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very spring sudden deaths of apparently well doing healthy calves frustrate good managers. This article will shed some light on these internal conditions as to their cause and help producers realize some things are simply beyond their control. We see one to two percent perforating ulcers every spring on many well-managed farms. These are ulcers on the abomasum (fourth stomach), which have eaten right through the entire wall allowing gut contents to spill out into the abdomen. These calves die within 24 hours of this happening in fact most are found as a sudden death. If alive they are very shocky weak dehydrated, may be down and often full or bloated on both sides of their abdomen. It is very often your best doing calves. Initially the cause of these was suspected to be everything from clostridial diseases to hairballs to BVD to copper deficiency to genetics. A lot of these probable causes were pretty much ruled out by a group of researchers out of the veterinary college in Saskatoon on a study done ten years ago. They surveyed herds across Western Canada and found these calves generally are in the six to eight week range when they ulcerate and are generally the upper end as far as growth. The incidence was as high in well managed herds where a lot of the suspect causes could be ruled out. At the six to eight week stage in their growth there are changing from essentially a single stomached animal to one that ruminates whereby the rumen is enlarging. As a result the calves diet is changing from only mothers milk to roughage and something triggers this ulcer formation. Ulcers happen on calves picking at hay or where their mothers are primarily fed silage. No study has followed up since but I rarely see ulcers on later born calves that go through this transition at pasture. The diet change is much more subtle going from milk to milk and very fine soft new grass. Perhaps this more natural change has something to do with it. Perhaps dead calves are not found to be checked at pasture but in the future perhaps this question can be researched and answers found. For now some producers live with the fact a low percentage of good calves get this condition and die. A very few if found early enough and just have colicky signs surgery can be done and the area resected but they must be found fast and the veterinarian react before the ulcer has perforated. Calves in spring can be presented to a veterinary clinic simply full with no manure present. If they are alert and lively a hairball or other object causing an obstruction could be the cause.
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Often these are initially treated with laxatives to see if the object will pass. If not surgery is performed and an enterotomy incision done right over the obstruction and the calf will generally make an uneventful recovery. If this situation is left an intussusception may develop which is essentially the telescoping of the intestines into itself. Peristalsis is the contractions, which move feed down the intestinal tract. With an obstruction or sometimes spontaneously the intestines overdue this process and telescope on themselves. The resultant swelling and scarring in itself then will also cause a blockage. Surgery can again be done and often the involved area of intestines is removed back to normal and the two ends are then joined together. The intestines will heal quickly and again an uneventful recovery if often the result after a few days of convalescence. Torsions are intestinal accidents generally involve the small intestines, spiral colon, ceacum (equivalent to the human appendix) or the abomasum. Calves get shocky and bloated very quickly. Again if surgery is performed to correct the torsion it must be done right away otherwise blood supply is damaged to the intestines or stomach since the torsion acts essentially like a tourniquet on the affected tissues. If you wait even a couple hours the prognosis is very grave indeed on all the intestinal related torsions. Every year we have several cases of small intestines on newborn calves eviscerating out through an umbilical hernia site. Sometimes the hernial contents will be contained within a sac. These are a dire veterinary emergency and if rushed into the clinic for surgery they can have a high rate of success. If the contents get contaminated by straw dirt or stepped on by the calf the odds reduce drastically. The best thing to do with these calves is get them upside down so no more intestines fall out from gravity. Wrapping a clean wet towel around the area facilitates this and prevents any exposed intestines from drying out. If surgery can be performed without much contamination to the area the veterinarian replaces the herniated contents repairs the hernial site and covers them with antibiotics. What is really critical here are how quick producers discover them and how they are transported into the clinic. The minute your veterinarian examines them he/she can give you a fairly accurate prognosis as to the final outcome and whether surgery is worth it. The causes of abdominal problems are varied. In half the cases diagnosis is made on autopsy and other cases can have favourable outcomes if surgery is performed. Quickly have any of these conditions checked by your veterinarian as time is often of the essence as they are true veterinary emergencies.