cypressfarms
Well-known member
Hi all,
Yes It's been a while since I've been on the board. With a new job and three kids, I just haven't had the time. I was sitting out in the pasture earlier this evening and felt the need to get back in touch with my cattlemen friends. So here's the current problem at Cypress Farms:
Commercial Brangus cow goes down sometime Friday - not sure of the time or the circumstances that led to it. She has a two month old calf, and mama is 6 years old. One of my better cows (aren't they always), good moma, great udder, and very docile. She's slightly thin - I call it "winter thin", but not bone thin by any means. Her BCS would be about 4.5 or so.
She cannot get up, period. She lays down like a cow chewing cud and just stays in the same position all day. If I force her, she tries to get up, but her rear legs look bad, as if they cant get her up. Her front legs are strong. The back legs move, but she can never seem to get them under her to lift her body up.
She is alert, her eyes/head watch everything. If I just looked at her face, I would not think she was sick - (sometimes you can just tell by a look in the face that an animal is sick). Saturday I gave her, through a feeding tube/bottle some electrolytes, and I also gave her a shot of pennicillin. This morning did the same. Poured some feed for her by where she was laying and she ate all of it.
In the pasture she, and all of the other cows have all the hay they want, free choice minerals, and plenty of water. No other cow has had any problems. Two days prior she was standing and seemed fine. There is one oak tree in the pasture that does have some small acorns on the ground.
Having to be the vet, as we all are, my best guess is that she either ate too much acorns, and she's having a "reaction" to them or that the bull was trying to breed her and hurt her back. She calved two months ago, so it's possible she was cycling and the bull was working her over. Never had this problem with my bull before, and this moma is a solid 1,100 to 1,200 pounds.
If you have 'em, you lose 'em, but this is a good one. I'll probably be in touch with my vet tomorrow morning to see what he thinks.
Any guesses/comments?
Yes It's been a while since I've been on the board. With a new job and three kids, I just haven't had the time. I was sitting out in the pasture earlier this evening and felt the need to get back in touch with my cattlemen friends. So here's the current problem at Cypress Farms:
Commercial Brangus cow goes down sometime Friday - not sure of the time or the circumstances that led to it. She has a two month old calf, and mama is 6 years old. One of my better cows (aren't they always), good moma, great udder, and very docile. She's slightly thin - I call it "winter thin", but not bone thin by any means. Her BCS would be about 4.5 or so.
She cannot get up, period. She lays down like a cow chewing cud and just stays in the same position all day. If I force her, she tries to get up, but her rear legs look bad, as if they cant get her up. Her front legs are strong. The back legs move, but she can never seem to get them under her to lift her body up.
She is alert, her eyes/head watch everything. If I just looked at her face, I would not think she was sick - (sometimes you can just tell by a look in the face that an animal is sick). Saturday I gave her, through a feeding tube/bottle some electrolytes, and I also gave her a shot of pennicillin. This morning did the same. Poured some feed for her by where she was laying and she ate all of it.
In the pasture she, and all of the other cows have all the hay they want, free choice minerals, and plenty of water. No other cow has had any problems. Two days prior she was standing and seemed fine. There is one oak tree in the pasture that does have some small acorns on the ground.
Having to be the vet, as we all are, my best guess is that she either ate too much acorns, and she's having a "reaction" to them or that the bull was trying to breed her and hurt her back. She calved two months ago, so it's possible she was cycling and the bull was working her over. Never had this problem with my bull before, and this moma is a solid 1,100 to 1,200 pounds.
If you have 'em, you lose 'em, but this is a good one. I'll probably be in touch with my vet tomorrow morning to see what he thinks.
Any guesses/comments?
