Blind calf

[T-Bro]

Hello everyone,
my friend bought a calf at the local sale barn (35$).
You could tell something was wrong with her, she looked very feeble. He had to half carry/ walk her to the trailer, she was bloated and her eyes were covered in a milky film. I didn't think that she would live through the night, but he wanted to try. After a round of penicillin and B-complex, she took a 1/4 bottle of milk replacement, then 1/2 bottle, and now she is taking a full bottle. Her eyes have cleared and she is moving around just like any calf. She bumps into things occasionally, but I think she actually has some vision now. My buddy says that he's going to get a bell to hang on another bottle calf's neck so she can follow her around. I'm still not sure what he's going to do with her, but I don't think his wife and kids will let us eat her.
Anyway, is the blindness common/ or have a common cause that anyone know of. I'd be interested to find out why this happened. Maybe something the cow ate, cow got sick, ??
Anyway, just thought it was a nice story some would enjoy.

 

[Anonymous]

Hello everyone,
my friend bought a calf at the local sale barn (35$).
You could tell something was wrong with her, she looked very feeble. He had to half carry/ walk her to the trailer, she was bloated and her eyes were covered in a milky film. I didn't think that she would live through the night, but he wanted to try. After a round of penicillin and B-complex, she took a 1/4 bottle of milk replacement, then 1/2 bottle, and now she is taking a full bottle. Her eyes have cleared and she is moving around just like any calf. She bumps into things occasionally, but I think she actually has some vision now. My buddy says that he's going to get a bell to hang on another bottle calf's neck so she can follow her around. I'm still not sure what he's going to do with her, but I don't think his wife and kids will let us eat her.
Anyway, is the blindness common/ or have a common cause that anyone know of. I'd be interested to find out why this happened. Maybe something the cow ate, cow got sick, ??
Anyway, just thought it was a nice story some would enjoy.

I had a calf with pink eye that had a kind of crusty milky cover over his eye

 

[milkmaid]

I believe IBR causes some blindness. Can't remember off hand how you'd deal with that.

A deficiency of one of the vitamins also will cause blindness - that one's easier to fix. I believe it's vitamin A.

 

[Lammie]

You know, my dad is 82 and he tells a story about when he was growing up and their family had Jersey cows for milking. He said they had a heifer calf that was born blind and so they hung a bell around another calf's neck and she would follow that calf everywhere. He even swears that she made a good mamma.

 

[T-Bro]

You're right about the Vitamin A. We gave her some of that, too.