Hereford heffer sickly and stands funny 8 mos old

[Cowgirl dj]

Purchased heffer along with 4 other heffers about 1.5 mos ago. The sickly one has a rough coat, even after worming via subq and block. 1 week after getting her she came down with pneumonia so she received nuflor. Got much better but had to do 2 more doses. This girl also stands strange, like extends her hind legs -sometimes and trips or is alittle clumsy with hind legs. Does anyone has any ideas what could be going on? The other heffers have slicked up and looking great. I was going to post a picture of her but I can't figure out how to. Thanks in advance for the help!

 

[TN Cattle Man]

CowgirlDJ,

There are a number of things that could be going on and I suggest that you get a vet involved for a proper diagnosis. Just by reading your post and knowing very little about this heifer, it sounds like she could still be battling an infectious lung disease (pneumonia). Pneumonia is a highly compex, contagious disease and may be caused by one of several viruses in concert with various bacteria. You state that you have only had these cows for a month or so... they could be somewhat stressed out as well. Stress can contribute to the occurence of pneumonia as it lowers the animals resistance.

Has the heifer been coughing? Can you detect any labored breathing? Have you taken her tempurature? In what you describe about her extending her rear legs can be caused by inflammation and swelling of the lungs along with mucus, blood, and other nasty stuff. Cattle will sometimes extend their rear legs to accomodate more airflow. Is she stretching out her neck or sticking out her tongue?

Again, I strongly recommend that you call your vet so that a proper diagnosis can be determined as well as the best course of action for treatment.

 

[cross_7]

chronic, ship her and cut your loses

 

[denvermartinfarms]

chronic, ship her and cut your loses

Yep, that's what you need to do.

 

[Cowgirl dj]

Thank u everyone for your help with my sickly gal. I think I should get rid of her, but her condition is puzzling. In reply she is not coughing anymore, no labored breathing, or having her tongue hanging out- all of these things she did do before treating her with nuflor. Now it almost seems like a rear hip thing with her standing with both back legs extended like she just got up and is stretching but she has been standing. A few front leg stumbles noticed just today And a limp with right front leg. If anyone can tell me how to post a picture of her I have a good one showing her standing like this. Thanks everyone for racking your brains!

 

[Cowgirl dj]

Sorry forgot to mention that we don't have a large animal vet in our area. Closest is 150-200 miles away. So for the pneumonia she had, I consulted with my local small animal vet but she stressed that this was about all she knew to do.

 

[dun]

She doesn't stand this way all of the time but she does it a lot

 

[djinwa]

Hard to assess everything over the internet, but from the history, the obvious problem is in the lungs.

I suspect that her stretching out makes it easier to breathe with scarred lungs.

Sometimes just after getting up, animals stumble alittle from legs going numb. Don't know if she lays around more due to more difficult breathing.

Or could be lame from injury or joint infection, or whatever.

Bottom line is she should be terminated. For some reason people like to fool with these cases, which is not in the animal's best interest.

 

[suzorse]

she may be standing that way from hardware also, you can put a magnet down her to see if that helps
Suzanne