bward
Well-known member
Thank you all for your very kind words and tips with the orphan calf. its been a nightmare week as yesterday I took a 7 year old cow to the vet with a twisted uterus. Another first for me. I forgot to bring my camera, can't imagine why. I was up half the night waiting for a heifer to calve. I had brought her in with my truck all the way from the far end of the half section into the corral at 7 that night. She was just wandering at this point, and still had a flat tail. After several checks throughout the night found her at 3:30am with 2 feet out and stuck. I called my father in law to come help me pull it. We managed to quietly walk up, slip the chains on and start pulling. The head popped, and then the shoulders and we could pull no farther. I went to get the puller and as we were just hooking it up she bolted up and mad as heck on the fight and put us both over the fence. She was snorting blood and I am sure she thought we were removing her guts. This was bad as I knew the umbilicus was at the point of being totally squashed and the calf was getting no oxygen and was also unable to breath. If the calf was out a little more it might have made it. As it was, to save out lives we had to use the truck in the corral to move the heifer into the alley to get her into the squeeze and although it only took a couple of minutes, the calf was gone. To top things off she sat down on the poor thing to make sure she finished it off. Without too much effort, the calf popped out. I let the heifer out as she was just raving mad almost spitting blood. She left the squeeze without so much as a sniff to her dead calf and was gone.
So it was only a few hours later I ended up taking a 7 year old cow to town. She had been cramping and seemed to be in extraordinary pain. Her tail was flat and it wasn't actually obvious that she was in labor and I even considered it may have been a displaced abomasum. There was only one way to find out so I brought her in and got my husband out of his sick bed to do an examination. He said he felt something that felt like cotyledons and found no twist to the vaginal wall. We loaded her up and I went to the vet. He did an vaginal exam and said that what we thought was cotyledens was actually a very strange cervix. Then he did a rectal exam and going beyond the cervix found the uturus in a major twist right at the neck of the cervix. Ahso! The calf was delivered out the side and gee imagine that... it was dead. The cervix likely felt funny during the examination becasue it was likely open and then twisted shut which would account for the strangeness.
Update on the calf. STILL not sucking from a bottle so I resorted to tubing once again. To those who suggested banamine and E and selenium, those were the first things I did, I also tried some honey on the nipple of the bottle but plan to try the carnation milk. Last night he had a fever so I dosed him with some Nuflor and Banamine and he is feeling quite a bit better this morning. As I was doing chores around the barn I heard a cow bellowing so I went out to look and found that mad heifer standing at the gate calling for her calf. So I quickly went and got junior and shoved him out of the barn... got some 'Calf claim" and sprinkled it on him and let the heifer in. She bellowed at the calf, ran up to him , took one sniff and said. .. "not mine" The calf thrilled to see a cow got up on his contracted feet and called back and so excitedly started following the heifer around but its obvious that she wants no part of him.
I should mention that yesterday after we brought c-section and her dead calf home I did skin her calf and tied it on junoir and put them together. She had a hopeful look, took one sniff and went to the other side of the pen and layed down. Of course Junoir wants the mom but she just kicked him away. I suppose that she felt that she never gave birth? I guess the hide thing doesn't always work, though I have had it work well most of the time.
I am very surprised that the heifer actually came into the pen after all we put her through and all the fences she put us over. She had calmed down remarkably so I am getting my brother-in-law to come up later today to try to force them together. We will put her in the squeeze and see if we can get the calf to drink from her.
On another note, I did tag two babies this morning so I guess some of them can be born alive. Amazing.
Time goes by.........
Okay I got the heifer in the squeeze and tied a leg back... not so much that its awkward for her or off the ground, just enough so she can't kick forward. I put the calf in the sled to bring it to the heifer as he is so contracted, he can't stand for more than a few minutes. ( Then I begin to question my sanity. How on earth do I expect a calf that can't stand well or suck to take to a heifer that doesn't want him? What am I thinking?) I take the lower sides off the squeeze and dump the calf out. He immediatly gets up and goes to the heifer with milk seeking nudges. He finds a teat and starts sucking like mad. Little puke does know HOW to suck after all! The heifer thrashes about but occaisionally she stands still long enough for him to get some good eating time in. I am surprised. So this will be another chore for me to do twice a day until the day she caves in and decides to love him after all. I hope that happens. Right now I have them together in a fairly large pen and am hoping she won't hurt him when I am not looking.
I hope I have nothing else to post after this. Calving season is stressful enough when things go right. This year is not so good. If things go well with the heifer I will post a pic later.
So it was only a few hours later I ended up taking a 7 year old cow to town. She had been cramping and seemed to be in extraordinary pain. Her tail was flat and it wasn't actually obvious that she was in labor and I even considered it may have been a displaced abomasum. There was only one way to find out so I brought her in and got my husband out of his sick bed to do an examination. He said he felt something that felt like cotyledons and found no twist to the vaginal wall. We loaded her up and I went to the vet. He did an vaginal exam and said that what we thought was cotyledens was actually a very strange cervix. Then he did a rectal exam and going beyond the cervix found the uturus in a major twist right at the neck of the cervix. Ahso! The calf was delivered out the side and gee imagine that... it was dead. The cervix likely felt funny during the examination becasue it was likely open and then twisted shut which would account for the strangeness.
Update on the calf. STILL not sucking from a bottle so I resorted to tubing once again. To those who suggested banamine and E and selenium, those were the first things I did, I also tried some honey on the nipple of the bottle but plan to try the carnation milk. Last night he had a fever so I dosed him with some Nuflor and Banamine and he is feeling quite a bit better this morning. As I was doing chores around the barn I heard a cow bellowing so I went out to look and found that mad heifer standing at the gate calling for her calf. So I quickly went and got junior and shoved him out of the barn... got some 'Calf claim" and sprinkled it on him and let the heifer in. She bellowed at the calf, ran up to him , took one sniff and said. .. "not mine" The calf thrilled to see a cow got up on his contracted feet and called back and so excitedly started following the heifer around but its obvious that she wants no part of him.
I should mention that yesterday after we brought c-section and her dead calf home I did skin her calf and tied it on junoir and put them together. She had a hopeful look, took one sniff and went to the other side of the pen and layed down. Of course Junoir wants the mom but she just kicked him away. I suppose that she felt that she never gave birth? I guess the hide thing doesn't always work, though I have had it work well most of the time.
I am very surprised that the heifer actually came into the pen after all we put her through and all the fences she put us over. She had calmed down remarkably so I am getting my brother-in-law to come up later today to try to force them together. We will put her in the squeeze and see if we can get the calf to drink from her.
On another note, I did tag two babies this morning so I guess some of them can be born alive. Amazing.
Time goes by.........
Okay I got the heifer in the squeeze and tied a leg back... not so much that its awkward for her or off the ground, just enough so she can't kick forward. I put the calf in the sled to bring it to the heifer as he is so contracted, he can't stand for more than a few minutes. ( Then I begin to question my sanity. How on earth do I expect a calf that can't stand well or suck to take to a heifer that doesn't want him? What am I thinking?) I take the lower sides off the squeeze and dump the calf out. He immediatly gets up and goes to the heifer with milk seeking nudges. He finds a teat and starts sucking like mad. Little puke does know HOW to suck after all! The heifer thrashes about but occaisionally she stands still long enough for him to get some good eating time in. I am surprised. So this will be another chore for me to do twice a day until the day she caves in and decides to love him after all. I hope that happens. Right now I have them together in a fairly large pen and am hoping she won't hurt him when I am not looking.
I hope I have nothing else to post after this. Calving season is stressful enough when things go right. This year is not so good. If things go well with the heifer I will post a pic later.
!! I feel for you, and I know exactly what you are feeling, been there, done that, in various forms. So far, I have never had to put a cow down myself, hubby has always been there. But we have done the emergency C-section/surgery, and for us it did not work out as well. Calf was alive, but died the next day. Hopefully things straighten out for you, and your heifer decides to love her 'new' calf. Good luck, and I commend you for the job you are doing :clap: :clap: . Hope hubby is feeling better soon too.....
