I need some suggestions. We had a very healthy young heifer (about 1 year old) that died yesterday with no warning, when I found her she had collapsed in the driveway and there was blood coming out of her mouth and air bubbles coming out of her nose which means she had not been dead long. There had been some hog hunters in the area 2 days prior but we rolled her over and there were no gun shot wounds. I thought if an animal had blood coming out of their mouth then there were internal inujuries. Could this cow have ate something poisionous and that killed her? Could she have been shot and we just could not find the point of entry? Could she have been bite by a snake and died? I know the snake question is pretty stupid but I do not understand what could have happened to her. Does anybody have any suggestions?
dead cow
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certherfbeef
Well-known member
Call the blasted vet and have him/her post the heifer. SHOULD HAVE CALLED THE VET OUT YESTERDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :roll:
The only DB I have ever had with bubbles coming out of the nose, died of hardware. They found a nail in her from a wooden hay feeder they were using (wrecking). The only way to know for sure is to have it posted.
Medic24
Well-known member
Post Mortum aka autopsy aka 'let's see what killed her' exam. Either Vet or state diagnostic lab! :cboy:
NewCowboy
Well-known member
We had a healthy cow die, we think, from lightening. She was standing in a small shallow ditch with water and it's legs were folded under her like she collapsed. Of course, we had just had a thunderstorm so we assumed this was the cause. No autopsy was done, but there was no blood either. I would want an autopsy just for future reference if another cow did the same thing. How much does something like that cost? Anyone know?
:cboy:
:cboy:
Turkey Run
Active member
Lying in the driveway? Any chance any one could have hit her with a vehicle?
Ryder
Well-known member
NewCowboy":5drym605 said:
Was she burned? The only two I have ever seen struck by lightning had burned places on them, but were not killed. I don't know if they are always burned.
i dont think they are always burned.. we had a group of about 12 or so that got struck in the corner of a field several years ago, and one cow survived. she had a bad limp for a couple of weeks. the others were all laid out on their sides some legs sprawled out. they all had foam coming out of their nose and it literally knocked the crap out of them. it may depend though, on if they get a direct hit or not. it danced around the 12 that got struck. most of the time the ones that get struck here are under pine trees and the pines get struck first. i have also seen it look like someone took a blowtorch to a head before though...
J&T Farm
Well-known member
I had two heifers struck last year and they didnt have a mark on them. They both still had a wad of green grass hanging out of their mouths. It killed them instantly deader than a hammer.
polledbull
Well-known member
sounds like pasturella pnumonia , but are you sure she was already a littel sick and maybe you hadnt noticed it.
NewCowboy
Well-known member
Ryder":1qzcd3lk said:
No, there were no spots on her. We came to this conclusion due to how she was laying, with her legs buckled under her, and the fact that she was standing longways in a small shallow natural water drainage ditch (and a thunderstorm/lightening had been prevalent the night before). Does anyone know an average cost of an autopsy??
NewCowboy, I had a horse that was close enough to a lighetening strike that it dropped him right where he was standing. But he was alive. It looked like someone gave him a dose of something that made his legs just buckle under him. I saw him out in the pasture, and he was in an area where the water is draining off of the pasture. The lightening hit a tree close to the fence and so he got enough side electricity to mess him up. I thought the fact that the water draining where he was standing didn't help him any, probably helping the strike to carry down his way. He had no burn marks, but I did hear the lightening when it hit mid day, and it was like an explosion. I looked out to see where it hit and that is when I saw the horse.
He finally was able to get up, but he acted like he had been spinning and his head kept going back in forth like he was trying to focus on something. He then had symptoms of having a stroke. One side of his face had no movement and his eye, ear and lips drooped. When he walked, he had to shuffle his body.
I put him in a small pasture by himself with a shelter where he could get away from the flies and it was dark inside which I thought would help his eyes.
It took almost a year for him to completely get over it. Each week that went by, he got better. The last thing to recover was his face. But he completely recovered.
By the way you describe your cow in the drainage ditch, holding water, I bet if you look around, you will find a tree that has some bark missing off of it. The way you describe your cow, is exactly how the horse fell.
He finally was able to get up, but he acted like he had been spinning and his head kept going back in forth like he was trying to focus on something. He then had symptoms of having a stroke. One side of his face had no movement and his eye, ear and lips drooped. When he walked, he had to shuffle his body.
I put him in a small pasture by himself with a shelter where he could get away from the flies and it was dark inside which I thought would help his eyes.
It took almost a year for him to completely get over it. Each week that went by, he got better. The last thing to recover was his face. But he completely recovered.
By the way you describe your cow in the drainage ditch, holding water, I bet if you look around, you will find a tree that has some bark missing off of it. The way you describe your cow, is exactly how the horse fell.
