A Practitioner's Perspective on Scours in Beef Calves

Abstract

As in many other livestock diseases, diarrhea in young beef calves can be the symptom of the primary disease, or merely the result of a secondary or concurrent disease. The initial physical exam needs to look for respiratory disease, umbilical infection which may or may not have spread to the joints, and any evidence of birth defects or neurological conditions. Anything that interfers with nursing and the intake of adequate colostrum usually will result in diarrhea. It also is imperative to examine the cow for evidence of mastitis, uterine infection, or other diseases which may have impaired milk supply or produced more than the calf could easily handle (think Holstein-cross cows).

This may be easier said than done, since many times the first examination of the calf takes place in the pasture.