Damage to calfs nose from falling tree

[cowgirl8]

Here is Hurt Mouth aka HM..........Still taking a bottle out in the pasture, always listening for my 4wheeler and greeting me halfway across the pasture. She's not growing at all. Still scraggly and gaunt. She's drinking 2 bottles and whatever she can get out of her mother. We've medicated her for infection. I bet at 1 month she weighs around 50 pounds. Last night, she again refused most of the bottle but seemed fine. I couldnt find her mother to see how her udder looked, but that morning it looked like every other nursed working udder. If she isnt nursing, i'd think it would dry by now. But if she is nursing, why the heck is she so small????

 

[branguscowgirl]

My guess would be that she got set back from the injury and infection. Are you still treating her for an infection? If that is a current picture, it still looks as though it is infected........

 

[cowgirl8]

This was a few days ago. That spot on the right is dry scab. There is no puss. The day i pulled out the chunk, it had been raining and the scab was wet but dried out when it quit raining. We medicated her then... Its very dry now, some of the hair on top of her nose is coming off but no chunks are. She's going to have a nice sized pit where the hunk came out. I was just out there to feed her, she slurped the bottle down and wanted more. Last night she didnt want her bottle so i'm always on guard when a calf acts different. Vultures were everywhere went i drove up so i thought, ugh. But there she was waiting for me.. bless her little heart..

 

[jerry27150]

acorn calf? is your milk replacer 20% fat & protein? some replacers will starve a calf

 

[branguscowgirl]

acorn calf? is your milk replacer 20% fat & protein? some replacers will starve a calf

Jerry, what is "acorn calf"?

 

[hillsdown]

Acorn calf syndrome

Acorn calf syndrome is a different form of oak toxicity. According to John Maas, veterinarian at the University of California–Davis, "acorn calves" are malformed calves born to cows that have ingested large quantities of acorns during the second trimester of pregnancy, which is months 3-7. The cause is the combination of poor nutrition in addition to acorn exposure. The calves have short legs, abnormal hooves and misshapen heads. He reports that they look like dwarves most of the time.

 

[branguscowgirl]

Thanks HD. We have acorns, but the cows don't really eat them. I have to watch the horses though.

 

[cowgirl8]

Calf was born normal. Heifer was in open pastures with no oak trees during gestation. This is the calf my husband grabbed and the heifer went ballistic, went after him but got me instead. She was around 5 days old when we found her in the woods with a swollen head and out of it during the ice storm where we had lots of tree damage. She was not born with this and was a normal healthy calf.
I have 2 calves on this replacer and the other is growing fine.
I believe she suffered brain damage, from either cold or trauma, now whether this could stunt her growth i dont know, but something obviously is.

 

[hillsdown]

In a case like this all you can do is give them time and hopefully she will bounce back. I would give her a follow up treatment with a broad-spectrum antibiotic like Nuflor and also an anti inflammatory . If you have access to probios that will help as well ,if not plain yogurt does the trick too.