Lost one

[rc]

I just posted yesterday on my new calves, well when checking them yesterday on seemed pretty lifeless and mama was staying kind of far away from her. Mama would let us close to her but not the dog. I kept going back and checking and the little thing would move but would not get up and go with mama. Finally I took the 4 wheeler back and inspected more closely. She was so lifeless that I knew she would not make it through the night. I figured if I could get her and mama together and let her nurse she might make it. At the time I thought the problem might be mama was not letting her nurse. As I rode out of the woods into the pasture where mama was grazing mama noticed the calve and came over. A little aprehensive about what mama was going to do I stopped. she seemed ok with me having baby so I got off and put the calve on the ground. Mama tried to get the baby to nurse and even follow her but the calve would do neither. i picked her back up and took her to the barn, filled up a rubber glove with milk and man did she go after that. That's when I noticed that her little eyes had not formed. She was blind. That's why she had not followed mama or been able to find the udder. We put her down as I cannot see raising a blind calve. I hope this does not seen cruel but an animal that has been in a pasture and already knows the perimeter can do better than one born this way. I felt so sorry for her bumping into the walls. I know this is a sad tale but for the newbies, like myself to cows, it's gonna happen. The GOOD THING is that the cow is gonna make a wonderful mama next time. she tried so hard to care for this baby and was so accepting of the help that I offered she's going to be one of my favorites. Has anyone else had a calves eyes do this? Was there any cause that this happened or just the way it goes? Thanks for listening to such a long sorta sad post.

 

[Brandonm2]

We have had about ~1700 calves born here in the last 30 years and I have never actually had one like that. I have had cows lose their vision; but undeveloped eye balls???? No, never. I am not a vet, I am not geneticist, BUT is it possible that that was a genetic "accident"? You are keeping the cow; but is she bred to the same bull?

 

[rc]

No she will be bred to another angus bull. The puzzling thing is I think that the calve had to nurse some to have made it almost two days. Maybe that was just instinct, but she sure weakened. I hope this was just an isolated incident and not a heriditary thing on the cows part.

 

[JHH]

Neighbor runs reg angus and has had a string of bad luck.He has had a couple of heifers go blind,found out that he was keeping the electric fencer battery inside the fence and vet said that he thought they had been licking the battery causing the blindness.Took battery out and so far all others are ok.Not trying to say that was what was wrong with yours just thought I might share that info.JHH

 

[sidney411]

I calf can make it 2 days without nursing, it probably didn't nurse at all if if went downhill that fast.

 

[rc]

Thanks for the replys. Any idea about the eyes? Probably just a defect?

 

[preston39]

rc,
your choice. But, if you could have put her up and kept mom near by with trips into the barn for a few days the calf would probably have been ok. After a few days old he would ball and mom would come for feeding. We had a sight problem calf a few years ago and he raised well. We weaned him early and he fed in the corral just fine. We had him for freezer beef. Seemed to be more tender. Maybe because he was not very active...but a nice animal.

 

[Beefy]

Blind calves can make it just find on their own if you teach them to nurse. if she was a little premature a shot can help their eyes a lot. a vitamin deficiency can also cause this. if she was fulltime and totally blind it was probably genetic. i cull against blindness. it was probably inherited on both sides so i would definitely use a different bull if you insist on keeping her. the reason i say it is probably inherited on both sides is because in my experience i was able to trace the few (3 in 2 years) blind calves back to a certain limousin bull and the calves were all out of cows that had a certain charolais heritage. Also a calf can easily make it 2 days without getting milk. if it had been mine and the cow had been so willing to take care of her calf i would have penned them up and taught the calf where to find milk and she probably would have caught on by feeling her momma within about a day and half.

 

[rc]

hind sights 20/20. I at least know more now than I did. Thanks.

 

[Jake]

Sounds like an extreme Vitamin E deficiency to me. You might want to check around to see if there are extra requirements for this in your area.

 

[Beefy]

hey you live you learn. there are probably just as many who would have done what you did. if she was in someones herd that only gets checked once a week she would have starved to death..

i wonder if milkmaid takes blind calves?

 

[Bama]

I would have done the same and put it down early. I would have butchered it. Like the others I would take a serious look at the generics of the herd.

 

[ollie]

Selenium?

 

[Jake]

Selenium?

that's what I thought but in my experiences the eyeballs are still formed with a selenium deficiency.

 

[docgraybull]

I would have done the same and put it down early. I would have butchered it.

Bama,
Am I reading this wrong or did you mean that you would have butchered it as a newborn?

 

[rc]

I really feel that I could have bottle fed it and saved the calf but with two children, boy 10, girl 8, that calf would have been bottle fed, a name that would break your heart, gentle beyond belief, and in my opinion a very expensive unedible blind cow for a pet. Right now I guess there's too many other fires that need putting out. I'd probably do the same thing again. It's always a tough call when your responsible for your stock. I've lost horses but these were my first calves. better luck with the next ones I hope.Thanks everyone.