Comparison between milk deprivation and oral rehydration with a glucose-glycine-electrolyte formulation in diarrhoeic and transported calves.

Treatment of diarrhoeic calves by oral administration of a glucose-glycine-electrolyte solution (GGES) was compared with milk deprivation (water given instead) and with no treatment (milk-fed controls). The diarrhoea followed challenge with enteropathogenic Escherichia coli. The GGES group showed a significantly lower mortality (5 per cent) in comparison with the controls (37 per cent). The milk-deprived group had a slightly lower mortality (30 per cent) in comparison with the controls. The milk deprived group showed a significantly prolonged duration of diarrhoea in survivors compared with the control group, while the GGES group did not differ significantly from the controls. Calves arriving on farms were allocated randomly to either GGES or to an alternative control treatment (usually partial milk deprivation). The incidence of diarrhoea during the subsequent two weeks was significantly less in the GGES group. Clotting of milk by rennet was impaired by addition with either water or an alkaline electrolyte solution but was enhanced by dilution with GGES.