Salmonellosis is one of the many diarrheal diseases
affecting pre-weaned dairy calves. Salmonella organisms
are commonly isolated from dairy farms (Fossler et al.,
2004) and the fecal-oral transmission route can occur from
dam to offspring. Calves can also acquire the organism
from fecal-contaminated fomites or the environment.
Calves manifest the disease as diarrhea, fever, anorexia,
and dehydration all of which significantly compromise the
development and maturation of the animal. Further costs
include treatment with electrolytes or antibiotics or both,
and some calves still perish because of the increasing
prevalence of antibiotic resistance in Salmonella (Cummings
et al., 2013) and hypervirulence associated with