Blood-shot eyes on newborn

[Putangitangi]

I watched a mature, well-conditioned cow calve this morning. Everything was entirely normal, except perhaps a little more violent rear foot stamping than most of them do. The calf presented well, both front feet, tongue and nose, all as usual, a little bit of a hold-up between neck and chest and the cow struggled a little to get to her feet - perhaps the stamping indicated some nerve issues? She did not stand on him. The bull calf is not unusually large, just a good size for the cow and the whites of both eyes are completely blood-shot and the right eye looks like it has a blood blister (can't really examine very closely with ease). He was slow to get up, seeming really floppy, taking about two hours instead of the usual quarter; when standing, he stood with his head a little lowered, panting with mouth open. He seemed to have a bit of a twitchy fit when lying at one stage, but stood ok again later.
Late this afternoon he was hunting for the udder and I plugged about a liter of colostrum into him to give him the energy and encouragement to keep looking for the real source. So far he seems just slow to do everything. I went back to my photos to see if he came out funny or something, but nothing looks odd.

Maybe he'll come right. Has anyone any similar experience to share?

 

[Putangitangi]

Nobody answered because you've never seen such a thing?

 

[branguscowgirl]

Nothing sounds too bad except where is the "suspected blood blister"? On the cornea, or white of the eye?

Are you in a Selenium deficient area? If so, I would give a shot of Bose or Muse. That usually perks them right up. Bull calves are commonly "slower" at birth.

Good luck and keep us informed.

 

[Putangitangi]

The bit which looked blistery was across the cornea. It's better today, but the eye still looks oddly colored, as if there is still blood where there should not be. The red whites are a little less red, with now some bits of almost-white showing.

We put Selenium on with our fertilizer because although we were not testing as particularly deficient, I had a few too many retained membranes and once I put Se on, there were no more. Thus he won't be deficient.

He's still unusually slow. I have nine bulls and three heifers so far and they've all been quick off the mark, except this one. He still wavers around when he stands and hasn't found a teat on his own yet. I'm still betting on some weird injury on the way out, which will gradually come right if I can keep him adequately fed until he works it all out for himself. His mother is quiet enough to milk in the paddock, fortunately, as long as we bribe her sufficiently.

Thanks for your thoughts.

 

[Nesikep]

I've had lots of them a little slow to get going, and end up a little retarded, never noticed bloodshot eyes like that though. It is usually the bull calves that are most prone to being dumb.. and slow to get colostrum doesn't help them at all either.

So you put the Se on the pasture? I guess that's one way of doing it.

 

[branguscowgirl]

Personally, I would give it to him anyway. I give it to every calf.
My guess is that he was just being a bit stressed during birth. If it is something more serious, you will probably know it by tomorrow.
I think you are right on track with just getting the colostrum in him and see if anything different happens.
Good luck!

 

[regolith]

Nobody answered because you've never seen such a thing?

Drattit, copy/pasted something else without checking this post had gone through.
To repeat:
An older farmer told me the bloodshot eyes was a sign of a difficult birth.
I see it often enough, and half the time knowing that there was no difficulty in calving, that I ignore it as meaningless. In the worse cases, if the calf rolls its eye back so the white is visible that area is all dark, blood red; it does clear up on its own.
Your calf sounds retarded. Sometimes the stars just line up that way, there might not be an obvious cause. Will cross fingers that he gets over it in a day or two.

'stamping' sounds like normal behaviour for a cow in the early stages of labour. I'm not sure that I ever see it when she's actively pushing.

Nesikep, Se in the fertiliser is how most of us do it here. It's effective.

 

[dun]

Nobody answered because you've never seen such a thing?

Drattit, copy/pasted something else without checking this post had gone through.
To repeat:
An older farmer told me the bloodshot eyes was a sign of a difficult birth.
I see it often enough, and half the time knowing that there was no difficulty in calving, that I ignore it as meaningless. In the worse cases, if the calf rolls its eye back so the white is visible that area is all dark, blood red; it does clear up on its own.
Your calf sounds retarded. Sometimes the stars just line up that way, there might not be an obvious cause. Will cross fingers that he gets over it in a day or two.

'stamping' sounds like normal behaviour for a cow in the early stages of labour. I'm not sure that I ever see it when she's actively pushing.

Nesikep, Se in the fertiliser is how most of us do it here. It's effective.

I agree with the difficult birth for the blldshot look, the blood blister has me baffled. Just becuae the entire birthing process was observed doesn;t mean that hte early labor which could have gone on for hours was observed. The bloodshot looking eyes is usually accompanied with the tongue being extended and frequently swelling of the head. It's a lot like the yeallow coloration of the birth fluids which mean the calf passed muconeum(sp) while still in the intact sack.
Observations not gauranteed scientific data that I know of.

 

[Putangitangi]

Interestingly (well, I like cows a great deal, so find everything interesting) I have a family of cows whose birth fluids are always a nasty greeny-yellow color. It may be meconium taint, but if that's the cause, in that family every calf comes out that way. If they have white faces, they come out a putrid green.

There's no head or tongue swelling on this calf. Because the cow birthed at around 9.30am, I'd had time to observe her usual distracted standing around. I'd not have thought there was much wrong with the labor. Yes most cows stamp their feet, but this was a particularly irritated stamping, as if there was more pain than there would normally be at that point, but it may not have meant anything and if it did, I have no way of connecting it to the calf's problems anyway.

Because I've been milking his mother and giving him a bottle today, I've been able to keep an eye on his eyes and they're definitely improving. So is he. His appetite and sucking are fine; he just can't quite get it together with his mother to find the teats on her overly-large udder. She's quiet enough to milk in the paddock, with a bowl of molasses under her nose, but she won't stand still for me to help the calf and I don't want to walk them to the yards until he's a little stronger - if I have to. I think he'll get himself sorted out without too much more interference.

Thanks all for your comments and suggestions.

 

[branguscowgirl]

Glad that you are seeing improvement.

 

[VirginiaCattle]

I would only add that I've had bloodshot eyes in calves. The "blood blister" is just a burst vessel.

It is an indication that the birth was harder on the calf that you observed. I had a calf last year with bloodshot eyes but his forehead was also swollen. He was a hard pull out of a first-calf heifer and he died three days later for no obvious reason.

 

[Putangitangi]

Stupid calf. Still sucking on the top of the udder ... When I get my other pulled calf out of his lying-in position in the yards, we might have to walk these two over there and make the cow stand still! She'll let us take milk, but won't let us help the calf to feed.

VC, that's an outcome I hope I won't see. I pulled a calf last evening after he'd been stuck in the same position for about five hours - every push I thought she was going to do it, thought just one more pull on the feet in the paddock by me would have got it out... With chains on his legs and large partner on the handles, he came out fine. He has a swelling above his right eye this morning, probably where that side of his face was pressed into his mother's pelvic bones, since his face was on a bit of an angle. He's fed, so I assume he'll come right.

 

[Putangitangi]

That's better (yesterday morning)! He's only worked out one side on his own, so we'll occasionally relieve the other side for her benefit - and ours, once the colostrum is gone and we can have fresh milk again.

This is one of two N Bar Emulation EXT cows in my herd.

 

[branguscowgirl]

:clap: Good deal!

 

[Putangitangi]

You can see why he may have had trouble finding the teats, their being rather lower down than a calf might naturally expect. If he'd been born to any of my heifers, he'd have been fine.

 

[Nesikep]

now that he has found the source he should grow fine... looks like she has plenty

 

[waihou]

Nice photo, and pleasing to see him feeding properly as well!

 

[gizmom]

:clap: :clap: :clap:

I really like happy endings!

Gizmom