Occurrence of abomasitis after continuous use of substitutes in dairy calves

Abstract

This report aims to describe the occurrence of cases of abomasitis in a herd of Girolando dairy calves after the administration of substitutes on a property in the state of Bahia. Abomasitis is a syndrome that affects calves in the lactation phase, of multifactorial origin, with emphasis on its occurrence under the influence of nutritional management with the use of substitutes. In a rural property located in the southeast of the state of Bahia/MG, the cows and calves were fed corn silage, cottonseed, ration, hay, and the animals 0-90 days were fed with substitutes commercials. The affected animals had nervous symptoms, pneumonia, fever, melena, prostration, loss of appetite, among other clinical signs. The diagnostic determination was obtained through clinical and complementary exams such as ultrasonography, necroscopic exam, histopathological analysis and abomasal puncture with subsequent evaluation of the present content. In addition, under suspicion of nutritional origin, chemical analysis of the substitute was carried out to qualitatively and quantitatively evaluate its properties. The substitute had nutritional nonconformities in relation to neutral digestive fiber, with values ​​10 times higher than recommended. The treatment of the affected animals consisted of: replacing the use of milk replacer with commercial milk in calves from 0 to 30 days old; increase in the number of feedings; administration of volume replenishers, antimicrobials and analgesics, among others. It was observed that after the measures described above, the epidemiological indices showed a significant reduction in the mortality rate by 4% and in the occurrence of digestive disorders by 25%.