Colic in beef calves can hint at serious problems

Glacier FarmMedia – When people think of colic, they usually think of a human infant who is fussy and crying. But colic occurs in animals, as well. Horse owners are often well versed in colic, as it is a fairly common occurrence in equines.

In the beef cattle world, colic can mean many things and can be a cause for concern. Because of this, it is important to know the signs of colic and what it could mean for you and your operation.

Causes

By definition, colic means any type of abdominal pain in animals. Because the definition is broad, many things can cause it.

Dr. Justin Kristjansson, the president of the Saskatchewan Veterinary Medical Association, said what causes colic usually depends on how old the calf is.

If a calf is under 10 days old, the concern is that colic is caused by a developmental issue, such as atresia coli or atresia ani. Atresia coli is a birth defect of the intestines that prevents the passage of feces, whereas atresia ani is a birth defect where the calf is born without an anus.

Atresia ani is less common than atresia coli, but it is easier to treat — while both would require surgery, atresia ani is a little bit of a simpler surgery.

Colic in calves this young is relatively rare. “But the most common colic sign in those calves would be from that atresia coli,” Kristjansson said.

“It’s a pretty complicated surgery, and a lot of the time, the atresia coli calves, they could have more than one issue there as well. It might be more than one segment of the intestine, and there could be other congenital defects going on. So usually not a great outcome for these guys.”

When calves are a bit older, there is the possibility the colic is caused by what Kristjansson referred to as intestinal accidents, which are twists or knots in the intestines. He said there is no real reason why this happens, but it is more common in calves who have had scours or diarrhea.

“Most often, it’s just a bad luck kind of situation where the intestines just twist right on themselves, so… nothing’s flowing through them, but you’re also cutting off the blood supply and everything there.”

There is also a similar condition where the intestine almost rolls in on itself, like a sock.

Surgery can help calves who are experiencing things like this, but Kristjansson said these conditions come on quickly and can be fatal fast, so the calves must be brought to the vet swiftly.

Older calves, up to eight weeks old, usually get colicky from ulcers. This happens in the fourth stomach, or the abomasum, where calves digest milk. Kristjansson said there has been lots of research into why ulcers happen in young calves, but there are no definitive answers yet. Sometimes it may be triggered when big calves go too long without sucking. When they do finally nurse, they gorge themselves. This distends the stomach, which reduces blood supply and can lead to ulcers.

“What we’re seeing there is damage to the lining of that abomasum, so the mucosal lining on the inside of that, basically for some reason, there gets to be damage to that. The acid of the stomach is eating into that lining, and it’s incredibly painful,” Kristjansson said.

Dr. Chris Clark, an associate professor at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine, highlighted many of these conditions, as well. He also spoke about ruminal bloat, which can happen when milk goes into the rumen where it sours.

This is more common in dairy calves, but it can occur in artificially raised beef calves. An effective short-term treatment is to use a stomach tube to release the gas, says Clark.

Treatment and prevention

Treatment for colic in calves is not straight-forward because so many different things can cause it. Ulcers, atresia ani, atresia coli and intestinal accidents are treated with surgery. Another possible treatment for ulcers are antacids.

“There’s a few things that folks should talk with their veterinarian about and see what their recommended treatment is,” Kristjansson said.

Because figuring out treatment can be challenging, learning how to prevent these issues from happening can help maintain calf health on your operation.

Clark said ensuring every calf gets colostrum can prevent colic because it will help fight any infections that may arise. It is also ideal for a mother cow to raise her calf over artificially raised calves.

“If you are going to artificially raise a calf, you do want to make sure that they’re fed regularly, they’re fed an appropriate volume, and you want that milk to be as consistent as possible.”

This means ensuring the milk is at the same temperature every time and, if using milk replacer, making sure it is mixed the same every time.

Kristjansson said to prevent ulcers, producers should try to make sure calves aren’t separated from their mothers for too long so they don’t gorge themselves on milk. During times such as branding, those with large herds should do it in smaller groups.

“Reducing the amount of time the calves are away from their dam when they’re nursing is the biggest thing there. So whether that’s branding, processing day, or setting up AI programs, or hauling to pasture or anything like that, making that time frame the calves are off the cows as short as possible is certainly the best bet there.”

Knowledge needed to act

It is important to know what the symptoms of colic are because many of the issues that can cause colic require fast action. Symptoms of colic include visible signs of bloat, plus calves that are slow to get up, are not feeding and are kicking their stomachs.

Clark said if a producer thinks the calf’s stomach is distended and they have been taught by a veterinarian to use a stomach tube to relieve the gas, it is a good idea to try that. Otherwise, vets should be contacted to help determine the source of the colic.

“I think contacting your local veterinarian is often the best thing to do, because as veterinarians, we find it incredibly complex and difficult to make a diagnosis in calf colic,” Clark said. “And so for that reason, it’s very, very hard to give clear advice to a producer about what to do.”

And with the current prices of cattle, Kristjansson said no one wants to have a calf die because they didn’t consult their vet.

“A lot of these are really rapidly progressive conditions that the sooner we see them, the better chance we can get for the calf.”

However, if the calf does die, there is value in doing a post-mortem to discover what the cause of death was.

“You can certainly benefit the rest of the calf herd,” Kristjansson said.

– Melissa Jeffers-Bezan is a field editor for Canadian Cattlemen and a graduate of the University of Regina School of Journalism. She grew up on a commercial cattle farm in western Manitoba, and is now based out of Regina.