i have been hand raising a calf since the 17th june, when born it fell approx 1.5m. she seemed to be feeding well on her first night (gave her some colostrum), the next morning it was a struggle to get her to feed, we also noticed she had what we believed to be scours (yellow diarheoa with blood in it), we adventually got her to feed again around 2pm that day. the following day (day 3) she was happily walking around mooing for her feed. i believe i could have possibly over fed her as ilet her drink 1L of her formula. throughout the day she would not feed and her scours seemed to be increasing. i began giving her replacement electrolytes. throughout this entire period she was very strong and able to walk around, and struggle against you if she didn't want to drink. day 4 she was again walking around mooing for her feed. i fed ger approx 500ml of formula at 6.30am, my partner feed her approx 400ml of formula at 12.30pm and i fed her again at 7pm. her scours appeared to have cleared up and she was doing solid bowel movements. my partner came home from work and checked her at approximately 2am to find her dead (slightly cold but not stiff so it must have been quite recent when he found her). i am wondering what could have possibly caused this as she seemed so healthy a few hours earlier and was very willing to drink. i am looking at hand raising more calves in the future and would like to know if it was somethig i did wrong to avoid it next time.
possible reasons for calf dying.
- Thread starter ca55ie
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Running Arrow Bill
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Several unknowns on your post...lol.
Your location. Breed of calf. Where did you buy the calf from: Sale Barn? Private Breeder? Or? Weight of calf when you got it? Age of calf when you got it (at birth?)?
Could be a lot things. "Shipping Fever"? Coccidiosis ? Injested something toxic? Bovine Virus Diarrhea (BVD)? Parasite? Worms? Or ???
Your location. Breed of calf. Where did you buy the calf from: Sale Barn? Private Breeder? Or? Weight of calf when you got it? Age of calf when you got it (at birth?)?
Could be a lot things. "Shipping Fever"? Coccidiosis ? Injested something toxic? Bovine Virus Diarrhea (BVD)? Parasite? Worms? Or ???
to clarify, did you start feeding the calf right after it was born and it died at the end of its 4th day being alive, or did you start feeding at some other point and it died 4 days after you started feeding it?
also why were you having to feed it?
the calf being dropped when it was born probably had nothing to do with it, that is actually kind of common. assuming they dont get laid on and their neck or back broken, those are usually fine.
i had an older wormy cow that turns out only had one good quarter from mastitis that calved a few years back and i had to bottlefeed it. her calf squirted what looked like bloody orange juice the day after it was born and after it had passed its meconium.. is that kind of like what you witnessed? that one actually lived.
you say the stool hardened right before the calf died. was it really really thick or just normal?
did you give it real colostrum or packaged colostrum?
did the calf aspirate milk while being fed? sometimes you can get fluid in their lungs fighting with one to take the bottle OR if the milk comes out too fast even if the calf is willing and it doesnt take long for that to kill them.
also why were you having to feed it?
the calf being dropped when it was born probably had nothing to do with it, that is actually kind of common. assuming they dont get laid on and their neck or back broken, those are usually fine.
i had an older wormy cow that turns out only had one good quarter from mastitis that calved a few years back and i had to bottlefeed it. her calf squirted what looked like bloody orange juice the day after it was born and after it had passed its meconium.. is that kind of like what you witnessed? that one actually lived.
you say the stool hardened right before the calf died. was it really really thick or just normal?
did you give it real colostrum or packaged colostrum?
did the calf aspirate milk while being fed? sometimes you can get fluid in their lungs fighting with one to take the bottle OR if the milk comes out too fast even if the calf is willing and it doesnt take long for that to kill them.
calf was born on friday 17th of june at approx 1pm, my partner works at an abbotoir and calf was born as its mother was in the knocking box, so mum was dead therefore i began looking after the calf that day. we are from the hunter valley (nsw, australia), cattle is transported from all over australia to this abbotoir so cant be sure where her mum originated.she she was a murray grey, not 100% sure of her exact weight but easily 60kg. was fed "impact" which is a colostrum supplement. i began feeding her colostrum that night and a small amount of "di-vetelact" which is a protein supplement formula for orphaned new born animals. stools appeared to be normal the day it died (not thick). calve could very possibly inhaled fluid into its lungs, we struggled to feed her on the sunday afternoon (day 3), this is when she was given replacement electrolytes (about 150-200ml) followed about an hour later with approx same amount of di-vetelact.
