Cow loosing weight

[kerley]

One of our mama cows is looking skinny. She is with the other mama cows and they look great. She calved on March 6th 2008. Has a nice heifer calve. They are all on green pasture, with minerals and salt. We will worm tomorrow, could the calf be pulling her down ? I need some advice. Thanks Tom :cboy:

 

[hillsdown]

Yes the calf could be "puling" her down she should be coming into peak milk production soon and also that calf will be demanding more from her at this time.

Can you separate them and supplement both of them until she gets her condition back?
Also was she recently in heat......If yes she could have been "crazy" with her first heat after calving and might not have really eaten for a long time and that would make the pounds melt off her as it does happen sometimes.

 

[msscamp]

One of our mama cows is looking skinny. She is with the other mama cows and they look great. She calved on March 6th 2008. Has a nice heifer calve. They are all on green pasture, with minerals and salt. We will worm tomorrow, could the calf be pulling her down ? I need some advice. Thanks Tom :cboy:

You didn't state the breed of this particular cow, or whether she is a heavy milker or not - if she is a heavier milker than the rest of the herd, and her feed requirements are not being met then, yes, she will be pulled down by her calf. Feed requirements vary from breed to breed, and from animal to animal depending on their breed and their milk production. You also don't give any history on this cow - if she is a new acquisition, she could have a heavy worm load and that could also be the problem. Disease could also play a factor in her loosing weight. You didn't mention diarrhea, so I'm thinking Johnes is not a factor here. In short, too little information to give you a definitive answer as to why she is loosing weight.

 

[kerley]

Msscamp... Thanks for your post, I bought six cows Oct. 17,07. From a rancher in another county. He said all had been bred in pasture with the bull, and they were with bull when purchased. We assumed they were all bred. The farmer agreed to worm cattle and deliver to my pasture. We can only assume that he did worm them. We fed them grass hay [round bales] Crystlyx and mineral salt block and pasture grass. Some alfalfa pellets and sweet feed. All free choice. Three have calved and two look like they could calve any minute. The cows have always pushed the skinny one away from feed,impossible to do in open pasture. They all have looser stool since being on the first grass this season. Our vet said there was nothing in the pasture grass to harm cattle. The cows are SimangusX Limousine, I am not sure of there ages, We had normal deliveries and they are good mothers. I suspect that skinny cow did not get wormed, plus the calf is pulling her down. Any suggestions? Thanks Tom :cboy:

 

[Caustic Burno]

I don't know about grass in Al but here spring green up grass is virtually filler only and mostly water. If she is a heavy milk producer she might not be getting enough groceries to maintain and grow the calf, if this is the case this is not a cow you want to keep as she is a hard keeper and cost more to maintain.
Not want to start a fire storm I had some Simms and culled them all for being hard keepers in this enviroment, they raised a great calf but just did not function well on my grass or in our climate.

 

[msscamp]

The farmer agreed to worm cattle and deliver to my pasture.

I would worm them - now. Agreeing to do something, and actually doing it are two completely different things in a number of cases.

We can only assume that he did worm them.

To hell with assuming - if you're going to assume anything, assume he did not deworm them, and deworm them! That is the only way you're going to know they have actually been dewormed.

We fed them grass hay [round bales] Crystlyx and mineral salt block and pasture grass.

Unless it's some very outstanding grass hay - grass hay alone will not provide the necessary nutrients for a pregnant animal - she needs a grass/alfalfa mix, and/or supplementation. I would also lose the mineral/salt block, and provide loose mineral mixed with salt at a 2:1 ratio - 1 bag of loose mineral to a half bag of salt. Blocks require too much licking, and do not provide enough mineral to meet the animals needs.

Some alfalfa pellets and sweet feed. All free choice. Three have calved and two look like they could calve any minute. The cows have always pushed the skinny one away from feed,impossible to do in open pasture. They all have looser stool since being on the first grass this season. Our vet said there was nothing in the pasture grass to harm cattle. The cows are SimangusX Limousine, I am not sure of there ages, We had normal deliveries and they are good mothers. I suspect that skinny cow did not get wormed, plus the calf is pulling her down. Any suggestions? Thanks Tom :cboy:

Can you scatter the feed longer so this skinny animal can get her fair share? How about seperating her and her calf so she doesn't have to compete? What about penning her? Some animals are timid enough that they will not fight for feed, and they and their calf suffer because of it.

 

[kerley]

Misscamp, We followed your advice. We seperate the cow and calve from the other cows. We gave her about five lbs. sweet feed. She ate that and has not left the Sweetlix tub. We can not figure why the other cows are so mean to her. She is a very gentle cow. Thank you everyone for any advice given. Tom :cboy: