Managing Calf Scours - A Herd health approach

With the advent of rapid dairy development, obtaining healthy calf crop is of ardent need to obtain high returns from dairy animal production. Among different causes, calf scours has been depicted as most dreadful contributor in the neonatal morbidity and mortality. Calf scours is not a single disease entity, rather it is a clinical syndrome associated with several diseases characterized by diarrhoea. The scouring calves lose fluid, dehydrate and suffer from electrolyte imbalance and acidosis leading to death of the calves. Fluid therapy along with antimicrobial and probiotic administration is the most reliable treatment intervention in calf scours. Effective control of calf scours at herd level can be achieved through proper prepartum feeding management, removal of the cause of the disease from the environment of the newborn, removal of the newborn from the infectious environment, colostrum feeding and prepartum vaccination of the dam.