Body temperature of a calf

Posted group question:

"I've got a 5 week old bottle calf that has been strong, hungry and good. Tonight I checked her temperature and it read 104.5 (this morning it was 101.5) Her breathing is just a little labored and she coughs once in a while. Her temp has fluctuated a bit in the past couple weeks but never quite this high. She is bright eyed, her appetite is still good, manure is solid, she is on two feedings of milk replacer a day and I gave her a bottle of electrolytes tonight. We gave her two Sulfa boluses and 1 cc of banamine, plus some Probios. Do you have any other suggestions for me? I've lost several calves and would like to do WHATEVER I can to save this one. I read so many different things about the right medication and what to do... can anyone help me here?"

Best response: 

"I always use Draxxin one shot and things usually clear right up. I would wait a couple of days to see if the sulfur pills do the job but if things start going down hill go ahead and try something different. Holstein calves can go down hill fast with pneumonia. La 200 is another good antibiotic which will stay in the calf's system for 72 hours. Keep giving probios to restore the good bacteria from the antibiotics your using."

Normal range of body temperature of a calf is 101 to 102.5

For more information about the variation of body temperature of a calf you can use the following link: Calf Notes Body Temperature of a Calf 

 

How often should I bottle feed a calf

It has been a tied and true fact that calves respond to bottle feeding best when fed twice a day. It is optimal if the calf can be bottle fed every twelve hours. I prefer bottle feeding a calf at 7 am and then at 7 pm but when the clock hands show 6 works good also.

Due to busy schedules, it is not always practical or possible for bottle feeding a calf every twelve hours apart. Most calf raisers can find time in the morning when they start their day and then only have time at the end of the day. This might put bottle feeding the calf at 6 am and then again at 8 pm or even earlier such as 5 pm.

Bottle feeding calves milk replacer

Two of the main concerns when bottle feeding calves milk replacer is  1) how often 2) how much. These are the most important factors because every aspect of calf’s health can depend on it. 

How often is bottle feeding calves milk replacer done? Should the calf be bottle fed twice a day or should the calf be bottle fed more than that like three to four times a day?

How long will a calf live without nursing

How long will a newborn calf normally live without nursing?

A newborn calf can live up to five days without nursing. Ideally, it is best for the calf to nurse within the first five hours of life, but a calf that is delayed until 24 to 36 hours before nursing can still be fine.

There are some factors that are involved in how long will a calf will live without nursing.

If the calf was able to nurse in the first five hours and then something happens and is unable to nurse for some time,  it will be able to go a longer period without nursing. This is common in cattle ranching, many times a cow will be able to deliver the calf and allow it to nurse in the first few hours, but then she will lay down to rest. During a difficult delivery the cow will received some injury to the pelvis or muscle swelling afterwards then during this recovery period while laying down may not be able to stand for a few days making it impossible for the calf to nurse.

This can change how long the calf will live without nursing. It can add an extra 48 hours of life for the calf. The opposite will happen when the calf takes longer to recover after a difficult delivery.  The cow is able to recover quickly but the calf requires more time thus shorten how long a calf will live without nursing up to 48 hours.

This is the procedure that I follow during calving. It been handed down from my great grandfather. I observe the cow during calving to make sure she can deliver on her own without assistance. Once the calf is born I make sure it is breathing. That is the only thing I’m concerned with. It will take some time for the mother to clean the calf off and for it to stand on it’s own. I also want to make sure the cow is getting up on her own, in normally  soon after calving.

24 hours later I will return to observe the pair and see if the calf has nursed. If the calf has not then I will bottle feed the calf and go from there. I know of some ranchers that will shorten this time period to 10 – 12 hours. Without any milk colostrum in the first 24 hours, the calf will be at a higher risk of illness, but I like to give the calf every opportunity to nurse on it’s own.

A few tips on knowing if a calf has nursed or not.

The mother will have one or two clean tits while the other’s still have dirt on them.

The calf has pooped and will have a yellow mustard looking droppings around the tail.

The cows milk bag has decreased in size.

The calf’s face will be wet from milk or foam on it’s bottom jaw.

If the calf has not nursed by then I will start bottle feeding four pints of milk replacer two times a day.
 
Related links for how long a calf will live without nursing:

Cattle Colostrum, The Magic Moo Juice

Hints for Working with Milk Replacer for Calves

Use of Tube Feeders in Calves

First time heifer had problems calving and calf is not getting enough milk

Emailed Question~
“My first time Hereford heifer recently calved and had problems during birth. She abandoned the calf. It received plenty of colostrum its first couple of days (we put the cow in a head stanchion and let the calf nurse multiple times the first few days). We have since been allowing the calf to nurse twice daily off of its mother and giving it 3/4 bottle of milk replacer midday. So far it is doing well but we are now concerned the mother is not producing enough milk. We are probably going to transition to feeding the bottle three times daily. I was wondering if you had any ideas about the best way to do this without causing scours. Any help would be great. Thanks.”

Response~

First, I wouldn’t let the possibility of the calf scouring influence my decision on wither or not to switch the calf over to just bottle feeding. In this case I would continue to keep the calf on the heifer as long as possible or for at least 3 months.
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I understand the heifer may not be  willing to let the calf nurse and has to be restrained for the calf to do so. Normally after a few weeks the discomfort of the calf nursing subsides and the heifer’s attitude will likely change. It takes some time for swelling in the heifers tits to go down and she fully accepts the calf.

I would continue to bottle feeding one bottle of milk replacer midday and allow the calf to nurse the heifer at it’s choice placing the heifer in restraint twice day if necessary for two weeks. If things go well the heifer will accept her calf and also start producing more milk. I have ran into situations when it was not possible to do.

The calf was just not getting enough milk from the heifer or the heifer just became so difficult to handle it was best to remove the calf completely. In the cases that I have removed the calf only after a few days, just a few calves started scouring. I would estimate the risk of scouring in these cases would be small. By the way the calf can still scour if left just on the heifer. If the calf was to start scouring then I would proceed with treatment of the calf and move forward.

By separating the pair during the night and bringing the two back together in the morning, you can get a good ideal about how much milk the calf is getting from her mother. Observing the bag size before and after nursing and the amount of time the calf spends trying will help to judge the amount of milk the calf is getting. One little tip that is almost a dead ringer for knowing the calf isn’t getting enough from the heifer is: If the calf gives up on trying to nurse the heifer and comes to you looking for a bottle. The calf  knows which option is producing the best results.  

You always have to follow your gut in these cases. If you have the feeling the calf is just not getting enough then you have to make the decision which route will be the best.

Use of Tube Feeder in Calves
Scours
Tips When Calves Don’t Want to Suckle a Bottle

How to Build a Feeding Trough from a Barrel

These barrel feeders are easy to build, and often you can find old barrels for free that have a hole or crack in them that will still work for a feeder. You may have to hunt around a bit. Just be carefully that the used barrel is safe to use and can be cleaned up well. I will use any scrap lumber that I have around. I don’t use treated. The feeder will need repair from the calves jumping on it before it can rot. Do what you want- it’s your feeder.

 

You will need:

• 2- 2x4 8 foot long
• 1- 2x4 10 foot long (This will cut the two long supports and the two small horizontal leg pieces)
• 1- 1x4 4 foot long
• 2- hand fulls of nails or screws 3” long

If the barrel was used to house flammable or explosive liquid than you need to take proper precautions when cutting so it won’t blow up. Also you want to take precautions if the barrel had any toxic substance, you may need to research further on cutting barrel that had toxins or flammable liquids.

 

The first step is to split the plastic barrel in two. I use a circular saw with a regular 7 ¼” 24 tooth blade carbide tip wood blade.

 

 

 

 

Next build two set of legs make them as tall and wide as the barrel you are working with. The barrel I am working with is 22” wide and 34” tall. So the boards I will be using to make the legs are as follows:

 

 

To build two sets of legs

• 4- Vertical 2x4 at 21” high
• 2- Horizontal 2x4 at 22” long (top board)
• 2- Horizontal 2x4 at 48” long  (bottom board)

 

Next fasten the barrel two the legs with a 1x4 board on the inside of the barrel to the legs about 20” to 21” long

 

To finish fasten support boards under the barrel. Set them touch the barrel bottom to support the weight of the feed once filled in the new barrel feeder.

Giving a Calf a Bolus Pill

The first time I attempted to give a calf a bolus pill didn’t go quite to way I had seen it done. My father made it look so easy. Just place the pill in the tip of the applicator, and then place it in the back of the calf’s mouth push the ring on the applicator applying the pill down the little bovine’s throat.

Not thinking of all the practice my father had, I started getting pissed off when this calf kept spitting up the bolus. No lie that calf spit up that pill about thirty times on my first try.

Then a father said “Stand on the side of the calf, reach your arm around the neck and hold its lower jaw prying the mouth open with that hand, then place the pill in the mouth with the other go down to the back of the tongue.” Well, it worked on the third try.

Many years and many calves have passed since that first time, now giving cattle a bolus pill is like second nature to me. Every once in awhile a still get a pill spit out, but normally it goes down pretty easy.

I have had to administer a pill without the applicator. It can be done, but I recommend with an applicator. Much easier and a lot less chance of getting your fingers bit down on.

I like to run the cattle up a chute giving them little room to move around in to apply the bolus. You got to be careful when working this close to bovines they can fight back. Clam and slow, taking time to get it right is the approach I use. With a cow I like to stand on the outside of the chute up on the side boards at a safe distance giving myself room to get out of the away when they rear back.

I find much easier to give adult cattle injections than oral medication, thus I rarely administer bolus pills to adult cattle. Now calves are a different story, I prefer to give calf oral medications over injections. Most bolus work faster and longer than injections also is easier to apply in calves. I think because I have so much control over the calf when holding it by the lower jaw and placing the pill goes quickly.

Standing on the side, reaching around, and holding the lower jaw of a calf works well for administering all types of oral medication, drench, paste dewormers, bolus pills, and liquid antibiotics, you will have to pen or trap the calf to do so. If no chute is available you will have to restrain it in a corner of a pen or with a rope, sometimes you can get lucky and sneak up and grab it by a hind leg.

Cattle Colostrum, The Magic Moo Juice

First milk, the good stuff, top shelf, the best milk a calf can get. Otherwise this milk is known as colostrum. Colostrum is the milk produce by the cow in the first few days after birth. This special milk is full of vitamins and loaded with the cows own antibodies to fight illness. This milk gets a new born calf off to a great start in life, but not all calves are able to nurse on this magic moo juice.

The cow might die in the birth process or became too weak to stand up for a few days after birth. Sometimes the tits on the cow’s bag are too large for a newbie to nurse; there are many reasons why a calf could miss its colostrums. This does not have to be the end for the young calf. It still got a good chance of living with some help form a nursing bottle.

If I find the calf in the first ten hours after birth, then I will mix up the first bottle of milk replacer with a colostrum supplement. I will let the baby calf nurse as much of the bottle as it can. Only give this supplement for one bottle and then go with a regular milk replacer. If the newbie is older than ten hours, I feel that colostrum supplement does not do the calf any good, so strait with the regular milk replacer. I always like to use a natural milk replacer that is rated for one to ninety days old. I think it is important that the milk replacer provides enough nutrients of the age of the calf, so be sure you read the bag. Many times when a baby calf is sickly or recovering from illness, I like to use grade A ultra milk replacer, so the weak calf will have something extra nursing on.

We have raised many calves that were not able to nurse a cow’s first milk. These calves seem to have a bit more problems. They have the tendency to get sick much easier and once ill, they are slower to recover from the illness. The odds of these calves making it to weaning age differently goes down. There are several reasons that can cause a calf not to live ninety days and be old enough to get off the bottle. Most cows are unable to raise every calf they give birth to. In fact, the chances of a first time mother cow are only about half the time she will raise her first calf. Mother Nature is on the cows side while for us with a nursing bottle, were fighting an uphill battle for the first week or two.

It takes a lot of effort to bottle feed a calf. You’re committed to feeding twice a day sometimes three. This is not a situation most ranchers like to find themselves in. There were problems with the cow that that force the rancher to make this effort. If you find that you have calf that is in need of a bottle, the newbie will die without milk, and then roll up your sleeves, mix up some milk, and place that nipple in its mouth. In a few days, you might just find that this calf punches hard for not getting its first milk.

How to give a Shot Under the Skin to a Calf

Subcutaneous or Sub-Q Injection is an injection placed under the skin, between the muscle and the skin. The most common injection given by ranchers for vaccines or antibiotic for cattle, because it does very little damage to the muscle of the calf.

Use a 18 gauge needle either 1” or 1 1/2” long and syringe size large enough for the dosage amount needed, refer to product label of the inject able cattle medicine that you will be administering to the calf. Example, if the dosage amount for a calf weighting 300 lbs is 5 cc or ml, then use a syringe size 6 cc or ml or larger depending on what is available to you. You always want to limit the number of injection sites to as few as possible, so avoid unnecessary injections do to syringes not holding the dosage amount. Some antibiotics function better when applied in multiple injection areas, and the manufacture will place instructions on the recommended number of injection sites per dosage on the product label.

Load the vaccine or antibiotic for cattle by turning the bottle upside down, placing the needle into the bottle of medicine and pull the stopper of the syringe filling the syringe just a little pass the mark of the amount of dosage you will be administering to the calf. Then pull the needle out of the cattle medicine bottle, shake the air to the top of the syringe by flicking the syringe with your finger. Once the air bubbles are at the top of the syringe squeeze the stopper to get the air out and leaving only the cattle medicine in the syringe.

To administer to the calf, once the calf is restrained, grab the calf’s skin above the front shoulder with your thumb and forefinger, lift up pulling the skin away from the muscle, making a tent, then place the needle under the skin and injection the cattle vaccine or antibiotic in to calf between the skin and the muscle.

Click Here for Proper Cattle Injection Video 

Please, Will This Calf Nurse form a Nipple Already

Here we have a nice red heifer calf only eight days old. I know exactly how old this calf is, because I watch her being born. Her mother has passed away. The cow was sick and weak for two months right in the middle of winter. I found her unable to stand on her feet, just lying on her side not able to get up by herself. So I tailed the cow up, which means lifting up on her tail with both hands giving the cow a boost up. First on her back legs then the cow gets up on her front feet while I am still holding her tail.



The cow was heavy from being pregnant, and also weak from being sick, so I placed her in a pen by herself. Twice a day I would go and check on her, bring her feed and water, and tailing her on her feet. I was hoping that once this calf is born, that she will be able to get up on her own, get better, and raise her calf. The cow had no trouble having the calf.

First few days went well, cow got up, calf nursed its mother, but then the cow went down again. This time the cow would be unable to stand up any more, and passed away the next day.

Now with the mother gone, this just left the calf, me, and a bottle of milk replacer. The calf having nursed its mother for the first seven days of its life doesn’t want anything to do with me, or this different tasting new milk. So here I go, run the calf in the corner of the pen, stand over it, back its butt up against the fence, and stick the nipple of the bottle in her mouth. This heifer spits out the nipple and fights with the bottle, while I try my best to stay calm.

For twice a day, morning and evening , I go through this process, using half a bottle of milk replacer, mainly because its half the weight and easier to manage. I place the nipple in the calf’s mouth, let a some milk full the back of her mouth while gently hold her head up, then with the other hand I place my thumb on back of the calf’s tongue and make her swallow the milk. I am always very careful not to get my thumb in between her back teeth.

Wishing the whole time “Come on and nurse this bottle already!” for three days. Then on the mourning of the fourth day, I go out, back the calf in the corner of the pen, stand over it, and place the nipple in her mouth. The calf sucks the nipple of the bottle. I can’t believe it; finely this heifer is nursing the bottle. For the next few feedings, the calf strips off the nipple and I have to place it back in her mouth. Soon the calf is chasing me down, and I can’t get out of pen fast enough when the bottle is empty. The calf punches my legs, circling in front of me to stop me for more milk, just like I was her mother.

Calf is Unable to Stand

“hi - have a two month old calf down and he can't stand. first noticed it looked like he just has sprained right front knee (swollen) and wasn't able to bear weight. two days later, he is now unable to stand. i've been standing him up and holding him (weight off front leg, thinking his back legs are asleep due to extended laying down) flexing and massaging the legs. legs will flex pretty readily - including the swollen one. lays with his head and neck down, except periods when he arches his head and neck above his shoulder. (could be looking for momma) good appetite, wet nose, no mucus, no diarrhea.”  -Question

  I get asked the above question in some form or other all the time about a calf unable to stand. I chose this question because it is textbook example of the illness causing a calf that was doing great and then almost over night the calf cannot stand.
  What makes it such a good example it contains two important symptoms. First, you can help the calf to stand but it flops right back down unable to support it own weight. Second, it has one swollen joint. But what is good appetite, wet nose, no mucus, and no diarrhea is important also.
  The key is the calf was fine and now cannot stand. It could have one or more swollen joints or possibly none. The calf could or could not have mucus from the nose. Either way the illness is the same. It normally effects calf between the ages of three days old to a little over two months old, but can affect adult cattle of any age.
Mycoplasma pneumonia. In people, we commonly call it “walking pneumonia.” In cattle, we commonly refer to the illness as “silent pneumonia.” The reason why is the calf can walk around without coughing or showing any signs of illness like mucus until it is unable to stand.  The illness goes unnoticed and the calf still takes milk and/or eating until swelling around the brain causes a loss a motor skills. The bacteria causing the swelling around the brain will also settle in the joints causing them to swell as well.
  Mb bacteria are everywhere that causes mycoplasma pneumonia in calves. Each calf has some of the bacteria in them and it is around in the air and carried on containers or other supplies around the farm. It only becomes a problem with the calf’s immune system is weak. The calves own defenses are unable to fend off the illness. That is way it occurs more often in calves under two months old. In the first two months calves immune system are at their weakest and any other illness like scours or dehydration can start the growth of the bacteria causing mycoplasma pneumonia.
  Silent pneumonia’s bacteria grows rapidly and spreads quickly once it gets a foot hold it is hard to cure. It is a very common illness for calves. Antibiotics have a hard time killing the bacteria. That is what makes this illness so dangerous. It is everywhere, you don’t see any signs until it is almost too late, and hard to treat. 
  But there are treatments and cures available from veterinarians. They are powerful drugs and injections and can only be gotten from a veterinarian. But when you got a calf unable to stand holding up it’s own weight, it does have a chance to recover.  The following is from:
Virginia Cooperative Extension
John Currin, D.V.M. Veterinary Extension Cattle Specialist

“Mycoplasma is very difficult to treat in calves as well. Several of the commonly used antibiotics do not work well for Mycoplasma. Penicillin, Polyflex®, Naxcel®, Excenel®, and Excede® kill bacteria by destroying their cell walls. Since Mycoplasma does not have a normal cell wall, these antibiotics are ineffective in treating the organism. Micotil® shows little or no activity against Mycoplasma as well.
Oxytetracycline has produced mixed results in treating Mycoplasma in calves. Tulathromycin (Draxxin®) is the only drug approved for Mycoplasma and in one study, was the drug most likely to work (Butler et al., 2000). Draxxin® provides the most convenient treatment of mycoplasmosis because one dose provides 7 to 14 days of therapeutic blood levels. Draxxin® cannot be used in female dairy cattle 20 months of age or older. Other drugs that show good results are Nuflor® and Adspec®.
The two most important factors in the successful treatment of Mycoplasma infected calves are early recognition and prolonged treatment. Calves that are treated early in the course of the disease respond fairly well, but need to be treated for 10 to 14 days or 50 percent to 70 percent will relapse and require treatment again. Each time a calf relapses it will have more lung damage and be less likely to recover.” 

Caring for Bottle Calf

Caring for calves can be divided into five main areas: bottle feeding with milk replacers, scours aliments, housing, starter feeding, and recognizing sick calves.

Raising bottle calves require a lot of work, but can be useful to cattle production. Bottle calves can be replacement heifers for future generations in cattle herds, and steers can be raised for food for your use or sold to feed lots.

Feeding Milk Replacers

There has always been some debate on how times a

day calves should suckle feed when raising bottle calves.

The most common amounts are two to three times a day, and depending on who you talk to, you will get different answers on which is better.

Most milk replacers are designed to be most effective fed two times a day; mourning and evening, and have no benefit to be fed more than twice, in fact can cause scours if over fed. 

When bottle feeding calves, I feed two bottles a day, calves begin eating starter feed faster which is more cost effective.

Scours

Scours is the runny watery diaherria that many calves get. Scours can be a serious aliment that can result in sudden deaths.

There are many products for the treatment of scours, and depending of the age of the calf and severity of the scours some more effective than others.

Electrolytes are the most important factor in treating scours. Deliver is the product I use the most, and have found it to be effective that any age or severity of scours.

I always follow up with electrolytes after administering the deliver feedings. I prefer to give the electrolytes in a bottle midday mixed with just warm water, but some calves won’t drink it so I will add little milk replacer to get them to drink. 

Housing

At one time its was recommended to house calves separate from each other to prevent calves from suckling one another and lowering the spread of disease, but times are changing and group housing is now the preferred method in raising bottle calves.

The benefits and comfort level of the calves housed with other calves out weights the exposer to disease.

All housing for bottle calves must be clean, dry, and properly ventilated.

I prefer build my calf houses out of 1” X 6” boards every 4” apart about two feet wide, then place a tarp or removable ply wood on the top.

This way they are ventilated, provide protection, and can remove the top on nice sunny days to dry out also making them easily cleaned and sanitize.

The calf pen surrounding the houses are also made of 1” X 6” boards 5” apart so they can’t get their head stuck between the boards.

Starter Feed

Fresh clean water should be available right from the start, also the calves should have access to grass or hay to graze on, even if they seem to only ingest only one mouth full a day, as the calves grow their intake of grass or hay will increase.

Starter feed is a palatable pellet or coarse mix of grains. It should contain 15% to 20% crude protein and 75% to 80% of the total nutritional requirements for the bottle calves, but should not have any urea until their rumen is completely developed.

It depends on the amount of starter feed the calf ingests, but normally after two months the rumen is set.

I also will provide a supplemental feed like Calf-Manna about every three days when the calves or older than a month it seems to aid in growth.

Recognizing Sick Calves  

It is important to know when bottle feeding calves are not feeling well.

The calves themselves will not be able to tell you that they feel bad, but by observing some behavior of the calves and taking the rectal temperature you can head off illness before they get worst.