Orphan calf

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Down in Dixie

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Ok so I found an orphan calf yesterday at one of the properties I help out at. Had one cow calve on Saturday and another calve on Sunday. The cow that calved on Sunday had the buzzards kill that calf. Found this heifer calf Monday. She was hungry and tried to rob off of all the cows. Gave her a bottle of colostrum yesterday afternoon and now this morning she is down and can't get her to stand. Is it a lost cause or is there anything I can do to maybe save it. Droopy ears and motor skills look bad.
 

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Doesn't sound overly promising, but I've seen them turn around for the better. if it were mine I'd probably talk with a vet.
There may be some kind of vitamin/mineral injection that might help.
If it won't nurse, might consider tube feeding it with a combination of some electrolytes and a little milk.
It probably got down weak and tired out.
 
I'd take it to the vet. IV fluids will work wonders if the vet is a large animal vet. Calves are worth too much to not put in a couple hundred dollars to try to save them.
Get it warmed up and if it will drink, some electrolytes... but if it were mine I would have it in the truck, getting warm, on the way to the vet...
 
my thinking is that if it was trying to rob from other cows it probably sucked on a cow already at some point. hopefully from its mom and got at least some colostrum. A vet visit would be my best recommendation also. my vet said they can test calves to see if they had colostrum or not. that may be a good starting point.
 
Talked to my vet and he said give it dex and drax. I gave it dex and it was up in about 30 minutes. Tubed it some electrolytes and milk replacer but not to much. Went out to feed some hay and came back to it on its side and shaking bad like a seizure. Got its feet back under it and now it's trying to stand again. Breathing is more labored now. Noticed the right eye clouded up around noon. Not sure what to do at this point other than wait.
 
I know that's frustrating when working with one like that. It sounds like you're doing everything you can do at this point to give it a chance. I hope it can recover and pull through for you.
 
Getting a temp is first step to any diagnosis and consideration of treatment. Calf looks like a preemie. They have a lot of trouble regulating body temp along with all their other problems.
 
Did you ever check its temperature? Feeding a cold calf can be a death sentence in a lot of cases.
Trying to find where my wife put something is the problem. She is going to look for the thermometer when she gets home. Guess I need to get one just for farm use. Hopefully I didn't screw up. Calf is inside with a space heater now.
 
I wish I could offer some help here. It's disheartening when a person does everything they can and nothing seems to work. That calf has obvious been scouring by the evidence on its tail. So it's been nursing something anyway.
I suspect an angry mama may have shoved it away a bit too hard.
I'll agree on first thing is getting an accurate temperature. Calf that new, the antibiotics are useless. May as well squirt that on the ground.
Tmrw morning will tell ya something. I just hope it's good news that it made it thru the night.
 
Ok so I found an orphan calf yesterday at one of the properties I help out at. Had one cow calve on Saturday and another calve on Sunday. The cow that calved on Sunday had the buzzards kill that calf. Found this heifer calf Monday. She was hungry and tried to rob off of all the cows. Gave her a bottle of colostrum yesterday afternoon and now this morning she is down and can't get her to stand. Is it a lost cause or is there anything I can do to maybe save it. Droopy ears and motor skills look bad.
We lost our first calf to buzzards last week and the heifer that was having it. I found it the day after. I was out of town so I didn't do my normal headcount to see if everything was there and the hand didn't either. When I got back I did count heads and noticed the one red baldy heifer was missing and I knew she was about to calve so I walked into the lower pasture to look and she was dead on her side, no eye left and her back end gone along with most of the calf. I assume she was having a problem calving, couldn't get up and the buzzards closed in, killed the baby as it was part ways out and then got her when she couldn't get up. Since I wasn't there I don't know but that's what it looked like to me. We've always had a few buzzards around but this year the regular buzzards are gone and replaced by a bunch or black headed ones. I've also noticed 3 or 4 will land and try to get up close to a fairly young calf laying in the grass and these momma cows will go to the baby to protect them. This is new to me, never had this issue before.
 
I wish I could offer some help here. It's disheartening when a person does everything they can and nothing seems to work. That calf has obvious been scouring by the evidence on its tail. So it's been nursing something anyway.
I suspect an angry mama may have shoved it away a bit too hard.
I'll agree on first thing is getting an accurate temperature. Calf that new, the antibiotics are useless. May as well squirt that on the ground.
Tmrw morning will tell ya something. I just hope it's good news that it made it thru the night.
Calf made it thru the night. Checked on her a few times thru the night and wasn't very hopeful. She made quite the watery mess so passed the little bit of milk replacer I gave her yesterday. The scour poop on her tail was partly from stealing and the colostrum I gave her Monday. Just gave her more dex and will tube her again in a minute.
 
Quite often indicates IBR or mineral deficiencies.
I told the owner that we need to start a good mineral program so I'm going to go pick up some loose mineral and a feeder today. He said he had a hard time with some heifers he had taking up and told him that mineral may have had something to do with it. Hopefully we can correct some deficiencies.
 
I told the owner that we need to start a good mineral program so I'm going to go pick up some loose mineral and a feeder today. He said he had a hard time with some heifers he had taking up and told him that mineral may have had something to do with it. Hopefully we can correct some deficiencies.
As someone who has taken over management of a farm that didn't have a mineral program, be prepared for your initial consumption to be way higher than what you would expect.

I would also recommend giving everything a dose of multimin.
 
We lost our first calf to buzzards last week and the heifer that was having it. I found it the day after. I was out of town so I didn't do my normal headcount to see if everything was there and the hand didn't either. When I got back I did count heads and noticed the one red baldy heifer was missing and I knew she was about to calve so I walked into the lower pasture to look and she was dead on her side, no eye left and her back end gone along with most of the calf. I assume she was having a problem calving, couldn't get up and the buzzards closed in, killed the baby as it was part ways out and then got her when she couldn't get up. Since I wasn't there I don't know but that's what it looked like to me. We've always had a few buzzards around but this year the regular buzzards are gone and replaced by a bunch or black headed ones. I've also noticed 3 or 4 will land and try to get up close to a fairly young calf laying in the grass and these momma cows will go to the baby to protect them. This is new to me, never had this issue before.
It will get worse with those DA$#%D buzzards. Sounds exactly like what happened as you described it.
Shoot 'em... with or without getting the permits... they are as real a problem as the feral hogs you have there. And they will try to go after smaller calves that are laying sleeping too. Have had them go into open sheds and go after bottle calves.
Try to calve in fields where there is some more dense brush for cover. They don't like to go into places they cannot quickly and easily take off in flight from... my cows are getting better about going and calving in places that are more protected it seems. They seem to know that they are safer in brushy thickets.
 

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