Contacts: Nolan Hartwig, Veterinary Diagnostic and Producing Animal Medicine,  Wendy Miller, Iowa Beef Center

Environment Plays Key Role in Scours Prevention

AMES, Iowa – Aside from calving difficulty, neo-natal diarrhea is the number one killer of calves in Iowa’s beef cow/calf herds. This problem kills thousands of calves every year across the state. Treatments, coupled with reduced gain and growth, also are very costly.

It can be prevented.

"Many of the losses from neo-natal diarrhea, or calf scours, can be prevented if producers make a few changes to their management practices," said Nolan Hartwig, Extension Veterinarian in ISU’s Department of Veterinary Diagnostic and Production Animal Medicine Department and a collaborator with the Iowa Beef Center. "By keeping calving areas clean and dry, producers can effectively reduce the number of scouring calves on their farms. This may be a tall order, but there are some things we can do with the calving environment that are at least as effective as vaccines and treatments"

There are three tiers that must be considered when dealing with calf scours: the animal, the infectious agents responsible for the illness and the environment.

"Producers tend to concentrate only on the viruses or bacteria causing the illness," Hartwig said. "That’s their first line of defense. In all actuality, the environment should be the first variable that producers consider."

The ideal calving environment would be a fairly steep hillside pasture with a windbreak, accompanied by warm, dry weather. "This scenario, however, is not usually the case for calves born during an Iowa spring. Mud, as well as other unsanitary conditions, is the major culprit behind calf scours," Hartwig said.

Hartwig suggested several key ways to help producers reduce the occurrence of calf scours:

• Allow heifers to calve separately from cows. "Heifers are much more likely to have calves with scours. Often, those calves contaminate birthing areas and put later season calves at a higher risk," Hartwig said. "Producers should clean and disinfect all calving areas to the best of their ability."

• Keep calves dry and warm. "Keeping calves dry is probably the single most important factor in eliminating scours," Hartwig emphasized. "If it’s not possible to let cows calve in a pasture, build mounds (similar to those found in feedlots) in calving areas to give the animals a dry place for calving. Bed them deeply with cornstalks." Hartwig also suggests portable calving sheds or temporarily partitioning areas of a barn with a creep bar that can be deeply bedded. Calves will use these areas and they are easier to keep dry when access by the cows is prohibited by the creep bar. Plans for portable calf shelters are available from ISU Extension or from Midwest Plans Service.

• Don’t rely exclusively on vaccines. "Vaccines cannot be 100 percent effective if the calves are born in cold mud already infected with a host of diseases," Hartwig emphasized. "While vaccines can help, they can’t be a producer’s only preventative measure."

• Close herds. "Producers shouldn’t introduce replacement animals into the herd two months prior to or after calving season," Hartwig cautioned. "Additionally, they should never purchase nurse calves to replace ones that died. Nurse calves are often inapparently infected with various organisms and can cause major outbreaks of calf scours."

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