She died. Weak calf coming from a weak cow.
Too much, too little, to late, who knows. Maybe I should have taken the calf when I first noticed the cow was down, maybe the dex would've helped, maybe, maybe, maybe.
Hate to think that I should've dispatched the cow and forgot about the baby, but I figured it was worth a try. And would it have been an end to a great story to have the calf survived.
I weighed the calf after she died and she was at 105 pounds, with 6 quart's of fluid in her. She had been urinating, so as far as birth weight, it's anyone guess.
We had put the tube in her without the bag to get some of the air out, and a lot came out. A few minutes later I went to check on her and she was burping a little more. A couple of minutes later she quite breathing, I massaged her lung area, and brought her back. Then after about 30 seconds she quite again so I tried it again with no success, so I slapped her rib cage a few times, nothing, so I started squeezing her some more. And the best way to subscribe it is all the stomach fluids came up and she choked on it. Well not choke, I guess she wasn't breathing anyway. After we got most of the fluids out of the way she took a couple of more breaths, but it wasn't enough. I even closed her mouth and 1 nostril and blew into the other one, but she was too weak to make it.
How much is too much? I guess it's different for everyone, a lot of people won't have went as far as I did, a lot of people would've done more. I suppose I could've spent the $1000 and hoisted the cow into the back of the truck and brought her to the vet so he could do the c-section and save the both of them, but ya, the both might have died anyway. It would have been a lot of work for me if the calf had lived, but now I guess it's easier. Would I do it again? You bet, I'm not sure what I would've done different, I guess every situation is different. Perhaps I would have giving the calf a full gallon of colstrum an hour after birth and got her in the house and warmed up sooner. Ya learn something new everyday.
I was just talking to my wife, I was wondering when this run of bad luck was going to be over. I think in about 10 years when I'm wise enough to know better.