Scour costs

19 August 1997

Scour costs

SCOUR outbreaks cost calf rearers of about £100 an affected calf, according to independent farm surveys by DAISY and SAC.

DAISY data was taken from 30 recorded farms and 10 of the herds had had a scour outbreak within the previous five years. Factors included in costings were loss of calf performance, treatment expenses, labour, vet treatment and cost of isolation housing.

In the SAC study, the average cost of £116 an affected calf was split between labour costs (51%), depressed calf value (18%), vet costs (14%), calf deaths (11%) and capital costs (6%).n