Neonatal calf diarrhoea (NCD), also known as calf scours, is a common disease affecting newborn calves. Calves are susceptible to this disease especially during the first 28 days of their life. The greatest losses occur when calves are kept in close confinement, as chances for transmission of the causative agents of NCD are enhanced. Causative agents attack the lining of the calf s intestine and cause diarrhoea, which results in decrease in the absorption of essential nutrients and leads to weight loss and dehydration. These clinical signs are caused by the interaction of any of the several possible infectious causes and predisposing factors such as lack of colostrums feeding, failure to absorb colostral antibodies and unfavourable effects of environment etc. NCD is an important disease from the economic point of view. It is roughly estimated that a calf mortality of 20 % can reduce net profit to 38 %. Neonatal calf mortality varies from 8.7 to 64 % throughout the world (Khan and Khan, 1991). Economic losses can also be attributed to long-term effects on health and productivity of surviving calves and labour and treatment costs such as expenditures on antibiotics, milk replacer and oral rehydration etc.
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