Chronic calves and ethical issues

[hillsdown]

Yes I have seen them improve dramatically.
I had one last year that had to be weened at 2 months because his mom had to be put down. He was a chronic lunger and was treated probably 5 different times for pneumonia. The last time he was down with it I went for broke and nailed him with almost double the dosage that was on the label. That is the last time he has been sick, he has grown like a weed this summer and will be finished next summer as I expect him to hopefully have no more problems this winter ( fingers crossed ).

The biggest problem you will be facing is the fact that winter is around the corner and she may not make it when the temps dip especially if the humidity goes up.

I don't know what to do , I think I would flip a coin. I definitely wouldn't sell her even at a sale barn unless she was going straight to slaughter and she is to light for that now.

 

[larryshoat]

I guess we have a definite 'no' on selling her with the others? the only choice is whether to put her down now or give her a bit of time to see if she turns around.

I'm tenatively thinking about keeping her for another month and seeing how she looks... partly because I'm not home to put her down, not going to pay my vet to do it, and I can't ask my folks to do it.

Out of curiousity... those of you who suggest waiting, have you ever seen an animal like this make any improvement?[/quote]

Yes I have, in fact a good number, 2 things that help 1. better feed ( leave her on your step2 feed ) 2. lessen competition ( these do better in very small groups ) .

Yes, she is small, but she looks to have a lot of Jersey influence accounting for some of this .

Larry

 

[CattleHand]

She doesn't look beyond repair to me, I'd leave her on the nurse cow for another month and re-evaluate, if she gets better you can either feed her out or sell through the salebarn, if not take her to the salebarn and sell through the kill pen. Even if she just ends up being bought for dog food, you still get some money back.

I agree with part of this. I imagine she is beyond repair (stranger things have happened but why play games with luck). They wont care how bad her lungs are when they grind her into dog food. The way i see it is simple.

Option 1: Dog food. Result: You make a couple of bucks at the sale barn and your done (or at least not as far in the hole)
Option 2: Put her down yourself. Results:You lost all your input
Option 3: Vet puts her down. Results: You payed a vet and lost on the calf.

I just cant understand why you wouldn't take the first option.

 

[milkmaid]

Update- I had her vet checked again today and only the lowest lobe is not working, the upper two/three lobes of the lungs are functioning although airflow is somewhat forced (possibly due to slight stress getting her penned). This time he said to give her a chance, said he wouldn't put her down yet and she'd probably grow just fine. He thought she looked good visually and sounded okay inside.

I pulled several of the other calves off the nurse cow and just left this chronic girl and one other calf on the cow so she'd get more milk... it's been 2 months now. I'll get a pic up today or tomorrow (really nasty weather out there so it might be tomorrow, lol) but I think she looks better than the previous picture.

 

[hillsdown]

Well obviously her lungs have repaired themselves somewhat, you have to love how resilient young calves are sometimes.
I would do the wait and see as well. I have seen a few cases a long time ago that were chronic ,got much better ,and then relapsed at around 3 years old with no hope of recovery. I think my little Dougy may be one of those so as long as he makes it until late spring he will be going to Holstein heaven either way.

I had a pb this past winter that took forever to get over her pneumonia, had the vet look at her from day one and he was not very optimistic (you know you are hooped when you are told to just continue what you are doing until they improve or die ). When we did HH in Oct. he examined her again and couldn't even believe it was the same calf, no lung damage found whatsoever.I have been keeping a close eye on her now with the frigid temps and all she is doing is getting a really nice frame on her and getting fat.

Good luck with her, I hope she is well on her way to a full recovery.

 

[milkmaid]

Thanks HD, I'm hoping she'll continue to improve too. If I can get a rope on the other calf that's on the nurse cow... :lol2: ...I'll allow the chronic calf to be the only one on the nurse cow and just cross my fingers. Worst case scenario the chronic calf will die and the nurse cow will have a long dry period.

Here she is tonight:

 

[hillsdown]

OMG she looks just like Dougy did . I wish I had a pic of him then. He looks totally different now a year later, he looks like a real bovine.

I think there is definite hope for her.

 

[larryshoat]

She looks a lot better MM . Time is her friend .

Larry