Page 4 - CalfCare - Management of the Scouring Calf
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How can you prevent scour?
1. Feed colostrum properly.
2. Introduce and maintain dry clean housing.
Whether a calf stays healthy or gets scour is determined by the balance between the resistance of the
calf to infection and the level of infection to which it is exposed.
Enhancing resistance
Good colostrum management is the single most important factor to improve the resistance of the calf to
infection (seeAHI leaflet - ‘Colostrum Management’).
In dairy calves, the provision of adequate nutrition (at least 13 -15% of the calf’s birth weight in whole milk
or high quality milk replacer) throughout the first weeks of life is also crucial for the health and thrive of the
calves (see AHI leaflet - ‘Early Nutrition and Weaning of the Dairy Calf’).
Reducing infectious pressure
Even if you have excellent colostrum management, good hygiene is still critical.
Keeping the calf comfortable, dry and clean is important through all stages of
calf rearing (calving area, calf housing and bedding, on pasture).
Cryptosporidia, in particular, can cause severe diarrhoea, evenin calves that have
received adequate amounts of colostrum, if the hygiene is poor.
A variety of housing and feeding systems can be used to successfully rear
calves. Some basic hygiene rules are important to follow, no matter what
system you use.
• Individual or group calf pens or hutches must be cleaned out between calves.
• Clean, dry bedding is essential wherever your calf is housed. This can be done
by cleaning out regularly or by generously topping up a straw bed. Get on your
knees: the bed needs to be dry enough so that your knees do not get wet.
• As the calving season progresses there is a tendency for infection to build up.
It is important to have your calf housing as clean at the end of the season as
at the start.
• Do not forget to keep the feeding equipment clean.
Do scour vaccines work?
With calf scour vaccines, the cows are vaccinated before calving so that their colostrum will have increased
antibodies against some of the viruses and bacteria that can cause scour.
These vaccinations can only be of benefit if the colostrum management is optimised!
For the vaccination to have an effect it is recommended by most manufacturers that colostrum and transition
milk from the vaccinated dams are fed for a prolonged period of time (10 to 21 days) to the calves, as occurs
naturally with suckler calves. However, on dairy farms this may prove difficult if best practice on storage and
pooling of colostrum is followed (see AHI leaflet - ‘Colostrum Management’).
Are there drugs against cryptosporidia?
There is no vaccine against cryptosporidia which is one of the most common causes of calf scour.
Halofuginone is licensed to protect against cryptosporidiosis. To be of benefit, it should be given as a
preventive according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
However, halofuginone on its own is unlikely to solve a cryptosporidia problem if general hygiene is not
improved along with the treatment.
How can you prevent scour?
1. Feed colostrum properly.
2. Introduce and maintain dry clean housing.
Whether a calf stays healthy or gets scour is determined by the balance between the resistance of the
calf to infection and the level of infection to which it is exposed.
Enhancing resistance
Good colostrum management is the single most important factor to improve the resistance of the calf to
infection (seeAHI leaflet - ‘Colostrum Management’).
In dairy calves, the provision of adequate nutrition (at least 13 -15% of the calf’s birth weight in whole milk
or high quality milk replacer) throughout the first weeks of life is also crucial for the health and thrive of the
calves (see AHI leaflet - ‘Early Nutrition and Weaning of the Dairy Calf’).
Reducing infectious pressure
Even if you have excellent colostrum management, good hygiene is still critical.
Keeping the calf comfortable, dry and clean is important through all stages of
calf rearing (calving area, calf housing and bedding, on pasture).
Cryptosporidia, in particular, can cause severe diarrhoea, evenin calves that have
received adequate amounts of colostrum, if the hygiene is poor.
A variety of housing and feeding systems can be used to successfully rear
calves. Some basic hygiene rules are important to follow, no matter what
system you use.
• Individual or group calf pens or hutches must be cleaned out between calves.
• Clean, dry bedding is essential wherever your calf is housed. This can be done
by cleaning out regularly or by generously topping up a straw bed. Get on your
knees: the bed needs to be dry enough so that your knees do not get wet.
• As the calving season progresses there is a tendency for infection to build up.
It is important to have your calf housing as clean at the end of the season as
at the start.
• Do not forget to keep the feeding equipment clean.
Do scour vaccines work?
With calf scour vaccines, the cows are vaccinated before calving so that their colostrum will have increased
antibodies against some of the viruses and bacteria that can cause scour.
These vaccinations can only be of benefit if the colostrum management is optimised!
For the vaccination to have an effect it is recommended by most manufacturers that colostrum and transition
milk from the vaccinated dams are fed for a prolonged period of time (10 to 21 days) to the calves, as occurs
naturally with suckler calves. However, on dairy farms this may prove difficult if best practice on storage and
pooling of colostrum is followed (see AHI leaflet - ‘Colostrum Management’).
Are there drugs against cryptosporidia?
There is no vaccine against cryptosporidia which is one of the most common causes of calf scour.
Halofuginone is licensed to protect against cryptosporidiosis. To be of benefit, it should be given as a
preventive according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
However, halofuginone on its own is unlikely to solve a cryptosporidia problem if general hygiene is not
improved along with the treatment.
