calf is down.

[john in wa]

Hi i have a 8 month old holstein bull calf about 350lbs maybe 4 he has been down for a few days and wont get up. He seems healthy eyes are bright ears up and alert. he don't have the runs his stool is normal I have put him back on the bottle 3 times a day and 3 bottles of electrolytes. He has good grain and hay. all day i keep moving him and rolling him from side to side. he tries to stand but his ankles seem to curl under and he acts like he can not straiten out his legs all the way. today i gave him a bo-se shot of 3 ml per 100lbs of body weight. the market here is bad for holsteins and at his age and weight he might be worth 100 to $150 if I'm lucky. i really don't want to call the vet out as i already have more money into him than he is worth. but i hate to see a nice calf got to the rendering plant. any ideas? please help as i hate to put him down.

 

[Workinonit Farm]

i really don't want to call the vet out as i already have more money into him than he is worth. but i hate to see a nice calf got to the rendering plant. any ideas? .

Call your vet. He/she can actually see the calf, we can't. He/she could probably give you an accurate diagnosis and prognosis.

We can only guess from the symptoms you have given, which weren't that many.

Does he have a fever? Why electrolytes if not scouring? He was put back on the bottle for what reason? Has he been vaccinated and boostered? If so, for what? Dewormed? Did he go off feed? Have you actually weighed him or used a weight tape?

Katherine

 

[hillsdown]

8 months and 350 lbs either he had something seriously wrong with him from day one or you are way off on the weight...

to many things that could be wrong with him so call a vet.

And like Katherine said why the bottle ,why the selenium, you could in fact be making him worse..

 

[larryshoat]

I think probably the only reasonable thing to do is put him down . The number of cattle like you've described that I've seen recover is so small that it is not worth the risk .

Larry

 

[john in wa]

I think i will give him a couple more days to see if the bo-se works. He don't act like he is in pain or sick. I checked his temp 100.8 he looks healthy and alert. eyes are bright ears up when he sees me coming he tries to stand up but he just cant seem to get his hooves under him. i put him in a sling made of 6 4 inch straps and hoisted him up and his legs just don't want to straiten out i really have to apply a lot of pressure on them to get them to straiten out. from what i have read it sounds like white muscle disease. contracted tendons. i have been told that this part of the country does not have any selenium in the ground and they only selenium they get will be added into their feed or a yearly shot. it also states that white muscle disease not only effects newborns but also can effect young calves. I just cant put any more money into him at this time. i am going to give him a couple more days and if he don't make any progress i will have to put him down. thank you to all that replied. i am new to raising calves but will make sure this years calves all get a selenium and any other shots they need.

thanks you for reading

 

[john in wa]

its been 6 days and today he got up. was really week and only stayed up for a minute. I am still thinking white muscle disease. when he got up he was on the tip of his hoof. I will post more in a couple days if there is more progress.