Wednesday, May 04, 2011

Breakfast with Jody

Last night when I went out to feed Jody her bottle, I saw she had diarrhea (scours).  I came back to the house, dumped the milk replacer down the sink, and filled the bottle with electrolyte solution... that's like Pedialite for calves.  She showed no other signs of being sick, and took the bottle eagerly.  I also gave her a scours pill.  Calves can go down fast when they have diarrhea; these precautions were probably unnecessary, but I like to be on the safe side.


This morning I watched Jody for quite awhile for any signs of sickness, and then gave her milk replacer in her bottle.  Often, right after calves get their bellies full is when their bowels move, so I hung around for a poop check.  Nothing happened, which is a good thing.  Then Jody headed toward her feeder and started eating sweet feed.  Another good sign.
I have an ongoing battle with sparrows.  They descend on the calf's feeder and eat like crazy, pooping and contaminating as they eat.  So for now, I've been covering the feed unless the calf is actually in eating mode, or unless I'm nearby.  Have I mentioned that I hate sparrows?
The more grain a calf eats, the less likely she is to get scours.





Jody is doing very well with eating grain, for her age... under two weeks old.

12 comments:

  1. Its nice a green there.

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  2. when I was a girl we lost many calves to scours, we feed them raw eggs and several other remedys that I can't recall. I read a while back some where to give them peptobismal sounds like a good idea to me.

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  3. Love all the pictures of Jody, she is sweet! I'm afraid I would get attached to them and have a herd to care for and an empty freezer.

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  4. Anonymous11:30 AM

    She is the best thing I've seen today(and most days).

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  5. She is so pretty. I hope she gets well soon. I have to agree with Midlife Mom.

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  6. I want a calf, toooo! I'll bet the HOA would loooooove that! Hee...

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  7. Oh my, she is such a tiny baby to be away from her momma. Now she'll be thinking you are mom. She is a sweetheart for sure.

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  8. nerves05 ( Nancy)2:50 PM

    She is just so darn cute!

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  9. I love her! (but not diarrhea, ick)

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  10. How precious. Really enjoyed seeing the video of her. Love the name JODY, too.

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  11. Diarrhea was sometimes a problem with our foals when I worked with horses. Even though the babies were on Mom for milk, they would almost always get Diarrhea when the mare came into her 'foal heat'. We used to give them 60cc of Pepto, followed a few hours later with 60cc of plain yogurt. We would do this a couple of times and the problem would clear up. It would probably have cleared up anyway, but it seemed to help it clear up quicker. Eh.. baby animals. so cute.. so much work ;)

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  12. I love her nice, red color!

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