Old Cow...can I keep her alive long enough to calve?

[Wisteria Farms]

Not really looking for advice as much as I am just your personal experience...

I have a 15y/o cow... (everyone has a "Granny" and this is mine)... she should be calving within the next month but her condition has really suffered this winter. We currently have her in a stall with an outside run. Have stacked round bales around the outside to block the horrendous wind we've had lately... Am feeding her grain and all the hay she can handle. She's eating/drinking fine but due to her lost weight and added weight of being heavy bred, she's choosing to LAY most of the time. We keep thinking she won't be able to get up one of these times and are just praying she hangs on long enough to have her calf... Have even debated taking the calf c-section...

Can anyone share anything on how you've handled any old cows that you KNEW were on their last leg...but close to calving? Thanks! BTW I DID search this on CT and realize that despite my efforts I'm NOT going to be able to put the weight back on her.

 

[denvermartinfarms]

I expect that you will be able to keep her alive another month, but I have never had this exact situation.

 

[Aaron]

Never kept anything for that long, as to possibly lose out on any salvage value. Almost sounds like cancer.

Only suggestion I would have is to start feeding grain to keep her energy levels up and have to the phone ready to call the vet when she decides to calve - might give up before the head is even out.

Edit: Missed the part where you said you were feeding her grain already.

So my new advice includes keeping your fingers crossed.

 

[Bigfoot]

No 1st hand knowledge, but I wonder if calf manna, and shelled corn would be enough of a boost? Lots of protein, and energy.

 

[branguscowgirl]

I also have a "granny cow." Rosey is 13. She has been a phenomenal show cow and mother cow. She lays down more than the younger cows, but is still an easy keeper and very healthy.
I wish that I had some advice to give you, other then be prepared for the c-section if need be. If you do not give Selenium, maybe talk to your vet about that. Maybe some vits and probios to help build her up some more if possible. Good luck and let us know how it goes.

 

[dun]

The descrtiption "lost weight" doesn;t really say much. What is her body condition score?

 

[Wisteria Farms]

Sorry Dun, I would estimate her at a BCS 2/3... THIN (hair starting to slightly wear off hooks). As mentioned, she is eating (3lbs a.m./p.m. or 6lbs/day cracked corn, pellet, oats, salt, mineral) I wanted to start slow with the grain as she HAD been on straight grass hay and I was worried about a digestive upset with too much too soon. She LOVES her grain so I'm going to try to continue to build it up in hopes of keeping her strength up. She runs between 1200/1300 lbs normally (we weigh all the cows at weaning).

Thanks for the replies... You hate to admit that you're attached to them but she's always been our "lead" cow... the one who will bring the rest of the herd anywhere we need them to go so, yes, I'm attached. I haven't stuck my hand in her mouth to feel the situation with her teeth but she's eating fine (including hay). She calved a little later last year (mid May) so by the time we weaned her calf, we were already into fall and she just never recovered her weight enough before going into winter but I think the temps this winter just had her using all her energy to stay warm. Hindsight is 20/20 and I wish I'd weaned the calf sooner and focused better on her additional requirements over winter.

She's as big as a house and I think she's laying so much simply because her old legs are just tired of holding it all up... I debated on graining her as I know its adding weight to the calf she's carrying but at her age she can pretty much squeeze out anything so I decided it was more important to keep higher protein food going in....But I hear whoever it was that said to watch her as I know she may not have the strength to push the calf out once it starts to come!... I just keep watching her bag/rear end for signs that she's going to calve...In all her life, she always took on first heat and while I didn't see her get "hit"...I'm fairly certain judging by her size that she will calve within the month...

Next question... there's been mixed reviews on CT but we decided (after she calves) to grind her into hamburger... can't bring ourself to send her to the sale barn so figure its most merciful to give her a quick end that we're in control of... Won't even try to get any better cuts but if I use the hamburger for chili and such, will it be good enough?

 

[dun]

What is the protein of the grain mix? Corn works for energy but not much else. If she's 15 she's probably a gummer or close to it so most anything other then some tiype of pellet isn't going to get chewed very well so here guts may not be able to extract as much nutrient from it as a cow that actually has teeth the grind with.
You may be surprised at the flavor of the beef, it will have a much stronger flavor. Not because of stress but because of age. I happen to like that stronger beef flavor, wife not so much. When we had the butcher shop we alwasy added about 20% old bull meat to the burger to give it flavor.

 

[Nesikep]

I think there's good hope for her.. is she actually lame in any way? Walks slow but OK? My old cow was 17 when she had her last calf (BrangusCowgirl, her name was Rosie), and she had developed some arthritis in a hip the fall before... Her condition was about a 3 to 4, she had been on a couple pounds of rolled barley a WEEK before that and it really helped her, she spent the winter with the calves who get good food and she didn't have to fight for her spot. Her last calf was a heifer, backwards presentation, so I gave a bit of a pull, and she was fine. She raised the calf until the fall and it was the best heifer of the bunch... My worry was that after calving she'd have a hard time getting up, but she was always a really good mother and was motivated.. She spent the summer in a pasture in front of the house with a young cow who she was still able to boss around. Rosie had bad teeth too, but she chewed things long and slow.. I found rolled barley worked really well for her, and we had sunflower seed pressings (waste from sunflower oil) that she really liked as well, and there was some very oily goop in there too.

I'd say take it a day at a time, she may raise that calf yet, but might need some grain along the way... I just buried my Rosie, but old cows make the best burger meat! No, I wouldn't bother with any other cuts though.

This is her with the calf at about 2 months or so

and just before I put her down.

 

[Wisteria Farms]

Well I'm going to admit...I'm embarrassed by this but I don't know the protein content... I got the recipe from CKC a long time ago and have always used it so I'd have to ask HER!! My regular herd doesn't get it... just the weaned calves (the developing bulls/steer pen and heifer pen) from weaning til breeding age then the bred heifers go out on grass with the rest and the boys stay on grain. My ladies do really well on grass alone (very fine condition even now) so it was totally my error that Granny got overlooked...

I DO, however have a bottle calf on Startena (creep) so I thought about feeding her THAT as I have it handy but I also did check with the elevator on Friday...he has a 20% range cube... what do you think? Due to my attachment, I'll BUY whatever I need to for the old girl... just not sure. I have confidence in her calving ability but her developing calf will have anywhere from a couple weeks to a month of packing on weight prior to delivery....Its late but I'll try to take a picture of her tomorrow...

 

[Wisteria Farms]

Nesikep,
No...not lame in any way... just waddles slow and is real slow to get up. Acts normal in every way but chooses to lay... she eats grain and hay laying down... eliminates laying down... only gets up to go to the waterer inside the stall... otherwise is laying outside chewing her cud.

Thanks for the pictures... that's what we're hoping for is one last heifer out of her. I'd say you have your girl pegged right at a 3 as my Granny is just slightly worse off than that but I will say YOUR Rosie has a phenominal udder compared to Granny.... LOL. I already have planned that if we can get a live calf out of her, its going to be a bottle baby as her udder is just shot. A couple days colostrum is all I'm hoping to get out of her...

She's ALWAYS carried a really large barrel...looking pregnant even when she wasn't... I'd have to go through some of my old posts but I probably at one time or another posted a picture of her (in her younger days, of course)...its going to be hard to lose her but it helps hearing the positive (like your post)... Thanks.

 

[PLTannery]

Been thru it with several older cows... Good grain (I'd stay away from cubes) like Startena that is soft will help her along. Watch her in the end and see how it goes...

 

[Dubcharo]

Just calved one 15 years old charolais cow 2 hours ago. She is with arthritis and 3-4 body condition but she was able to go eat free choice corn silage and hay all winter inside a cold barn. The calf present just 1 leg the other was way back like a open chisel. Calf was up and suck after 3/4 hour. We have another 15 years old with twins and a 17 years old that we plan on keeping if she is with calf this fall. Never touch the hooves, with 4 tits and she have a beautiful female this year.

 

[branguscowgirl]

Nes, Rosie gave you a really nice (last) calf!! Must have been hard to put her down.

WF When I have to push the added grain to one, I add the powdered Probios. Tractor Supply and many feed stores carry it. It helps their digestion, increases their appetite, and helps them not get real runny poop.

Dubcharo-I love that you have some older girls still calving! Gives me hope with mine.

 

[Wisteria Farms]

Thanks for the positive feedback everyone... I'm just nervous because today was SO dang windy and cold and she CHOSE to lay outside in it... Warmer weather is coming the next few days so I'll switch over to a complete feed and hope for the best. Branguscowgirl...I never thought about probios as I really only use that (paste) when I have something on antibiotics but have never bought powder.

I'll take some pics and keep you all posted...I have to check my notes but I think she's one that her bag just overnight blows up like a balloon so hopefully that happens real soon and I can show pictures of her last calf... poor old girl. I have two of her daughters and would really like just ONE MORE! LOL

 

[Wisteria Farms]

One last thought before I turn in for the night... what about worming... the entire herd looks great (other than Granny) but I wondered if worming might do anything for her... she was last wormed in the fall (Eprinomex/Ivomec pour on) but I have some SafeGuard I could put in her feed...just don't want to make matters WORSE. I don't see any signs of parasites (lice) but thinking about the possibility internal...

 

[Nesikep]

BrangusCowgirl.. I now know why rifles have hair-triggers... for times when it's hard to pull..

Wisteria.. All of Rosie's relatives have all had exceptional udders that never broke down.. keeps them looking younger than they are. A second reason Rosie couldn't go for meat was I had given her a drug not approved for use in beef cattle (it was for arthritic horses) ... I think it was Butazone.. Funny because it's approved for use in humans!. It didn't do her a heck of a lot of good, and thanks to my mother being a nurse and having an encyclopedia of drugs, I found all the side effects reported on humans.. gastrointestinal ulcers, skin irritations, etc... and I started to see Rosie getting rashes from licking the same spot.. so I quit with it and gave the leftover to a friend...
If yours raised a calf last year, she might do it again this year... though I'd keep her away from the bull this year.. You should see the udder on one of my 10 year olds.. she kicks it along as she walks so as not to step on her teats... but she had a whole gallon of colostrom in each front quarter.. Didn't bother with the hind ones.. teats were too small for my mitts to milk... after a month or so the calf will find them

I have 4 daughters from Rosie.. 1 is 8, and the others are now 1,2 and 3 (yes, 3 in a row)... she gave me 11 daughters.. good thing I wasn't gunning for bulls (only 6).. There was 1 other daughter I think I should have kept, but oh well.

I never worm.. (I clip for lice).. so I'm not the expert there!

 

[Wisteria Farms]

That cracked me up about kicking her udder along so as not to step on her teats... that is too funny... That's imressive that Rosie gave you three daughters in a row (11 total WOW)... and that kind of plays into why we kept Granny... (with her broke down udder)

We bought her with a heifer at her side (a long time ago I posted pictures under Murray Grey Cow) and that heifer was the one named Randi... Randi is the spitting image of her momma.

Anyway, after having Randi, she just kept giving us ALL BOYS until 2012 when we FINALLY got a 2nd heifer out of her. In 2013 it was ANOTHER bull...and we had to really help him learn to get the teat because they hang so low. We debated THEN about that bull being her last but I just wanted one more heifer out of her so we bred her back... She was a beautiful cow, great temperament, great feet, great momma so I really am hoping for one more girl to carry on her legacy here...as I know this is definately her last...

 

[branguscowgirl]

One last thought before I turn in for the night... what about worming... the entire herd looks great (other than Granny) but I wondered if worming might do anything for her... she was last wormed in the fall (Eprinomex/Ivomec pour on) but I have some SafeGuard I could put in her feed...just don't want to make matters WORSE. I don't see any signs of parasites (lice) but thinking about the possibility internal...

"Pour on wormer" is almost useless except for external parasites. JMO
I use injectable or tube. Sometimes both at the same time.

 

[Wisteria Farms]

One last thought before I turn in for the night... what about worming... the entire herd looks great (other than Granny) but I wondered if worming might do anything for her... she was last wormed in the fall (Eprinomex/Ivomec pour on) but I have some SafeGuard I could put in her feed...just don't want to make matters WORSE. I don't see any signs of parasites (lice) but thinking about the possibility internal...

"Pour on wormer" is almost useless except for external parasites. JMO
I use injectable or tube. Sometimes both at the same time.

You're right...and I've got Dectomax I CAN hit her with...(injectable) but we do pour-ons several times spring/summer/fall to help with flies along with mineral w/altosid in it. We do Dectomax injections when we do fall vaccinations/weighing of calves/mommas but I was thinking the SafeGuard because its a different class of wormer. She didn't get the Dectomax in the fall because her calf was born later/weaned later than the rest of the herd...so essentially she was skipped...I'm just not sure with her BCS being so low if its wise to worm her as I thought it could have an adverse affect... but I guess if she's in that bad a shape then it won't matter either way...