Home Remedies
Blackberry Root Tea for Diarrhea & Scours:
We make our own tea for stopping scours and diarrhea. It is a Blackberry Root Tea. Very simple to make, and extremley effective for stopping scours.
We have Blackberries all over our property so we have easy access to the roots. We dig up quite a few root balls, enough to fill a large pot. We wash the roots in plain water to get all the dirt and debris off them. Then we add them all to our large 3 gallon pot, put them on the stove, add water, nothing else. Turn the stove on high, and let it boil for 1 hour and 30 minutes, to 2 hours. The tea should be a very strong red color by this time.
The we fill the sink with cold water, and take another pot and float the 2nd pot in the cold water. Take some of the tea and pour it into the pot that is floating. The cold water in the sink will help to cool the tea down. It works faster to cool it in small quantiies and filter it while you transer the cooled tea to another container. After you have all the tea cooled down a bit, you can use it warm or cold.
Blackberry tea has natural anti diarrheals and loads of antioxidants, vitamins and stomach soothing properties. This is why it is such an effective scour stopper.
If you make more tea than you need, you can always freeze it for later use. Settling is natural, just give it a quick stir or shake.
Given enough tea, all scours should be gone within 12 hours, sometimes less.
This is my Go-To remedy for scours. This will stop all scours, it has never failed me. This will work when Peptobismal, anti-diarrhea pills or medication, Kaopectate and other pharmacuticals won't work. I love this tea, and have been using this to stop scours for a long time.
Bottle fed animals will normally drink the tea straight from a bottle. If they are no longer on bottle or are adults, drenching works best.
For goat kids: I like to give them at least a quart, if they are bigger kids (35lbs+) I give them 2 quarts of it a day.
For calves: I like to give them at least a gallon, I try to give them 2 gallons if possible. All scours should be stopped in their tracks if more is given.
For other animals: Given how much I give to calves and goats, use that as a guide.
Note: The roots can be use the same day for many batches of tea, just add more water to the pot and keep boiling! The longer it boils the stronger it gets.
I have used the roots to make more than 5 batches before, so they have LOT of use before they can no longer be used. After the aren't making as strong of tea, slice the roots open, or break them apart, they will make a strong tea the next batch.
This is safe for ALL species of livestock, even people.
I will drink it if I made too much and there is no room in the freezer, I just add a spoon of sugar and enjoy. It is a nice tea, has a bit of an Earthy flavor, but I like it.
Home Made Electrolytes:
A half gallon of hot water
2-6 Tablespoons of Unsulphured Blackstrap Molasses(or what you have on hand or honey)
1-2 Tablespoons of Either Sea Salt, Epsom Salt, Baking Soda or Table Salt.
1 cup of Apple Cider Vinegar
Make more as needed. Mix well and let them drink it, or drench.
OR
One heaping tablespoonful of salt
One heaping tablespoonful of baking soda
One gallon of water
For Bloat:
Stop milk for 12 -24 hours (if on the bottle or dam)
Give quality electrolytes
1/2 tsp. Baking soda in enough water to drench
C&D Anti Toxin shot every 12 hours. (CD&T Anti-Toxin will bind any toxins causing issue, if unavailable, Milk of Magnesia can be used, it may give them diarrhea however, let it run it's course)
C&D Anti Toxin - Given for bloat, at disbudding time, and more.
kids under 6lbs give them 3ccs injected SQ every 12hours
kids 6-15lbs give them 5ccs injected SQ every 12 hours.
kids 15-20lbs: give them 10ccs injected SQ every 12 hours.
For adults- 80lb goat will get 20ccs injected SQ every 12 hours
Suckling lambs, goats and pigs 5 mL
Suckling calves 10 mL
Feeder lambs and pigs 10 mL
Feeder calves and cattle 25 mL
Also Helpful
Probiotic paste (or powder, yogurt if nothing else)
Fortified B Complex shots
Vitamins (like Nutri Drench, we have also used bird vitamins when we had nothing else)
In severe cases we have given Benadryl, along with all of the above.
Rumen Jump Starter
1 Tablespoon Yogurt
1 Tablespoon Corn Syrup
1 Tablespoon Epsom Salt
mix with a little water, drench
Probiotic paste is really handy, but if you don't have any, the mix above works just fine.
Beer is another rumen jump starter.
OR
Once can of dark beer, the darker the better.