# GRAY calf scours ?



## kycrawler (Sep 18, 2011)

OK I have been raising bottle calves for a few years couple hundred steers a year and starting on heifers this year as well . I have encountered a new one for me as in i have a pen of calves with gray colored 'scours' consistency is watered down yogurt or really runny oatmeal . These calves are in a 2 acre pen 10 calves total 5 are affected they are right at 10 weeks old still getting jersey cow milk , free choice grain free choice grass hay and about 2-3 flakes of good alfalfa hay a day . At first onset 6-7 weeks old , i hit the water with corrid and gave draxxin and 7 days later pen g . Water is still being treated with corrid . 1 calf of the 5 returned to normal the other 4 are maintaining condition but still have abnormal runs . Vet is stumped . Fecal sample sent to purdue awaiting results . Cow milk tests ok and only the one lot is affected so that leads me to believe it isnt the feed or milk . 

Any ideas ?


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## gone-a-milkin (Mar 4, 2007)

Sounds like a new strain of bacteria to me. 
Let us know what the lab tests show. 

Hows the drainage/ fly situation? 
The weather may be just right for something slightly different than before. :shrug:

Those little calves will keep you on your toes forever. Always something new to learn.


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## kycrawler (Sep 18, 2011)

We are really dry here total rain fall this month .03 inches , quite a few flies but the calves are fly tagged in 1 ear and spray them about once a week with permectrin in a garden sprayer when they get bad (i hate dealing with eye problems from flies ). Our vets office are primarily beef cattle and when they came out to sleeve cows the first time he and his trainee/ assistant told me i was nuts for dealing with all these calves but they have since come around and are pretty helpful but have little experience with bucket calves .


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## gone-a-milkin (Mar 4, 2007)

We are really dry here too.
There isnt the volume of flies that there usually are, but they are concentrated and seem more frenzied.
I wonder if only the 'hardier' type of flies prosper in this kind of weather?
Insects adapt so much quicker than larger species.
It seems like they bother the animals extra bad this year.

I have been fighting them as much as I can.


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## myersfarm (Dec 24, 2004)

IMO Gray calf scours like I THINK YOU ARE TELL ABOUT come from to much MILK AT ONE TIME...you did not say how much or how you are giving but to me I bet some are not drink very much while others are getting to much in ONE FEEDING ....Hot weather will cause them not to drink as much..can also sour when it hits there stomach...will be waiting on the test to come back....


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## springvalley (Jun 23, 2009)

I`m with myersfarm, the only time I`ve had grey scours is when a calf gets to much milk from mom. Let us know what else you find out. > Thanks Marc


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## Jennifer L. (May 10, 2002)

Gray scours is COCCIDIOSIS. Get treating it quickly as that destroys intestinal tissue that never really comes back. A calf can be a poor doer for life with a bad case that doesn't get treated. It can be deadly, so don't fool around.

Jennifer


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## myersfarm (Dec 24, 2004)

Jennifer L. said:


> Gray scours is COCCIDIOSIS. Get treating it quickly as that destroys intestinal tissue that never really comes back. A calf can be a poor doer for life with a bad case that doesn't get treated. It can be deadly, so don't fool around.
> 
> Jennifer



I would also agree but she posted this in OP 
i hit the water with corrid and gave draxxin and 7 days later pen g . Water is still being treated with corrid 

Corrid is the medicine for Coccidiosis

that should have cured the Coccidiosis if she used the label to give

way to many arguments on here lately but thats why I said to much milk


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## kycrawler (Sep 18, 2011)

First off i am a he 

second probably not cocci corrid would have knocked that out in a couple days 

milk is given in a 10 compartment milkbar feeder 2 quarts per calf per feeding 2 feedings per day they get the 2 quarts each then i dump 4-5 gallons of water in the feeder 

I have 65 calves on milk right now and only these couple are acting strange


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## myersfarm (Dec 24, 2004)

OK sorry BUT I bet the calfs are still sucking when you add the water and drink to much of the water ... I only give a quart in my milk bars to rinse them out and the rest of water in a bucket


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## G. Seddon (May 16, 2005)

Haven't ever heard about gray scours being an indication of coccidiosis; it's usually bloody diarrhea. 

Yes, I'm curious about the fecal results too!


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## springvalley (Jun 23, 2009)

This long distance Vet school treatments is getting to bite us in the butt. Think I`m going to hang up my diagnosis hat, thousands of miles apart, no pictures, can you tell me whats wrong with my calf? Just doesn`t pay like it use to, If I have a cow or calf that is a life or death situation I`m sure not going to come on here and ask 10,000 people for a differant opinion. I`m going to call my Vet. who lives 8 miles from me, and ask him and then have him out if I need to. The old saying, "You get what you pay for" so holds true for on here, you will get twenty differant answers for the same question. Sorry to be so blunt, been a hard day. > Thanks and God Bless .> Marc


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## kycrawler (Sep 18, 2011)

Well i asked for ideas I have already called the vet and had sent samples to purdue university was hoping to draw on the experience of others to see if someone else had btdt 


Fecal results came back with a strain of salmonella and e coli . Vet has a new drug for me to treat with tonight and we will go from there


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## G. Seddon (May 16, 2005)

Good that you got lab results quickly! Will be interested to know what they'll use to treat and how the calves respond. Hope they do well!!!


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## Jennifer L. (May 10, 2002)

myersfarm said:


> I would also agree but she posted this in OP
> i hit the water with corrid and gave draxxin and 7 days later pen g . Water is still being treated with corrid
> 
> Corrid is the medicine for Coccidiosis
> ...



I didn't notice the Corid on the OP.

However, I am not in any way arguing about anything when I say gray manure is Coccidiosis. That's one of the hall marks of it. If you have gray manure, you've got Cocci. 

Too much milk gives a whitish manure. I've never seen it gray.

My only motivation for posting was to help someone out. 

Jennifer


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## springvalley (Jun 23, 2009)

Jennifer L. said:


> My only motivation for posting was to help someone out.
> 
> Jennifer


That is the only reason any of us post on here, just sometimes we don`t have the same opinion. > Thanks and Blessings > Marc :buds:


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## topside1 (Sep 23, 2005)

I realize your calves are older, just thought I'd help...Topside

Two to three week old calves being fed waste milk may develop diarrhea where loose gray feces are common. This condition is commonly caused by waste milk storage conditions that allow very high levels of E. coli bacteria to grow in the milk prior to feeding.


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## lonelyfarmgirl (Feb 6, 2005)

We had grey calf scours earlier this spring. All our calves are momma raised, and it was the conclusion that they were all milk greedy. It came and it went and nothing changed.


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## francismilker (Jan 12, 2006)

As long as they're drinking water, eating grain, hay, and have minerals free choice I'd cut the milk back to nothing and see if they cure up. I'd too agree with the above posts that they're getting too much milk.


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