the next 3-5 days back to your normal level. Not a biggie, but learn from it and try to make changes more gradual next time if at all possible.


----------



## gingersgoats (Jul 22, 2013)

yes, I really know better than to do all the changes I did at once. When we got the milk cow she had been on dairy pellets, so that was the reason for changing all of them over to it since they all feed from the same trough. I had tried to stay with the same guy for hay but had a farmer friend look at it say said we needed better quality hay for milk cow. Will taking away grain lower her milk production? She is already dry in her front 2 quarters and the guy we bought her from was only milking every other day. Yes the eye spray was expensive. If she doesn't look any better tomorrow I will have to switch to something else 
I think you are right about the pro-bios. I use that on my goats when they have problems and it straightens them right up. I will dose them all this afternoon.


----------



## redgate (Sep 18, 2008)

A day or two without grain won't hurt her. The higher quality hay will help supplement. If you have to keep her on grain, you can. It might just take an extra day or two for the loose stools to clear up since the grain is harder on the rumen. Just give the probios every day until the manure is better. And don't feel bad, we've probably all been there at some point!


----------



## gingersgoats (Jul 22, 2013)

thank you all for the input! I have learned so much just today. This has been a process of learning over the last 2 years as we are striving to become more self-sufficient. I was very nervous bringing home our first milk cow, and the 3 hour transport home and her jumping out over the top of the horse trailer 3 feet from the gate to unload was "just the beginning" of another lesson in learning how to treat my cattle. I am glad she was not injured so I think after all the help today I can get her and my other 2 heifers back on the right track.


----------



## Spamela (Nov 23, 2013)

Exactly what does the poop look like? A milk cow on a rich diet should have looser stools than you are probably used to especially if you have been feeding poor hay before.

Here is an article explaining how to look at manure to make sure the cow is getting the right sort of diet.

http://hayandforage.com/dairyforage-nutrition/score-manure-more-milk

It has pictures down at the bottom of the article scoring manure from one to five. What score is your cow's manure?

My cattle had a 4-5 this winter with poor hay. Now they have better hay and I upped the grain and it sure looks good now!


----------



## gingersgoats (Jul 22, 2013)

Oh thanks so much, definitely a 3 for our dairy cow. and 3 for the yearling, but the youngest calf is around a 1. I separated her from the others and took her back to the barn this morning. She is definitely dehydrated this morning, her eyes are sunken and pinching her back results in skin that stays pinched. I am about to give 2 scour pills. I gave her pro-bios last night 10mg and she gobbled it up like candy and wanted more? Strange behavior as most of my calves hate the stuff. She is rather large for a young calf. I am not really sure what to do next with her. I reduced the amount of grain I am feeding them and she is eating/drinking normally just dehydrated. Yearling with pink eye is much better today.


----------

