In some herds, producers lose calves to acute enterotoxemia, caused by bacterial toxins. These calves are usually about a month old, but may be as young as a few days or two to three months. They suddenly develop acute gut pain—kicking their belly (sometimes running frantically, trying to get away from pain), throwing themselves to the ground and thrashing.
Or, a calf may suddenly become dull and bloated. In either case, these calves were happy and healthy—nursing their mothers—until acute infection starts creating toxins. Proliferating bacteria damage the gut and it shuts down, sometimes causing buildup of gas and acute pain. If the calf is not treated immediately, toxins leak through the damaged gut wall into the blood stream, causing septicemia. The calf goes into shock and soon dies—unless this condition is reversed with appropriate treatment.
Dr. Lee Meyring, in cow-calf practice near Steamboat Springs, CO, says often this infection comes on so quickly the gut shuts down before the calf scours. Several bacterial infections can do this, including some types of E. coli; but most common was probably Clostridium perfringens (C. perfringens) before introduction of vaccine for types C and D.
Some herds had sudden death in calves less than 2 weeks of age; in other herds the problem didn’t occur until they were older. This was called overeating disease because it often affected the biggest, fastest-growing calves whose mothers produced a lot of milk.
Vaccinating cows ahead of calving with C. perfringens type C and D toxoid to produce antibodies in colostrum, or vaccinating calves at birth or soon after, reduces incidence of this deadly disease.
Yet even with vaccination, and treatment of acute cases with C and D antitoxin, some herds continue to lose calves to toxin-forming bacterial infections, according to Meyring. This problem can also be caused by type A, which is not included in 8-way clostridial vaccines.
The challenge with toxic gut infections is that they can kill calves within a few hours. A calf may be fine one evening and dead the next morning. Some producers save these calves if they can find them and treat quickly—before the calf goes into shock.
This disease has been called enterotoxemia, over-eating disease, purple gut, toxic gut, and other names. “When a disease has multiple names, you know it’s been a problem for a long time. This one has been a nemesis of stockmen forever,” he said.
“Clostridia are a diverse group of bacteria. We have good vaccines for some, yet many herds in various regions still battle this type of gut infection in calves. We then discover that a different genotype is the problem in those herds,” he said.
There’s a commercial vaccine for C. perfingens type A, produced by Novartis.
“Some producers battled this disease until their vets did pathology work on calves that died, and found different genotypes—then had an autogenous vaccine created against that specific type. Some labs will take cultures and generate their own vaccine for that organism, at reasonable cost,” said Meyring.
“With all intestinal calf diseases, the first approach should be good management, but sometimes there are still problems even when you’ve done everything to have a clean environment,” he said. Wet years seem worse for some of these diseases.
“With clostridial diseases, the bacteria are nearly everywhere and very hardy. You can never completely avoid them, and some are common inhabitants of the intestine. They only cause disease when conditions are right,” he explained.
Clostridia that cause disease in calves are already in the environment, and digestive tract of cattle, being shed in feces and picked up when calves ingest contaminated feed, water, mud, etc.
“With clostridial diseases, the bacteria are nearly everywhere and very hardy.”
Sometimes toxic gut infections hit the biggest, fastest-growing calves. C. perfringens may be sitting harmlessly in the gut until the calf overloads on milk (after a storm, after he was off feed from some other illness), then conditions are perfect for proliferation of bacteria—a food source (milk) and slowdown in the gut due to the overloaded stomach that’s slower to empty.
Antibodies obtained from colostrum are gone by that age. This is why calves should be vaccinated with a good 8-way vaccine within the first month or two of life. “This will protect against infections caused by types C and D, but not other kinds of toxin-forming bacteria,” said Meyring.
Treatment
If treated at the first sign of acute gut pain or bloat, there’s a good chance of saving the calf. Infection can be halted with the proper antibiotic, and the shutdown gut stimulated with castor oil to start things moving again. Once toxins get into the bloodstream, however, the calf quickly goes into shock and internal organs begin to shut down—and it’s more challenging to save him.
“I am always guarded on prognosis, because of how quickly this disease can be fatal, but my first line of treatment—if I suspect Clostridium perfringens type C or D—is to give the calf antitoxin, either orally or IV. We also give Banamine,” said Meyring. It helps reduce inflammatory reaction and eases the pain.
“I usually give oral penicillin, since this drug is very effective against clostridia and most effective for this disease if put directly into the gut. I also give intramuscular Naxel,” he said. Some other antibiotics are helpful in treating toxic gut infections including oral doses of neomycin sulfate solution.
“If you do a necropsy on calves that die, a lot of intestine is dead. These bacteria multiply quickly and release massive amounts of toxin, shutting down the gut. I usually give oil, to help get things moving through and get those toxins out of there.”
Castor oil works better than mineral oil because you don’t need as much volume (which is a plus if the calf is already bloated and full) and it also stimulates the gut to move. Mineral oil is merely a lubricant. Usual dose for castor oil is 2 to 3 ounces for a small calf, up to 5 or 6 ounces for a big calf. Castor oil absorbs some of the toxins and stimulates the shut-down gut to move things on through.
If the calf is in shock, however, the only way to save him is with large amounts of IV fluids, along with medication to combat shock. If you reverse this condition before vital organs are completely shut down or seriously damaged, the calf may survive. If you can reverse shock, and get enough fluid into the circulatory system to get the kidneys working, passing urine, the calf has a chance.
“Prevention is best, if possible, and close monitoring of calves to notice cases very early, before they go into shock or you find them dead,” said Meyring.
Prevention
Some producers try a vaccine and think it worked, then have problems again another year. Lower incidence some years might be because it was a drier year.
“Good concepts for management include the Sand Hills calving system, continually moving the calving herd to clean pasture,” he said.
But pastures that had a lot of cattle in the past are still contaminated. Pathogens are still there, in the soil. On a wet year, bacteria may surface again.
“One change that seems to help, in recent years I’ve had producers use injectable mineral supplements such as Multimin. Nutrition is important for a strong immune system and for quality colostrum production. Copper levels have always been a challenge to maintain in cattle, even with good oral mineral supplements. Using injectable copper supplement in cows with pre-calving vaccinations helps with response to vaccine and improves colostrum quality. Producers in our practice have also seen benefits by administering Multimin to calves at birth,” said Meyring. — Heather Smith Thomas, WLJ correspondent
