cow needs help getting up

Help Support CattleToday:

DAYMON

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 5, 2010
Messages
48
Reaction score
0
Location
prim arkansas
I have a cow that has had to have me help her stand for the last few days. Sometimes I can just help lift her tail but if she has been laying a while I have to use the tractor. After I get her up she seems normal and will stay up for 5 or 6 hours at a time grazing. I have given her a b 12 complex shot and a calcium magnessium dose. She dosent seem to be getting better or worse I've had her in a pasture by herself for about three days and have been giving her 4 lbs of 12% pellets twice a day. Any suggestions would be appreciated. She does have a calf that is about a month old and has lost some weight since calving.
 
What kind of cow is she? Dairy breeds can pump out so much milk they literally become weak and wobbly if they are not getting enough groceries. They can get ketosis before and even after calving, although I have seen more before calving. How much weight has she lost?
A bit is normal, emaciated isn't unless she is an extreme milker not getting enought to eat.
Did this cow have any sort of injury lately that might have effected the hips? Was she doing this right after calving? sometimes there is an injury in the calving process and it may take a while to get better.
I have seen and heard of needles given in the wrong spot effecting cattle, where a nerve is effected, took weeks for the cow to get better.
Walked with a sway in the rear end and didn't have proper control of the hind quarters for quite a while
Have heard from a lady once who gave a cow a needle and the cow went down and never got up.
Does this cow have any other symptoms or just lays down alot? First thing I would try would be getting more feed into her, maybe a bit of molasses on top to give her a boost, or ketamalt "down the hatch"
One dairy farm where I worked had a cow that didn't want to get up. Vet checked her over they thought ketosis, but treatment didn't help. A second look revealed foot rot in all 4 feet, that had gone systemic. (into her body and was killing her).
Check and see if this cow has a fever, might give you an idea what you are dealing with.
A little chat with the vet might be in order.
Nite Hawk
 
She doesn't lay down any more than normal its just she can't get up on her own once she does lay down she is a beef cow a mutt may have a little dairy influence but she isn't making hardly any milk she might have lost 50 lbs it seems as if she is putting weight back on but not improving on her strength in he back legs I only gave her the one vitamin shot yesterday in her neck so I don't think it would have anything to do with that.
 
I started to reply earlier but anything I'd have to say would require seeing her in person. I think you need to have a vet come look at her if she's worth saving as there are diferent possiblities that we can't see without being on sight.
If you can't get a vet visit to pencil out on her then I'd try hotshoting her once or twice to see if she'll start getting to where she tries hard on her own as soon as you walk up. If that works then I'd make sure she's on good mineral and feed so that if it's an issue of deficiancy it can correct itself. Anything you can do to get her to get up on her own will get her stronger.
If you can do it, a bottle of dextrose IV does wonders towards getting the weak ones back up and around.
Either way, she's a cull once/if she get's the calf raised.
 
Did she have problems calving? How long after calving did the problem start?
 
No trouble calving that I know of she was up with the others that evening and showed up thinner the next morning with her calf. It's been about three weeks between the calf and the problems.
 
Is it possible that she got knocked around by some herd mates and somehow hurt herself??
Most of the cows that I have seen that have problems getting up are old and weak and run down, but it doesn't sound like this is the case here other than maybe possibly weak.
Nite Hawk
 
when did you last deworm her? how old is she? how poor is her condition?
 
What's the quality of the pasture she's in? what's her body condition look like?
 
Her poop looks fairly normal though she did have a little sticking to her tail. I gave her a shot of ivomec and a shot of baytrill two days ago today I had to help her up this morning but she got up on her own this afternoon. She has also been staying up grazing all day the last two days. I am going to give her another dose of worker in a couple of weeks and we will see how she does. Thank yall for the help.
 
DAYMON":3qnmyvdi said:
Her poop looks fairly normal though she did have a little sticking to her tail. I gave her a shot of ivomec and a shot of baytrill two days ago today I had to help her up this morning but she got up on her own this afternoon. She has also been staying up grazing all day the last two days. I am going to give her another dose of worker in a couple of weeks and we will see how she does. Thank yall for the help.
thats from laying down im sure....getting up on here on is sure a good sign of not giving up.. they are notorious for that
 
Just an update I haven't had to help her up the past two days she seems to be improving. I will keep her seperated from the rest until the withdrawal time is up for the meds then ship her. Thank again for the responses.
 

Latest posts

Top