Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug therapy for neonatal calf diarrhea complex: Effects on calf performance

Todd, C. G.; Millman, S. T.; McKnight, D. R.; Duffield, T. F.; Leslie, K. E.

The final model for milk consumption controlled for the effects of arrival BW, age at treatment, and time relative to onset of diarrhea. A first-order autoregressive correlation structure was used to adjust for the correla- Offered into all of the models (i.e., odds of milk consumption, time to starter consumption, rate of starter consumption, total starter consumption over the 8-wk study, water intake, rate of BW gain, total BW gain over the 8-wk study, BW at weaning, and time to weaning). tion between daily milk intakes from individual calves. Overall, MEL-treated calves were 2.6 times more likely than PLA-treated calves to consume all milk offered (P < 0.05). However, the final regression model for milk intake included an interaction between treatment and age at treatment. Thus, milk consumption was stratified by 3 different treatment ages that were representative of the sample population. There was no difference in milk consumption for calves that had been treated with MEL or PLA at less than 7 d of age [n = 17, odds ratio (OR) = 1.33; P = 0.52] or between 8 and 10 d of age (n = 18, OR = 0.80; P = 0.80). However, for those calves that developed diarrhea and were enrolled after 10 d of age, the odds of MEL-treated calves consuming their entire milk allowance were 5.30 times greater than the odds for PLA-treated calves (n = 18, OR = 5.30; P < 0.05).