4 Feb 2021
Materials from MSD encourage focus on three key areas for improved disease control to aid vet conversations with farmers.
Paul Imrie
Job Title
A suite of educational materials to help calf rearers, vets and advisors improve management of calf scour has been launched by MSD Animal Health.
The materials focus on three areas to improve and sustain disease control:
The educational materials include an easy-to-follow practical scour management guide for farmers, a more detailed version for vets and an in-store “Managing a Calf Scour Outbreak” poster for display in animal health product retail outlets.
Kat Baxter-Smith, MSD’s veterinary advisor, said: “Even with good disease prevention protocols in place, calf scour outbreaks can still occur. But when they do, remedial action should focus on these three key areas to resolve the outbreak as quickly as possible and reduce the chances of another costly event happening in the future.”
Dr Baxter-Smith said that when it comes to maximising calf immunity, quality colostrum provision and dam vaccination are the foundations of better scour control.
She said: “Only feed plenty of good-quality colostrum checked with either a colostrometer or Brix refractometer. Boosting colostrum quality by dam vaccination can also help maximise the protection colostrum is able to give to the calf.
“However, if you do still have to deal with a calf scour outbreak, identifying any causal pathogens is also important. This will guide subsequent treatment, management and appropriate longer-term disease prevention strategies.”
