sick calf

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Anonymous

I have a calf thats around 5 months old. A week ago I noticed he had some crusty stuff around his eye, but otherwise seemed healthy. The crusty stuff cleared up and he was fine. I fed him this morning and he ate his grain, but tonight when I went to feed, I realized he had only eaten half of his grain. He also had not touched his alfalfa. He grinds his teeth, his breath smells bad, (different from normal), he thrashes his legs, and he's not getting up. We tried to pull him to his feet and he went back down. He's also raising his nose up into the air and breathing heavily. I also noticed the crusties are back again tonight. Any ideas?



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I live an hour and a half from the nearest town with a vet. :( The vet bill for the vet to just come out and check the calf is going to be around 500 bucks. I'm very new to raising cows, and having only spent 50 bucks on the calf, can't afford $500 on the vet bill.

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> I live an hour and a half from the
> nearest town with a vet. :( The
> vet bill for the vet to just come
> out and check the calf is going to
> be around 500 bucks. I'm very new
> to raising cows, and having only
> spent 50 bucks on the calf, can't
> afford $500 on the vet bill.

Your vet is ripping you off. That is ridiculous. We have a vet that travels about an hour and only charges 55 bucks for his visit. Where do you live?
 
I agree with Matt. We took a bull into the vet on an emergency basis last week. The charge for an examination by two vets, plus vitamin injections, was $23. Far less than I would have thought fair and I told them so.

The local vet came out to our place to pull a calf and charged less than $50.

Most vets charge 50 cents to $1 a mile travel.

Are you sure that's what the charge would be?

> Your vet is ripping you off. That
> is ridiculous. We have a vet that
> travels about an hour and only
> charges 55 bucks for his visit.
> Where do you live?
 
yeah, I'm sure about the charge. I live pretty far out, and its all 4x4 country. I'm smack dab on the top of a mountain. My nearest neighbor is around 2 miles down the road. We had them out on a horse call just to have my mare preg checked and the bill was around 400. It's ridiculous.

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> yeah, I'm sure about the charge. I
> live pretty far out, and its all
> 4x4 country. I'm smack dab on the
> top of a mountain. My nearest
> neighbor is around 2 miles down
> the road. We had them out on a
> horse call just to have my mare
> preg checked and the bill was
> around 400. It's ridiculous.

Well gosh, I'm not a vet and I'm about as snug with a dollar as anybody I know, but what do you really expect? You say you are an hour and a half from the nearest town, and I can only assume your vet lives in that town. So for a vet to come out he or she has a three hour round trip just driving to and from your place. That's three hours that could no longer be spent at the vet office doing work for other paying customers, or spent in leisure time with his or her family. And you say its 4 x 4 country, so he or she has to drive out in a real "gas hog" type vehicle! Then he or she has to actually do the vet work. So why does a $400 or $500 bill seem so ridiculous? If you spend YOUR time (and gas money and vehicle wear and tear) and take the sick calf into the vet's office I'd bet the charge by your vet will be far more "reasonable".
 
> yeah, I'm sure about the charge. I
> live pretty far out, and its all
> 4x4 country. I'm smack dab on the
> top of a mountain. My nearest
> neighbor is around 2 miles down
> the road. We had them out on a
> horse call just to have my mare
> preg checked and the bill was
> around 400. It's ridiculous.

Amy, Hope your calf is doing better. Your vet should be willing to give you some advise over the phone. Call another Vet if you can. I am sure you have done this. My Vet charges 35 to come out and 150 an hour. I thought I had it bad until your post. Believe me things are ready to roll when he steps out of the rig. Most the time he will knock some time off for me. Most the time I have smoked salmon on hand too. About your calf. Grain and alfalfa is a pretty hot diet in its own. You don't want to burn this guys gut up. He is grinding his teeth and stretching his neck out, because he is in pain. Good luck >Rod
 
I talked with a local guy...not a vet..but someone who's been cattle ranching for his whole life. He came up and looked at the calf and said it looks like pnemonia to him. He gave him a shot of LA-200 and said if he's still alive on Saturday he'd come back up and give him another. He also said to keep giving him probias every other day. He said he's seen cows in worse condition come back from it. He's still alive, and we're able to get him to drink a little at a time out of a bottle. Last night after the shot we brought in a load of hay and he moo'd at us, so there's hope I guess. As for the diet, we've had him on alfalfa and grass hay mix along with the APL grain since he was weaned. He's around 5 months now, and up until now we've never had any problems with him.



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Yes, $400 is a lot for a service call. HOWEVER, considering where you're located...well...figure Vet's time worth $50 to $100 an hour!

Our "routine" vet office is 4 miles from our place. His service call fee is $25. and it takes him about 5 min to get here. Other other Vet is 26 miles away for equine, A.I., and ultrasound work---we always haul our animals to her office.

Bill

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Ouch! That's a lot of money. But, vets are worth whatever they charge, to me. They've gotten me out of some real binds and I've learned a lot from them.

If you don't already have one, I'd sure consider investing in a stock trailer and hauling my animals to the vet. Our vet's 35 miles one way and we always take our livestock to him.

> yeah, I'm sure about the charge. I
> live pretty far out, and its all
> 4x4 country. I'm smack dab on the
> top of a mountain. My nearest
> neighbor is around 2 miles down
> the road. We had them out on a
> horse call just to have my mare
> preg checked and the bill was
> around 400. It's ridiculous.
 
When deciding to raise livestock you have to figure in the costs and one of those is vet care. The options are paying the vet to either come out or your bringing the animal in, or nursing it yourself and being prepared to allow some to die or have to shoot some yourself. If you're not comfortable with the latter you need to figure out how to address the former.

dun

> yeah, I'm sure about the charge. I
> live pretty far out, and its all
> 4x4 country. I'm smack dab on the
> top of a mountain. My nearest
> neighbor is around 2 miles down
> the road. We had them out on a
> horse call just to have my mare
> preg checked and the bill was
> around 400. It's ridiculous.



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We did have a local guy come out and look him over. We called the vet and finally got the calf into his office. Unfortunately the calf had ruptured something inside his stomach and we had to have the vet put him down. The vet said even if he had come out the first day, there would have been nothing he could have done. :( Thanks to everyone who tried to help, with both comments and suggestions.

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I'm sorry to hear you lost your calf, Amy.

> We did have a local guy come out
> and look him over. We called the
> vet and finally got the calf into
> his office. Unfortunately the calf
> had ruptured something inside his
> stomach and we had to have the vet
> put him down. The vet said even if
> he had come out the first day,
> there would have been nothing he
> could have done. :( Thanks to
> everyone who tried to help, with
> both comments and suggestions.
 
> When deciding to raise livestock
> you have to figure in the costs
> and one of those is vet care. The
> options are paying the vet to
> either come out or your bringing
> the animal in, or nursing it
> yourself and being prepared to
> allow some to die or have to shoot
> some yourself. If you're not
> comfortable with the latter you
> need to figure out how to address
> the former.

> dun

Oh! Dun, Dun, Dun - Why did you mention shooting - now you will have Alf all over you!!!!

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