Guard Your Calves Against Scours with DiarrVac
Calves are the future of the herd and often represent decades of work on herd development and genetics
"Death and disease can have a big impact and the cost of scours has been estimated to be up to £200 per affected calf."
Tackling scours is challenging as control can only be achieved by addressing a number of different factors:
THE CALF
To minimise the risk of a calf becoming infected, give attention to these key areas of your calf health plan.
Colostrum management
- Calves are born without any antibodies – the main line of defence against disease
- Until they are able to produce enough of their own, they rely on antibodies provided in the colostrum
- A Calf’s ability to absorb these antibodies into their bloodstream decreases rapidly following birth, disappearing completely by the time they are 24 hours old
It is crucial that calves receive a sufficient quantity of colostrum, that is of good enough quality (contains enough antibodies and has minimal levels of bacterial contamination), quickly enough after birth:
- A quantity equal to 10-12% of the calf’s birth weight. A minimum of 3ltrs
- Good quality colostrum (>22% on a Brix refractometer)
- ASAP after birth, ideally within 2 hours, definitely within 6 hours.
Your vet can test blood from young calves for antibodies to give you a good idea of how effective your colostrum management practices are.
Vaccination
Calves rely on antibodies from colostrum to protect them against the diseases that they come across in the first few months of life
- Vaccinating the cow/heifer prior to calving with a vaccine against rotavirus, coronavirus, and E.coli F5 (K99) ensures that her colostrum will contain high levels of these relevant antibodies.
- Calves fed this colostrum correctly are at less risk from these specific causes of scours.
General Health
Strong calves are healthy calves – ensuring calves are well-fed and free from other diseases, including BVD and respiratory disease, will also decrease the risk of scours.
THE ENVIRONMENT
It is important to ensure that the calves’ environment is also playing its part in minimising the disease risk.
There are a few fundamentals of good calf housing:
- All in-all out system
- Plenty of clean, dry, comfortable bedding – something that you’d be happy to lie on!
- Draught-free but well ventilated
- Minimal contact between multiple calves
- Don’t inadvertently transfer disease from sick calves to healthy ones – use separate equipment
THE PATHOGEN
Several different pathogens can cause calf scours, and you can also see non-infectious scours. Different causes require different approaches to management, treatment, and prevention:
- Test faecal samples from scouring calves, to find out what pathogen(s) is/are a problem on your farm (it can often be more than one!)
- Work with your vet to come up with the best strategy for tackling the problem
KEY PRODUCT INFORMATION
Diarrvac RCE protects against three major pathogens that cause calf scour
- Bovine Rotavirus
- Bovine Coronavirus
- E.Coli F5 (K99)
The dose is 3ml per heifer
DiarrVac RCE is available in 2 bottle sizes: 15ml (5 doses) and 90ml (30 doses)
The dose should be administered IM (intramuscularly)
One dose per pregnancy
The pregnant dam should be vaccinated between 12 weeks and 3 weeks before calving
DiarrVac RCE stimulates the dam's immune system to create antibodies. These antibodies are passed to the calf through the colostrum. The colostrum must be delivered to the newborn calf:
- Quickly – Ideally within 2 hours
- Quantity – equal to 10-12% of the calf’s birth weight. Minimum of 3ltrs.
- Quality – Colostrum should be tested with a Brix refractometer and have a measurement of over 22%