hidden calf

[farm girl]

I appreciate all of the reply's about this, but now I'm afraid I have a little bigger problem. We had a cow give birth to twins today one was dead and badly deformed, the other is alive but cant stand on its own so we are bottle feeding it. My dad has two herniated disks in his back and reinjured them today and we are having a tough go. Thank God for neighbors that are willing to help out. Thanks for all your help as well.

 

[certherfbeef]

We had a cow give birth to twins today one was dead and badly deformed, the other is alive but cant stand on its own so we are bottle feeding it.

What breed is the calf that is deformed? How is it deformed?

 

[Capt Call]

Sorry I havent posted anything. Nothing new so far, I am hoping this weekend will turn up something when I have a little time. I have a bad feeling the calf is dead, but never seen a buzzard or anything flying around. Have seen a couple of stray dogs, but that doesnt mean anything. The cow doesnt give anything away, she never even raises her head when I come into the pasture. If I come across anything this weekend I will let you know. Thanks for the reply's.

Seems to me that you were never truely worried about your investment. You never let the sun go down on a down cow or a missing calf. Unless this is your hobby and just don't care.

 

[Bama]

Sorry I havent posted anything. Nothing new so far, I am hoping this weekend will turn up something when I have a little time. I have a bad feeling the calf is dead, but never seen a buzzard or anything flying around. Have seen a couple of stray dogs, but that doesnt mean anything. The cow doesnt give anything away, she never even raises her head when I come into the pasture. If I come across anything this weekend I will let you know. Thanks for the reply's.

Seems to me that you were never truely worried about your investment. You never let the sun go down on a down cow or a missing calf. Unless this is your hobby and just don't care.

I would agree with you on the down cow. But I don't worry about a "missing" calf. If the cows being sucked I expect her to take care of it. If after a week or so she ain't brought it up I'll go looking for it just to settle myself to see if its a heifer or bull. The heifers I'll put in a small lot close to the house just to keep an eye on, but the others I just let them do their thing. This has worked well for 30 years.

 

[Caustic Burno]

Sorry I havent posted anything. Nothing new so far, I am hoping this weekend will turn up something when I have a little time. I have a bad feeling the calf is dead, but never seen a buzzard or anything flying around. Have seen a couple of stray dogs, but that doesnt mean anything. The cow doesnt give anything away, she never even raises her head when I come into the pasture. If I come across anything this weekend I will let you know. Thanks for the reply's.

Seems to me that you were never truely worried about your investment. You never let the sun go down on a down cow or a missing calf. Unless this is your hobby and just don't care.

I would agree with you on the down cow. But I don't worry about a "missing" calf. If the cows being sucked I expect her to take care of it. If after a week or so she ain't brought it up I'll go looking for it just to settle myself to see if its a heifer or bull. The heifers I'll put in a small lot close to the house just to keep an eye on, but the others I just let them do their thing. This has worked well for 30 years.

I agree with both don't worry about the new ones but once she brings it up, if it goes missing I'm looking.

 

[farm girl]

Of course I worry about my cattle, and I dont look at them as just an investment, I truly like cattle and being around cattle. If I didnt care about them I wouldnt worry about bottle feeding the new one or I would never have looked for the missing one. If I have a free minute at all this weekend you can be sure I will be out there looking or taking care of the new one. I'm sure some of you would handle things alot different than me and thats fine, I learn as I go. To answer the other question, the twins were out of a simmental cow and just about all of the bones in it were broke and the head was badly misshaped and deformed.

 

[Beefy]

I just let them do their thing. This has worked well for 30 years.

Longer than that my friend.
i find them on the first day about 98% of the time. if definitely find them by the end of the third day no matter what. i'm good like that though. i think i think like a cow. usually the ones that i cant find until the third day its because they were dead somewhere. but i dont worry about them, i just have a mental note of who alls close and if shes not with the main herd when i check i go looking.

Farmie,
do you think the calf had been dead for a while or had it been crushed during birth? or just a freak or what. i had to pull a calf this year that had its foot turned back (it was also knuckled over after that for a day) but i just did catch that one in time. half of its head was swollen up like all get out and he looked like a monster when i got him out. close call.

 

[Bama]

I just let them do their thing. This has worked well for 30 years.

Longer than that my friend.
.

Got me there Beefy. I should said worked well for me for 30 years. ;-)

If I pay attention to the cows they will alert me to something being wrong. If the cow is eating grass, chewing her cud or any other normal things cows do, chances are everthing is fine. If she walking around bawling looking everwhere something is probally wrong. If you know one is close and she ain't with the rest of the herd she is probally off doing what mamas are supposed to do. Now with young heifers all of this goes out the window. Some of them will drop a calf and not have a clue about what to do. They also are more prone to have calving problems. Most of the time if they are daughters of the proven mothers they will be fine. Where I have most of my problems are keeping a couple of really nice ones out of my stocker herd that I think will be a fine addition to the main herd. I have one cow that brings her baby up with the rest of the herd for a day or two. After she shows it to the rest of em she will hide it again for about another week. She has done this for at least 3 years now.

 

[farm girl]

Good news this morning on the bottle baby, she was pretty bad last night, couldnt hold her head up or anything, got half a bottle in her and this morning she was able to get up and was walking great. If I had to bet money on her last night I would have said this would be a long time coming. Her breathing was very wheezy and she had a lot of mucous. The other calf is still hidden but this morning mamma wasnt around, looked for her but ran out of time. Will look more this evening and keep you posted.

 

[L Weir]

That is good. Did you make sure it got colostrom? Give shot of muse.

 

[certherfbeef]

Give shot of muse.

I give the calves BoSe. Always thought the MuSe was for the cows.

 

[milkmaid]

Off the labels...

Bo-Se: Each mL contains: 2.19 mg sodium selenite (equivalent to 1 mg selenium), 50 mg (68 USP units) vitamin E (as d-alpha tocopheryl acetate), 250 mg polysorbate 80, 2% benzyl alcohol (preservative), water for injection q.s. Sodium hydroxide and/or hydrochloric acid may be added to adjust pH.

INDICATIONS BO-SE (selenium, vitamin E) is recommended for the prevention and treatment of white muscle disease (Selenium-Tocopherol Deficiency) syndrome in calves, lambs, and ewes

CONTRAINDICATIONS DO NOT USE IN PREGNANT EWES. Deaths and abortions have been reported in pregnant ewes injected with this product.

WARNINGS Anaphylactoid reactions, some of which have been fatal, have been reported in animals administered BO-SE Injection. Signs include excitement, sweating, trembling, ataxia, respiratory distress and cardiac dysfunction. Discontinue use 30 days before the treated calves are slaughtered for human consumption.

Mu-Se: Each mL contains: 10.95 mg sodium selenite (equivalent to 5 mg selenium), 50 mg (68 USP units) vitamin E (as d-alpha tocopheryl acetate), 250 mg polysorbate 80, 2% benzyl alcohol (preservative), water for injection q.s. Sodium hydroxide and/or hydrochloric acid may be added to adjust pH.

INDICATIONS MU-SE (selenium, vitamin E) is recommended for the prevention and treatment of STD syndrome in weanling calves and breeding beef cattle.

CONTRAINDICATION Do not use in adult dairy cattle. Premature births and abortions have been reported in dairy cattle injected with this product during the third trimester of pregnancy.

WARNINGS Anaphylactoid reactions, some of which have been fatal, have been reported in cattle administered the MU-SE product. Signs include excitement, sweating, trembling, ataxia, respiratory distress, and cardiac dysfunction.

Use only as directed in weanling calves and breeding beef cows. Discontinue use 30 days before the treated cattle are slaughtered for human consumption.

Difference is in the amount of selenium per ml. Bo-Se has 1mg selenium, Mu-Se has 5mg selenium.

Obviously easier to overdose on selenium with Mu-Se. And MuSe is labeled for weaned calves or beef cows, BoSe for calves, lambs, sheep, etc. Interestingly, MuSe is OK for beef cows in 3rd trimester but not dairy cows. Wonder why.

 

[certherfbeef]

Difference is in the amount of selenium per ml. Bo-Se has 1mg selenium, Mu-Se has 5mg selenium.

Obviously easier to overdose on selenium with Mu-Se. And MuSe is labeled for weaned calves or beef cows, BoSe for calves, lambs, sheep, etc.

Looks like I've been doing alright then hu? Thanks Milk Maid.

If I had to guess about the difference in the beef and the dairy in the 3rd trimester...I'd say they just didn't have enough infomation to tell you it was OK, so they would you rather you err on the side of caution. Might have something to do with milk withhold too. Just a guess though.

 

[milkmaid]

'welcome.

I would have thought that too, about lack of testing as that's the reason for most products not being labeled for lactating dairy animals...except that it states

Do not use in adult dairy cattle. Premature births and abortions have been reported in dairy cattle injected with this product during the third trimester of pregnancy.

DOSAGE AND ADMINISTRATION Inject subcutaneously or intramuscularly. Weanling calves: 1 mL per 200 pounds of body weight. Breeding beef cows: 1 mL per 200 pounds of body weight during the middle third of pregnancy, and 30 days before calving.

That's why I'm thinking "huh"? LOL. You'd think if it wasn't safe for dairy cows in their 3rd trimester it wouldn't be safe for beef cows in their 3rd trimester. (Vicky???)

The big difference between beef and dairy cattle in the 3rd trimester is that beef cows are generally dried off/calves weaned by 4-5 months bred, whereas dairy cows aren't dried off until 45-60 days prior to calving (7-8 months bred). More stress on their bodies, for sure....but you wouldn't think it would make that much difference as to the selenium they can handle, would it?

maybe Vicky will chime in here because I'm really curious now.

 

[pacadowling]

[
From Milkmaids post:Obviously easier to overdose on selenium.

Milkmaid, What are symptoms of selenium overdose?

 

[aussie_cowgirl]

Haha. when i saw this msg board it made me laugh. when i was 11-14 my friends mum used to make me and my mate run around the paddocks in the long grass lookin for calves. They liked their cattle tagged when they were found so we would dive on the calf and tag them when we found them. Im sure you can all imagine the paddock rounds these little calves gave us kids sometimes, aswell as certain mothers chasing after us lol. Never the less we went to bed early!

-kyla

 

[Wilson_Cattle_Company]

Dad and I have had cows hide calves before but durn if we didn't find em. 'n' i mean quick!!!

Just look, I am sure there are tricks to it but Dad and I have found calves hidden on a 650 acre pasture just by driving around lookin! :shock: :shock: :shock: . It can be done. :shock: :cboy:

We have not had that happen to us alot I can say that....

Hope you find the little bugger! :cboy: up N find Em!
Lots of Luck!

Avery

 

[Beefy]

well for pete's sake, did you find the calf or not?!

i think its dead.

 

[sidney411]

Way to think positive Beefy :lol:

 

[farm girl]

Sorry I didnt post sooner, the calf is dead, mom is drying up. Still dont know where it is, but I have a notion that a couple of dogs got it and drug it off. Either a dog or a coyote. We have seen several coyotes have calves cornered when we pull up, lucky timing for us. They are running in packs of 4 or 5 and last winter they chewed a new born calf tail clear up into the spine and killed it. There is about to be some pest control though. Thanks for all the replys.