Cryptosporidiosis (crypto) and coccidiosis, along with other infectious scours can be an issue on many dairy farms during the calving season.
The issue with cases of scour, is that the bacteria that causes them can remain in the shed from one calving season to another.
Ideally, if these type of scours had been an issue in your farm shed, it would have been thoroughly cleaned out and disinfected when the shed was empty.
Crypto is a practically challenging scour for dairy farmers to deal with, especially during the spring.
Treatment involves isolating the calf and rehydrating them with electrolytes. Currently no vaccine is available, but one is set to be released in 2024.
Although, many farms would have been thoroughly cleaned out and disinfected, some sheds may not have been able to do so and the question now is, it too late for disinfecting the shed?
Crypto
Speaking at the CalfCare event in Co. Kildare, Joris Somers, a vet with Tirlan, said the only way to kill this bacteria is through sunlight and chemical disinfectants.
He said that for the vast majority of farms, the chemical disinfectant is going to be the only method that will achieve the desired results.
Make sure to disinfect any areas that a calf may touch, i.e., the floor, gates, drinkers, trough and the walls of pens.
He said that ideally, the shed should have been disinfected after calving in 2023, but if this was not done, you can use a knapsack sprayer with disinfectant now before calving starts.
This should then be allocated to soak in before pens are bedded for the avail of calves.
Somers said that this method should offer some benefit to farmers that have been dealing with crypto or coccidiosis issues with their calves.
It was noted that this will not be as thorough compared to it being done at the end of the calving/rearing period last year, but it is something that will help to reduce infection pressure.