Ist pulled calf

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crewboss

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Oct 23, 2005
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San Diego
Hi, I'm new to this cattle biz, Had to pull a calf for the first time
sunday afternoon, my question is do they do things slower,
like steady walk, and getting up the first time? I suppose he could be sore eh? We bottle fed fairly quickly with collostrium, but find yeasterday a 103.4 temp. He gets up to feed ok but doesnt walk around all that much?

Thanks
 
:( Is this calf a bottle baby? Did you put iodine on the navel?
It might have joint ill-- they will run a temp, stiffness in the joints, but will take a bottle ok. I have 2 bottle calves with
joint ill, it is very hard to eradicate. Most antibiotics will not
get the bacteria, the ones that will are not approved for cattle use. :roll:
 
Yes he could be sore and also some calves, particularly after being pulled tend to aly around and sleep a lot the first week to 10 days. 103 is not a fever in a calf, that's basicly normal.

dun
 
doent walk any different than when first got up, vet did betadine at first, we missed next day. Vet started him on banamine and naxcel twice a day (last night) and he's not bottle fed. Thats the vets thought also.
 
Thanks for the replies. I suppose I'd walk stiff for awhile too.
does navel ill progress rapidly and is naxel a good one for this
?
 
I haven;t treated naval/joint ill in a few ywars, but then the preferred stuff was long acting Pen. Everyother day for a month. Cleared it up fine. It took about 2 weeksw before she srtarted showing any signs of the problem. Just seems that 3 days is a little early for it to be causing a porblem. But as I said, haven;t treated but one recently and haven';t seen any since.

dun
 
crewboss":2wnni9uh said:
Hi, I'm new to this cattle biz, Had to pull a calf for the first time
sunday afternoon, my question is do they do things slower,
like steady walk, and getting up the first time?

That depends on the presentation, how big the calf was, and how hard of a pull it was. Our experience has been that a normal presentation and fairly easy pull - the calf is up and nursing as quickly as a normal delivery. An abnormal presentation takes more time so there is more stress on the calf, he doesn't usually get up as quickly, and bottle feeding hedges our bet and his survival. Big calf and hard pull and the stress goes up tremendously - he rarely gets up quickly, generally has sore and swollen feet, mom is milked and he is subsequently bottle fed a couple of times before he is moving around enough to nurse. We try to get him up and provide support while feeding, because it's healthier for the calf. We also try to encourage him to move around a bit to get everything working and work out the kinks.

He gets up to feed ok but doesnt walk around all that much?

For the first day or two, calves generally sleep a lot. They get up to nurse and that's about it, a lot of times.

Thanks
Click to expand...
 
Thanks, It was a hard pull, normal presentation. He up and around much better. Tendons appear alittle tight though.
 
Thanks, It was a hard pull, normal presentation. He up and around much better. Tendons appear alittle tight though.
 
crewboss":3aeo7pcs said:
Thanks, It was a hard pull, normal presentation. He up and around much better. Tendons appear alittle tight though.
Click to expand...

Knuckled over at the fetlocks? That will work itself out in a couple of days, usually, just keep an eye on him and make sure he's getting enough to eat. If you see hollows in front of his hipbones (up here that's called 'gaunted up', and is generally an indication that the calf is not getting enough to eat) regulary, he continues to lay around and sleep alot in the coming days, appears apathethic or lethargic, isn't trying to bounce around, etc, you might want to consider corralling him and mom in a smaller pen or pasture (with a buddy or two for mom so she doesn't get nervous) until the tight tendons rectify themselves. I hope this helps.
 

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