Antibiotic decision making

calf scours

Abstract

Diarrhea is the leading cause of calf mortality prior to weaning in both beef and dairy calves. Both veterinarians and producers should put some effort into designing rational and effective protocols both for the prevention and treatment of diarrhea. Antimicrobials have long been used to prevent calf diarrhea and are often administered as a treatment. However, it is important to prevent unnecessary use of antibiotics in food animal species to limit the development of resistant bacteria. The purpose of this article is to review existing data on the use of antibiotics given prophylactically for diarrhea prevention and as a treatment for calves with existing disease. Based on current research, the feeding of oral antibiotics to calves to prevent diarrhea cannot be recommended. However, the use of certain antimicrobials to treat select cases of calf diarrhea may be effective in reducing mortality and decreasing the severity and duration of diarrhea. Unfortunately, it is unlikely that any of the antibiotics that are currently approved for the treatment of diarrhea in the United States would be effective. Instead of mass medicating large numbers of calves, antimicrobial therapy should be targeted to specific calves that are likely to develop septicemia or have systemic signs of disease.