A
Anonymous
We are starting into calving season here. The weather has been cold and very wet for the past 5 months. Normally, we have very few problems with the new calves. However, this year is different.....
We've had a total of 15 calves to date. Four of them have died. One of them wasn't a full term calf, so I'm not really concerned about it - I know in the cattle business, sometimes 'stuff' just happens for no reason.
However, the other three calves really have me puzzled. They were all born to good cows, who have had calves in the past with no problems. Each time, the calf is doing just fine - nursing well, active and alert. All were of normal size. All were 4 or more days old.
The first one, we found already dead. Nothing we could do to help it. The second and third one, we discovered in distress and attempted to get them back up and running, but to no avail. They didn't seem to have any problems breathing, but were too weak to stand on their own or nurse. Attempting to bottle feed them didn't work - it was as if there little mouths didn't work any longer. The could bite down on the nipple of the bottle, but were unable to suck. Calf #2 died before we could tube it and get milk replacer into it. Calf #3 we did tube successfully, and it acted like it might come out of it, but it died about 2 hours later.
Both of the latter calves had no temperature - actually they were cold - inside their mouths and inside of their ears. They also did not have any signs of scours. No snotty noses, no rattle when breathing, nothing to let us know they were having problems until they were down ........
We talked to another friend who raises cattle (about 10 miles away from our herd), and he had lost one calf today already, and another one was 'down' and he expected that it would not last the night, either.
The vet's office didn't have any answers either - they indicated that a lot of other farmers in this area are experiencing calving difficulties this year. And they couldn't tell us what the problem could be, either.
The only real difference this year as compared to previous years, is the amount of water in and on the ground - mud everywhere. It's impossible to find a dry spot for the cows and calves. We are doing our best to keep straw down in the barn, but it's a never ending process.
Please, if you have any ideas, let me know. We just don't have any idea what the problem could be......
We've had a total of 15 calves to date. Four of them have died. One of them wasn't a full term calf, so I'm not really concerned about it - I know in the cattle business, sometimes 'stuff' just happens for no reason.
However, the other three calves really have me puzzled. They were all born to good cows, who have had calves in the past with no problems. Each time, the calf is doing just fine - nursing well, active and alert. All were of normal size. All were 4 or more days old.
The first one, we found already dead. Nothing we could do to help it. The second and third one, we discovered in distress and attempted to get them back up and running, but to no avail. They didn't seem to have any problems breathing, but were too weak to stand on their own or nurse. Attempting to bottle feed them didn't work - it was as if there little mouths didn't work any longer. The could bite down on the nipple of the bottle, but were unable to suck. Calf #2 died before we could tube it and get milk replacer into it. Calf #3 we did tube successfully, and it acted like it might come out of it, but it died about 2 hours later.
Both of the latter calves had no temperature - actually they were cold - inside their mouths and inside of their ears. They also did not have any signs of scours. No snotty noses, no rattle when breathing, nothing to let us know they were having problems until they were down ........
We talked to another friend who raises cattle (about 10 miles away from our herd), and he had lost one calf today already, and another one was 'down' and he expected that it would not last the night, either.
The vet's office didn't have any answers either - they indicated that a lot of other farmers in this area are experiencing calving difficulties this year. And they couldn't tell us what the problem could be, either.
The only real difference this year as compared to previous years, is the amount of water in and on the ground - mud everywhere. It's impossible to find a dry spot for the cows and calves. We are doing our best to keep straw down in the barn, but it's a never ending process.
Please, if you have any ideas, let me know. We just don't have any idea what the problem could be......