We are fairly new in the cattle business, (bet you hear that alot!) We bought 10 heifers last spring from a sale barn. Brought them home to bred with our bull (all commerical angus). Well, we found a calf on New years day that was black and white, and way to early to be from our bull. Anyway, the calf got sick, took it to the vet, but to late, we lost the calf a couple of days ago. My question is what to do for the mother cow? This is first calf for her, she hasen't been eating very good the past few days. We have her in a corral so we can keep an eye on her. We don't have the option of " getting a calf to put on her" Will she just dry up like when we wean? The calf was 3 weeks old. Thanks for any input we appreciate it.
Question from a Newbie
- Thread starter Hwy27
- Start date
Help Support CattleToday:
hillsdown
Well-known member
It happens sometimes, calves get bred when they shouldn't; that is why we use prostaglandin on everything over five months old that shouldn't be bred when we pull the bull.
Did the heifer clean off after calving and was it a hard birth or an easy one?
What is her temp?
If it was an easy delivery and she cleaned off I would supplement her and try to get her back into top condition.It must have been hard on her body and system to be bred that young.If her temp is normal and she is not sick then just keep an eye on her.
If she does not start to get better, call your vet.
Did the heifer clean off after calving and was it a hard birth or an easy one?
What is her temp?
If it was an easy delivery and she cleaned off I would supplement her and try to get her back into top condition.It must have been hard on her body and system to be bred that young.If her temp is normal and she is not sick then just keep an eye on her.
If she does not start to get better, call your vet.
Thanks for your reply. The cow did clean herself up, she was being a very good mother, I would say calving weight was 800 to 850 lb. We wern't able to observe her birthing (didn't really know she was ready!) so not sure if she had any calving difficulty. Will she dry up on her own? How long before we know she's in the clear? Any special suppliments we should get for her? Thanks again!
I guess I should have said she's corraled, but right now with the weather the way it is, the herd pretty much stay around the hay bales, which is close to the corral. We just put her in there this evening, the past 3 or 4 days she seems to be hanging back from the herd, so we thought we could keep an eye on her better this way. I guess if she is eating and drinking good overnight we could turn her out tomorrow?
alabama makes a good point, they often do better (as herd animals) with complany. Maybe you could put one in with her? It is convenient to have them seperated when they are sick, so I can see where you are coming from as well.
We do have one next to her with the other calf that was born on the 15th. Keeping a close eye on all of them right now! The cows are separated by a fence for tonight so we can watch to see if the cow with no calf is eating. Tomorrow we will probably move the fence so they can be together, but close enough to keep an eye on all of them. The newest calf has showed signs of having the scours so we have been dosing the calf with oral medication from the feed store. She seems to be doing better this evening. Last year we had 11 calves, and moms and babies did fine! Hopefully none of the other 10 we bought at the same time were bred. We have about 3 weeks to go, after that all calves will be from our bull, and we should have things back under control.
hillsdown
Well-known member
That is the problem with bringing new animals into your herd.They all carry different strains of "bugs"...
You might want to look into giving all newborns a dose of Colimune /calf guard or something similar within the first 12 hours after they are born because it might be a strain of e coli.Or you can give a feeding of powdered colostrum with immunoglobulins in it as soon as they are born.2 pints will suffice and then they can get the rest of colostrum from there dam.
Also if it hits one it will most likely hit them all.
You might want to look into giving all newborns a dose of Colimune /calf guard or something similar within the first 12 hours after they are born because it might be a strain of e coli.Or you can give a feeding of powdered colostrum with immunoglobulins in it as soon as they are born.2 pints will suffice and then they can get the rest of colostrum from there dam.
Also if it hits one it will most likely hit them all.
