Summer scour syndrome in weaned dairy calves: case series

Table 1 Overview of suspected SSS case history on each farm

History	Farm 1	Farm 2	Farm 3	Farm 4	Farm 5
Clinical signs	Lethargy and diarrhoea	Dullness and diarrhoea	Diarrhoea	Diarrhoea	Diarrhoea and ill-thrift
Onset of clinical signs^a	ca. 6 weeks	ca. 4 weeks	ca. 6 weeks	ca. 2 weeks	ca. 2 weeks
Number of calves^b	52	38	38	28	21
Affected calves moved indoors	Yes, four worst-affected calves	Yes, four worst-affected calves	Yes, eight worst-affected calves	Yes, seven worst-affected calves	Yes^e
Treatments	Increased concentrate feeding (from 1 to 1.5 kg/h/d); calcium carbonate buffer and coccidiostat^d	Oral yeast supplement (Ruminate powders; Acravet, Ireland)	Re-introduced hay at grass	Oral sulfadimidine antibiotic and yeast supplement (Ruminate powders; Acravet, Ireland)	Coccidiostat and anthelmintic
Moved paddock^c	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes
Farm health history	Cryptosporidiosis in February 2023 and bovine respiratory disease (BRD) in April 2023 before turnout	SSS type of clinical signs observed over the past 3 years	SSS type clinical signs observed over the past 4 years	SSS type clinical signs observed in the previous year (2022)	Lungworm health problems in the previous year (2022)

ca. – circa; ^a Observed by the farmers, relative to turnout; ^b Within the affected group; ^c Shortly after the onset of clinical signs; ^d Despite of negative for coccidiosis; ^e Number of affected calves that were moved indoor was not provided by the farmer

ISSN: 2046-0481