Heifer down after calving

Farmerstatia

Have a good strong heifer calve 9 days ago. .was a massive calf and massive pull job...heifer was on restricted diet but still massive calf..anyway heifer went down and hasn't got up....got vet she gave two bottles calcium into vein and pain relief. ...heifer eating and drinking perfect and tryang to get up but just wasn't getting the whole way there...
Then 3 days ago moved her out to the field and she gone down hill since..not eating or drinking since yesterday. ..got another full bottle of calcium under skin yesterday and more pain relief but it's like she giving up just lying there now not trying to get up at all..
Any advice to get this animal back up and running...don't want to lose her

Angus2018

I'd bring her back in first, weather is looking to then nasty the next few days and will only worsen her condition more. What have you been doing to help her stand? Have you lifted her up with the forks?

Sometimes you just get unlucky with the cow pumping every bit of food into the calf, have a small cow with her bones sticking out and she has massive calves that are nearly the size of her come weaning.

The man in red and black

Farmerstatia wrote: »

Have a good strong heifer calve 9 days ago. .was a massive calf and massive pull job...heifer was on restricted diet but still massive calf..anyway heifer went down and hasn't got up....got vet she gave two bottles calcium into vein and pain relief. ...heifer eating and drinking perfect and tryang to get up but just wasn't getting the whole way there...
Then 3 days ago moved her out to the field and she gone down hill since..not eating or drinking since yesterday. ..got another full bottle of calcium under skin yesterday and more pain relief but it's like she giving up just lying there now not trying to get up at all..
Any advice to get this animal back up and running...don't want to lose her

Hard luck and sorry to hear about the cow. Unfortunately sounds like this cow might need to be euthanized. I am a firm believer that cows that are sitting up, eating, crawling around and trying to rise deserve their chance. If they stop eating/drinking, stop making any attempts to rise or are just giving up and throwing themselves out flat that is the time to chat to your vet about euthanasia. Nobody want's to see them suffer. Give your vet a call in the morning and discuss is there any point doing anything else like lifting etc but sounds like euthanasia.

greysides

The man in red and black wrote: »

Hard luck and sorry to hear about the cow. Unfortunately sounds like this cow might need to be euthanized. I am a firm believer that cows that are sitting up, eating, crawling around and trying to rise deserve their chance. If they stop eating/drinking, stop making any attempts to rise or are just giving up and throwing themselves out flat that is the time to chat to your vet about euthanasia. Nobody want's to see them suffer. Give your vet a call in the morning and discuss is there any point doing anything else like lifting etc but sounds like euthanasia.

My thoughts too. If only wishing could make it otherwise....

emaherx

Farmerstatia wrote: »

Have a good strong heifer calve 9 days ago. .was a massive calf and massive pull job...heifer was on restricted diet but still massive calf..anyway heifer went down and hasn't got up....got vet she gave two bottles calcium into vein and pain relief. ...heifer eating and drinking perfect and tryang to get up but just wasn't getting the whole way there...
Then 3 days ago moved her out to the field and she gone down hill since..not eating or drinking since yesterday. ..got another full bottle of calcium under skin yesterday and more pain relief but it's like she giving up just lying there now not trying to get up at all..
Any advice to get this animal back up and running...don't want to lose her

I was in a similar situation back in February, heifer down after large calf. She was down for 2 weeks and I was going to have her put down but then snow came and I didn't want to have a dead animal on the yard for days so I put off getting the vet for a few days. She was completely panned out everyday when I went out and I physically had to pull her up to sitting at least twice a day. After the first snowy night I even found her in a snow drift in the middle of the shed and I thought that would surely finish her off. After the snow cleared I went out to feed her some nuts and she jumped to her feet and frightened the crap out of me.

The big difference is she was keen on her food/water every day she was down.

aidanki

http://www.forum4farming.com/forum/index.php?threads/lifting-a-downer-cow.16013/

get her lifted and see what happens after a few days..........

not eating and drinking is bad

best of luck

High bike

I’d try lifting with the front loader too before I give up hope she makes it

Track9

Very unusual heifer not drinking.
from memory even the ones we lost always seem to eat & drink to some extent.
Because of hard calving, she may have done some damage inside & might be suffering a bad infection.
Try a strong Anti Biotic & Anti Inflammatory shot.
We had big animal sick like that & Vet kept saying, give them a few cupfuls of Natural Organic Yogurt down the throat & tempt them with fresh grass.
Whilst Its good to lift them, a strong antibiotic can be very helpful.
Best of luck.

Farmerstatia

We getting the vet out to her again today..her joints are swollen and she now has mastitis also...she would of been lifted up days ago but I'm 6 mths preg and my husband and father in law were away until 3 days ago...
They lifted her last night and sat her back up and she drank loads of water and nibbled at crunch and grass...
There might still be hope yet

_Brian

I’d say her her back in onto a deep bed if at all possible.
The weather isn’t good enough to have a downed animal out and the forecast is worse.

whelan2

Farmerstatia wrote: »

We getting the vet out to her again today..her joints are swollen and she now has mastitis also...she would of been lifted up days ago but I'm 6 mths preg and my husband and father in law were away until 3 days ago...
They lifted her last night and sat her back up and she drank loads of water and nibbled at crunch and grass...
There might still be hope yet

A downer animal is always tough. First thing is be very careful, if she swings her head or let's out a kick she could injure you and that's the
last thing you need in your condition. If she's eating that's good news

Bo dearg

_Brian wrote: »

I’d say her her back in onto a deep bed if at all possible.
The weather isn’t good enough to have a downed animal out and the forecast is worse.

+1 to that. Keep her turned from one side to other if you can. Firm believer in never lifting downed cow. I've had them get up after 3 weeks. I think if I was injured the last thing i'd want is lads putting clamps on my hips and lifting me up. Being a heifers she has a good chance. Patience!!

blue5000

Farmerstatia wrote: »

We getting the vet out to her again today..her joints are swollen and she now has mastitis also...she would of been lifted up days ago but I'm 6 mths preg and my husband and father in law were away until 3 days ago...
They lifted her last night and sat her back up and she drank loads of water and nibbled at crunch and grass...
There might still be hope yet

Look, it sounds like you have a lot on your plate at the moment, you have the husband and FiL around till tomorrow morning, if the heifer isn't up by the time the kids are gone to school shoot her to fook or ask the knackery/vet to do it. I know I'm being harsh and it's been a tough spring for all of us, but sometimes it's just a question of one less headache to deal with.

voz es

This might matter little to your own situation but we got a soil sample of our lands done, the monerals in the soil were well out. Posibally to do with the sustaibed bad weather.

We actuall had 6 go down either close to or just after calfing. We never had anything like that before. The soil samples showed big a need to spread Potassium and Phosphorus.

We lost one cow of the six, she had cal injections.
If it was again we would be trying to lift her earlier, if you cant get your hands on a sling, use one of those one ton concentrate bags with tue sides cut. Perfect for the front loader.