treatment for emaciated-cow

[novatech]

I just bought a cow with a frame score of 1. I couldn,t stand it. I either had to shoot it or feed it. I first pulled a 700 lb calf off of old mom. And de-wormed her. Now she has grass, clover, free choice mineral, and protein. I think she is chewing her cud and eating at the same time.
Is there anything else I should do, or can do, to bring her back up ASAP.

 

[iowahawkeyes]

I'm sure she's been missing all those things until now. Good luck. Why was she in that shape. I hate to see that.
I would like to see a pic.

 

[Wewild]

I just bought a cow with a frame score of 1. I couldn,t stand it. I either had to shoot it or feed it. I first pulled a 700 lb calf off of old mom. And de-wormed her. Now she has grass, clover, free choice mineral, and protein. I think she is chewing her cud and eating at the same time.
Is there anything else I should do, or can do, to bring her back up ASAP.

She got any teeth?

 

[dun]

I'm assuming you meant BCS of 1. A FS of 1 would be a pretty tiny cow.
Worming, good nutrition, check her teeth to see if there is a problem there.
Good luck

dun

 

[novatech]

Thanks dun.
Your right BCS.
Now if I had that frame score 1, I could get rich.
Teeth are ok, 12 yr.brahman

 

[bigbull338]

Thanks dun.
Your right BCS.
Now if I had that frame score 1, I could get rich.
Teeth are ok, 12 yr.brahman

your doing all you can do for her.itll take time to put weight back on her.only thing i might do is feed her some grain everyday.that will help her get started good.

 

[novatech]

I'm sure she's been missing all those things until now. Good luck. Why was she in that shape. I hate to see that.
I would like to see a pic.

She was being fed very low quality hay with no protein sup. or minerals. Calf should have been weaned months ago. The rest of his cows were about BCS 3.
Go to http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/BODY_AN001 the one I got is worse than plate 1 in the photos.

 

[Gale Seddon]

Good for you! And for her! It'd be interesting to keep a photo log of her improvement, month by month. I hope she'll do okay for you.

 

[Susie David]

Hope that she gains for you. Once they loose that much muscle mass it is hard to recover. Only time will tell. A photo journal would be interesting to note her progress.
Good luck....DMc

 

[milkmaid]

Keep in mind that when they've been getting such low nutrition, you can actually cause more problems than you solve by feeding good feed - especially grain. You'd be best off to just give her marginal quality grass hay, access to a good pasture, deworm her again in a month, get her current on vaccinations, and gradually start feeding her better feed.

Ditto to what Dave said... take some pictures.

 

[movin' on]

I think I'd give her Ivomec Plus injectable to get the liver flukes and some things that the pour-on can't. I would absolutely give her minerals and vitamins. Starting with a A-D-E shot and then either a paste/fluid mineral drench and free choice minerals or just go straight to the free choice. I don't think now would be a good time to buy the cheaper minerals either. I also agree with milkmaid that you'd probably be better by not overdoing it on "hot" feeds. I would absolutely love to try and help a cow like that recover! Good Luck!

 

[Running Arrow Bill]

It can take up to a year or more to rehabilitate an animal that was in very poor/thin condition.

Agree with others...good de-wormer, repeated. Vaccinations. Anyone who would "raise" an animal that you got in that condition in all probability didn't do any vaccinations or de-worming, much less any needed minerals and decent hay/forage.

 

[MoGal]

The hubby bought a cow like that the end of Nov.. we gave her Virashield 6 with VL5, Covexin 8 plus an E coli shot and I wormed for double her weight. (pour on)

This is a 7 yr old that acted like she had never seen grain before and wouldn't go up to the bunk for it. On Dec. 26th I took her to the vet as I thought something was bad wrong with her. He tested her for worms (I didn't think he'd find any and he didn't) then drew blood as he really thought it was leukosis and we also tested her for Johnnes. Both tests were negative. He checked her teeth and also said she was 6 or 7 and she is still bred (she was supposedly in 3rd stage on 11/28 when we got her but no calf as of yet and that is probably a blessing).

We've had her separated since 12/26 by herself and feed grain daily and she's a very slow eater (the vet also said she may have malabsorption problems but I've not been able to find anything out about bovine malabsorption on the net that would help to know what has caused it or to aid in gaining bcs).

I give her electrolytes weekly (mix it in the grain and in the water so she has to get it one way or the other) plus I wormed her with Safeguard (just in case she had liver flukes but the vet said that it isn't a problem in this area).

So as you can imagine I view this thread with interest as I've got the same dilemma. My husband thinks the cow has just been unfed, undernourished for quite some time (how anyone can let an animal get to this condition is beyond me and she's not a "wild" cow either).

This is gonna be a slow process I think and perhaps in a couple of months when grass starts she may look a little better. We'd have been better off to have passed on that $345 price tag and just bought one in good shape for $590.

 

[novatech]

Thanks Everyone for the advice. Time will tell.
The good side I will break even when I sell the calf.

And by the way Angus/brangus that wasn't a coon you saw, that was another one of those high bred angus your raiseing.

 

[mnmtranching]

For a cow to be that poor, There is more wrong with her than being just skinny.

 

[ALACOWMAN]

For a cow to be that poor, There is more wrong with her than being just skinny.

not really she's puttin it all in milk. about any brahman will lose condition this time of year with a calf nursing. she will no dought have too play catch up now. this feller must have just calved ever two or three years. yet another...reason.. i like a calving season. course you cant leave them on em for ever either

 

[novatech]

For a cow to be that poor, There is more wrong with her than being just skinny.

not really she's puttin it all in milk. about any brahman will lose condition this time of year with a calf nursing. she will no dought have too play catch up now. this feller must have just calved ever two or three years. yet another...reason.. i like a calving season. course you cant leave them on em for ever either

I agree. To much milk, and calf should have been weaned at least a month ago.

 

[TheBullLady]

... especially a Brahman. Seems they are more prone to losing weight with a vengence with a big calf.

I give you credit. That's one good reason I stay away from the auction barn.. makes me want to bring them all home like that. But can't jeopardize the rest of the herd if it's a health problem.

I agree with starting her slowly on grain.. Brahmans do better on forage than grain. If you do feed her grain, make sure it's not milo based! If you've got some decent coastal or grassy hay, that will help stretch her stomach. She'll be happy to see the grass I'll bet.

Good luck!

 

[ALACOWMAN]

the thing about brahman is there mothering ablity can be a problem for their health . even after you wean a calf they lose weight from stress they lose their appetite.people need to use good judgement when breeding em.thats why alot of them are hard to get bred back keeping them in good condition year round dont mean you have to throw extra feed at em. its just timing.

 

[harry]

Maybe a magnet wouldn't be out of the question.