Calving problems

ELP

Has anybody got any remidnes for a cow that cant get up after a difficult calving. It calved her self and is making atempts at getting up but just cant make.Thanks for any suggestions in advance

fastrac

Get her off concrete and on a soft surface and avoid too much lifting with hip lifters.Anti inflammatory drugs will help as will regular changing of the side she is lying on to prevent her getting a dead leg.Keep milking to stop mastitis

djmc

put her in pen with 1 to 2 foot of packed old silage and some painkiller drugs
Its 50 50 with down cows
Had problems before with poor silage quaility leading to cows not having energy to calf
This year fed cows 2 kg maze meal over winter and all calved no problem

snowman707

as the other replies said keep her well bedded down & keep turning her from side to side

she will get up in her own time, I had a heifer down for 10 days & she made a full recovery

keep her off the concrete after getting up as she will have limited power in one or both legs & your biggest worry is of her slipping & 'doing the splits'.

leitrim lad

yip its all above get her into a pen on her own very well bedded and keep water beside her so that she has little or no movement to do, and gradually encoutage her after a few days with a little bit of meal,
keep a close eye i had one similar last year she got up after a week, my one had twins and lay down thank god all came good

massey woman

Was she a brass tag on poor quality silage seems most common cause all good suggestions
say good bye to her when she comes round and beefs up a bit after a few bags of red meal, indian meal

fig mclough

maybe get her a "lick" to build up her strenght! and as the other lads said

wiggy123

good advice there!
do as they say--get her off the hard surface-not helping!also keep her legs mobile,ie warmed..

weather premitting--i'd let her out to a field,ground b soft..also try giving her vitamins, shot of them! or a booster shot! keep her wit meal+food..mayb not to much!
as an uncle of mine had same--give her silage,she got tetany then...in the end she was put down! put she was in a bad way!after calving!mayb give her hay or straw!

common this year-fallen cows are calving,silage quality was bad last yr! please god,it b better this year!

ELP

Thanks for all the advise.
Will try them out and let you know how i get on thanks

Timmaay

Happens us regularly. Usually calling out the vet and getting him to put a bottle of calcium and magnisuim straight into the vains will have her standing soon enough. Expensive to be calling out a vet as such i know, but its the cheapest option in the long run, with possible mastitis etc.

snowman707

Timmaay wrote: »

but its the cheapest option in the long run, with possible mastitis etc.

If Ca or Mg will get her up, I think you will find find it much cheaper, & beneficial to cow & calf to feed a correct pre calver mineral.

Tableman

Happens us regularly. Usually calling out the vet and getting him to put a bottle of calcium and magnisuim straight into the vains will have her standing soon enough. Expensive to be calling out a vet as such i know, but its the cheapest option in the long run, with possible mastitis etc.

I think the cheapest option would be to find the cause of why its happens regularly and to eliminate it!

irish_bob

snowman707 wrote: »

If Ca or Mg will get her up, I think you will find find it much cheaper, & beneficial to cow & calf to feed a correct pre calver mineral.

thier isnt a single pre calver mineral on the market that is sure proof , especially when it comes to older cows , they are especially prone to milk fever

snowman707

irish_bob wrote: »

thier isnt a single pre calver mineral on the market that is sure proof , especially when it comes to older cows , they are especially prone to milk fever

If feeding minerals, to get the full benefit it is best to use chelated minerals, otherwise most of the benefits finish up the slurry tank.

Milk fever is easily controlled, I have even cured a cow by bottling her a drench of gran lime, in the absence of having calcium, .. yes I know poor farming practice of my behalf , thought I had a few bottles on calcium but when I checked found it was magnesium.


if you have a cow with a known history of milk fever get a shot from the vet & give it 10 days before calving

if you have a cow showing signs of tetany, & don't have bottle of magnesium, drench her with Epsom salts (Magnesium Sulphate), be careful handling these ladies.

Minerals are often blamed where in fact the real problem lies with low energy feed.

You would be surprised the difference of 100 kgs of meal per head would make to a animal fed over the winter period, it would cost about the same as a mineral bucket

reilig

snowman707 wrote: »

Minerals are often blamed where in fact the real problem lies with low energy feed.

You would be surprised the difference of 100 kgs of meal per head would make to a animal fed over the winter period, it would cost about the same as a mineral bucket

I wholely agree with you. People are feeding bad silage with low sugar levels which just about keep the cattle going. You have 2 choices, feed meal or improve the quality of your silage - the latter being the cheaper option. With the bad weather in recent summers, farmers have been forced to let meadows become very heavy before they are dry enough to cut. Heavy meadows make for poor quality returns.

Problem with feeding meal to cows that are going to calve is that they tend to put it into the calf rather than on their back and the calves are often big, hard to calve and can sometimes lead to the problem that the OP has - cow not able to get up after a hard calving. Feeding good quality silage right through is better for these reasons.

snowman707

reilig wrote: »

Problem with feeding meal to cows that are going to calve is that they tend to put it into the calf rather than on their back and the calves are often big, hard to calve and can sometimes lead to the problem that the OP has - c.

Totally agree,

However if you keep the CP (protein) levels low & Energy level high, ( i.e feed rolled oats or wheat if you can get it. I think some some body mentioned maize meal ) & stop feeding about 3 weeks before calving, you should get by with little or no calving problems.