Thawing out a frozen newborn

[JParrott]

BIL keeps his herd next door to my place. Found one this morning almost frozen to death. Ears solid ice, nose froze, rear fetlocks frozen solid. Mom had cleaned him up a bit but that was it. Brought him in the house and tubed four quarts of colostrum. Won't suck, won't stand. Quite a bit of groaning and teeth grinding. Breathing is shallow and labored. Won't stand, will barely attempt. Does put up a bit of a struggle with the tubing so I know he can move if he wants to.

My assumption is its the pain from thawing out that we're going to have to work through. Anyone been through this particular situation before? I've had them chilled and after drying off and a bottle they were fine but not this bad. This is new territory with the breathing and teeth grinding.

 

[Rydero]

BIL keeps his herd next door to my place. Found one this morning almost frozen to death. Ears solid ice, nose froze, rear fetlocks frozen solid. Mom had cleaned him up a bit but that was it. Brought him in the house and tubed four quarts of colostrum. Won't suck, won't stand. Quite a bit of groaning and teeth grinding. Breathing is shallow and labored. Won't stand, will barely attempt. Does put up a bit of a struggle with the tubing so I know he can move if he wants to.

My assumption is its the pain from thawing out that we're going to have to work through. Anyone been through this particular situation before? I've had them chilled and after drying off and a bottle they were fine but not this bad. This is new territory with the breathing and teeth grinding.

I'm sorry, that's a tough deal. If the fetlocks froze solid and it's in a lot of pain (teeth grinding) I'd do it a favor and put a bullet in it. I doubt you want to hear that but it's not going to be pretty what it'll have to go through before it dies if it hangs on.

 

[MurraysMutts]

Poor guy is in a lot of pain.
Time is the only thing that will tell.
Hopefully your tubing him has saved his life, I've heard benamine will help with pain relief

 

[Silver]

If his joints are frozen this won't end well.

 

[gcreekrch]

I'm sorry, that's a tough deal. If the fetlocks froze solid and it's in a lot of pain (teeth grinding) I'd do it a favor and put a bullet in it. I doubt you want to hear that but it's not going to be pretty what it'll have to go through before it dies if it hangs on.

Yes, frozen joints will mostly become infected. Best to put the calf down and be there earlier for the next one.

 

[Lazy M]

Once the teeth grinding starts its time to do them a favor and end it

 

[C-Ranch]

I lost two to the storm we had last night one was buried in the snow drift and the second got stuck in the icy waters. I hate losing calves, but like my grandpa use to say "sometimes we can't save em all". Non the less, still sucks losing them.

 

[JParrott]

Done deal. Just hauled him off to a brush pile. He'll feed the buzzards and coyotes. Appreciate the replies. Makes the decision a little easier to live with.

 

[Lee VanRoss]

This winter is turning into a sad country song when it comes to cattle.

 

[wbvs58]

Sounds very tough.

Ken

 

[JParrott]

Sounds very tough.

Ken

It's ok. I've got another one born last night about an hour after I tossed the dead one on the brush pile that spent the night in the house. Try and get him back with mom this morning if I can get her penned up.

I'm moving to fall calving this year. The bulls are staying locked up until Christmas.

 

[MurraysMutts]

Sorry about the one.
Good job on the second one tho!

This weather will test a man...

 

[bigbluegrass]

Sorry you lost this one. Next time, if you catch a cold calf a bit earlier you can try giving it a bath. Giving a calf a warm bath will get them warmed up faster than anything. Take a stock tank and fill it up with warm water, shallow enough the calf won't drown. Run some warm water over the back. Set the calf in there until it is trying to climb out then dry it off good.

Moving to fall calving is a way to solve the problem permanently.

 

[C-Ranch]

I had one in the blizzard that I threw in the truck and toweled off and then drove around till I could find which cow it belonged to. We haven't had any winter to speak of till the last three days, but it sure did show up and meant business. Just wished I had my tagging gun so I could have tagged it before letting it go.

 

[Dsth]

sorry to hear about little ones that didn't make it through the cold. I have lost a few myself in the past and it always sucks. seems like you can't watch them close enough. I have read articles that verify bigbluegrass's post about fastest way to warm up a cold calf but have not tried it myself. they suggest putting them in the bathtub of warm/hot water. I have used a space heater blowing towards them if you can put them inside with dry bedding. feed colostrum when they start trying to stand and back with mommy as soon as possible.

 

[jerry27150]

some are not meant to live even with help

 

[farmerjan]

Have always warmed them up in the bathtub. Yup, right in the bathroom... start water room temp, warm, and then increase temp.
Stay with them to keep their head out of water . Sometimes you can't save them and then you do the next best thing for them like you did.
Have done hundreds of lambs over the past 40 years that way.... mostly from buying bred ewes not knowing when they were bred. Kitchen sink warm bath then a hair dryer when they are moving.

 

[Lee VanRoss]

I rate calving in the winter right up there with leaving the gate open along the highway.

 

[TCRanch]

@JParrott, I'm really sorry about the calf. It always sucks and never gets easier.

When we had the old farm house dozed, we kept the ancient fireplace and put it in the workshop. That, plus a blow dryer and vigorous rubbing with towels, generally gets them dry and I keep them in front of the fireplace (constantly monitoring) until their temp is normal. Only then do I give them a warm bottle.

This was my preemie last year. Full recovery!

 

[Rydero]

I rate calving in the winter right up there with leaving the gate open along the highway.

I don't think it's irresponsible. Especially where most of the people having trouble - in the southern US are located. This is a freak occurence for them. I guess if you left a gate open somewhere and the highway moved hundreds of miles to it your analogy would be accurate.

Our spring calving weather can turn out like what some of these folks are dealing with right now - in April. Couple years ago we had a couple weeks where the temperature at night was in the -30's. Used to be we'd get a night or two where it dipped to about 15F in early April and it'd migrate up above freezing from there. Seemed sensible to calve in weather like that.

It's a different ballgame for sure at colder temperatures but entirely doable. We didn't lose a calf. A couple lost a bit of their ears. Cattle penned up close, hourly checks 24/7, had a pen set up in the garage and if it was middle of the night a fire was started in the wood stove and the calves brought in to dry and warm. Lots were given colostrum before being brought back to momma when the temps lifted during the day. Calf ear muffs or duct tape the ears to the head to keep them warm and you'd be surprised what a calf will thrive in with warm milk and some bedding out of the wind.