calf can't stand

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plowboy

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I need help I had to pull a calf or help the mother finish.Now the calf cannot stand or walk back legs starting to work front not so good . Ask the vet. he said it was stress. Calf is eating good no problem there. Anyone ever had this or heard of this problem.Any suggestions on how to fix this or help the calf. thanks Plowboy.
 
If it was a hard pull, sometimes you hurt their front legs or he may have had some nerve damage. Time will usually solve the problem. You can prop him up over a square bale, to get him to use them some. He will probably improve over the next couple days. A shot of Selenium might help him out as well. Just keep feeding him and helping him stand and he should get better.
 
Gonna' have to say time is everything here. Question is - How much time you planning to take and money you planning to spend before it becomes more expensive - time and possibly drugs before you shoot it?

Try and have that in your head - otherwise you can sink so much money into them - and then they die - you could have gone and got yourself a good one for replacement.

Beware of the living money pits.

Set limits ahead of schedule and you can keep the line on profit.

Good luck.

Bez>
 
plowboy":2okt34yu said:
Anyone ever had this or heard of this problem.Any suggestions on how to fix this or help the calf. thanks Plowboy.

Yes, we've had that problem before. Usually it is a bigger calf that didn't have enough room in the uterus, and the tendons/ligaments aren't like they should be. It can also happen with a hard pull. Either way, help the calf get up, and support him while encouraging him to move around - this will help the tendons/ligaments tighten up, and help to work out the swelling from a hard pull (he'll tire easily, so try to do this a few times a day if you can, and at every feeding). The tendons and ligaments will tighten up like they should be and he should be fine. In the meantime, milk his mother (so her milk production stays up) and bottle him until he is capable of standing long enough to adequately nurse - he will need his strength to get his feet and legs past his hurdle. We are not selenium deficient, so we've never given any drugs for this type of condition - ours have recovered with a little TLC and time.

PS I figure you already know this, but just want to cover all bases - be sure to leave him with his mother after you bottle him. Her licking and 'talking' to him will encourage him to get up and try to move around, too. Make sure the pen is big enough that she won't inadvertantly step on him, but small enough that he doesn't have to try to travel a long distance when he wants a snack between feedings.

Sorry for the long post. :oops:
 
Yes, sometimes they never get better. Last year we found one that couldn't stand. It's mother had it in the central pen in the corral. On her own. It's problem was the back legs. You could stand it up and balance it by holding its tail lightly and it could walk, but the odd thing was, both back legs moved at the same time. If you kept her balanced she'd run all over creation dragging you along behind her. Let go of her tail and in 5-10ft she'd lose balance and fall over, turn her head at you with a look that said "whydya do that for?" Of course I made the horrible mistake of letting my sister get attached to it. So every day multiple times a day I or another person along with my sister would go out feed her and hold it up as it ran around. All the while I was wondering what I was gonna do. I kept picturing the calf a year later still not able to walk and me having to find some way to hold up 700lbs of hoppin and skippin yearling heifer. Luckily I didn't have to make that choice. When I was off working my day job one day, my dad and sister went out to feed it and found the mama standing over it fighting off the buzzards. Since it had to lay on it's side all the time I figure bloat may have got it. When I got home, they had already buried it.

Anyhow, work with it give it shots it might need and a little time. Everything deserves a fighting chance, but set a limit and keep yourself detached. Otherwise, you will end up in a position you don't want to be in... By the way, that was the VERY FIRST calf I ever had. Talk about a great start. That year I went on to have one born dead, another get trampled by another cow in the field and its hip damaged. No one said it would be easy. Good luck, like the others said, try to get it standing. At the least it gets its blood flowing and its muscles and joints moving.
 

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