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Lucked out with a down cow this weekend

P

Philip d

Well-known Member
Had an 8 yr old (Holstein) calve on Friday. Calved
no issues. Gave her a calcium bolus than a couple
hours later she went down anyways. Gave her 2
bottles of cal mag under the skin and let her be.
Yesterday morning she was on the other side of the
pen but still couldn't get up. Gave her 2 move in a
vein and a 3rd under the skin. Had her head tied to
a leg to keep her still and before the 2nd bottle was
finished going in she started getting antsy so I
figured she'd get up when I was finished but nope.
Last evening at chore time she still couldn't get up
than just before I was finished scraping down with
the skid steer she just jumped up normally all on her
own. Went and got a drink than header over to the
bale feeder. I let her in to get milked this morning as
she got right up and looked fine and she gave about
8 gallons. Let her back in the straw pack after and if
she still looks good in the morning I'll let her back in
with the milk cows and hopefully she'll be good.
Didn't look good yesterday,figured we'd loose her.
 
Always nice to hear a happy ending. I am sure you and I know how frustrating it can be to stand by and watch helplessly when things go the other way. I try not to let myself dwell on the poor old girls that can't get back on their feet, some times it seems it is just their own size and body weight that defeats them. Hope your cow is able to do well. Bruce
 
Bruce like my neighbor told me a few years ago ,"I don't have to cull my cows they cull themselves"! That is so true it as never the one's I wanted gone. That 3 teated one lasted forever!
 
Bruce, do they go down just from being so tired from calving, or what's the story there? ( no animals on this farm )

Ross
 
Ross, Calcium levels get out of whack that's why he had to give the cow injection in the vein. Its been on Dr. Pol! lol
 
In the case of Philip's cow, it is likely a condition called "milk fever" or hypocalcaemia. Conditions at calving (depressed feed intake, surge of calcium demand in milk in the filling udder, sometimes balance of nutrients in the diet) cause the cow to become low on calcium. Calcium is vital for muscle function, and consequently the animal is weak, and then can't get up. This shuts down gut function and the whole thing can spiral out of control. The remedy is a Calcium IV, which quickly brings back the level in the bloodstream. Because Ca is important for muscle function, you can overdo it... to fast of Ca IV can cause the animal to have a heart attack.

Glad she got up, Philip.
 
I hear you Greg, cows are livestock , and only livestock until they become dead stock. I am hopping to cut down on milk fever cases , by not keeping daughters from cows that have a history of milk fever. Another way to cut down on milk fever cases is to sell cows before they have their 3rd or fourth lactation. If there is a market for milk cows, I'd rather milk young cows, and let someone else take the risk of having a downer cow to deal with. Some will try and tell you that it is all in how you feed the cows during their dry period . We have gone for ten months and never had a milk fever cow, then get three in a row, and then back to normal. Any cow that looks even a little off gets treated right away. The quicker you treat them , the better the result, just like Philip did.Fresh cows take extra care.
 
I didn't get so lucky. At least not with a calf. There was an old cow that got bred way out of time somehow and calved last Sunday morning when it was 5 degrees. She had it right out in the field by the round bale feeder. I got the calf in the barn and she followed it of course. I mixed up some powdered colostrum and it sucked the bottle OK. Monday morning it was on it's feet and standing right in among the rest of the cows. It took the bottle again alright. Later in the afternoon it was acting like it was freezing to death. I got it in the loader bucket and was gonna bring it in the backroom of the house and warm it up.

The little bugger stood up in the bucket and acted normal then. The cow followed right along,so I put them in the pen where the heifer that calved in the feedlot the day after Thanksgiving was with her calf. He'd been sucking the bottle all week,but wasn't standing or walking too good. This morning,he was all sprawled out and wouldn't lay upright. He's gone now. The old cow was on her last time around,so she's going in the feedlot to put on some weight,then she's out of here.
 
Bruce they sure can be the most helpless animal on earth when they go down! The other night one stepped wrong and fell down the owner tried getting her up and I said let her stay down for a while she'll get up. She has been fine since.
 
Bruce I have noticed this is more of an issue with the better producing cows too. Rations help but are not the total answer. Like your post says it can really be a random thing.

Just another reason I do not miss milking. My Grand Father was really disappointed when I would not take over his milking operation. Milking in an old tie stall barn with no barn cleaner is a factory job without benefits. LOL

You dairy guys clearly are hard workers. I always liked hiring guys off dairy farms as the majority of them know how to work and the need to show up regularly for work.
 
I had a Rat Terrier that got milk fever,had never heard of it in dogs before,she'd had puppies and a couple days later on Thanksgiving night she started to fall around and passed out and then came to.I rushed her up to my vets house he was home and we took took her over to the office and worked on her for about 2hrs finally giving her a Calcium injection that was cattle strength,all at once she just popped out of the stupor and was fine.He charged me $50 you can bet he got a very nice Christmas present from me that year.
 
Life is a wild ride with cattle, couple weeks a go when I left the cows in the barn, had a streak of them freshening at night (seemed to be only during the full moon for some reason, back to most during the day now) went to the barn at midnight to check on them, nothing, so went and got some shut eye, came back 5 in the morning to a cow pulled out of the stanchion laid in the ally rolled over to far and got upside down in the gutter. She was just taking her last breaths when I found her. Not a way to start the morning.
 
Dad said my grandfather used an old remedy not time,using a bicycle tire pump to pump air in the udder than that would somehow (?) get calcium back in the bloodstream. Only thing it happened to be septic mastitis and killed her stone dead.
 
One thing I've noticed and it was a vet that first told me of this is when i think its a low pressure front moving in there is always a rise in milk fever. I had a jersey which seem more prone go 7 times before she staid up the vet thought she was going to break there record. Best one i had for some odd reason. My dad milked by hand for 3 weeks to make sure you didn't take to much milk out.
 
We used to only take a little out fresh cows too and it works. I asked the DeLaval robot salesman if we could program it to only take a little out of older fresh cows the first 2-3 days and first he laughed his head off than basically called me an idiot lol. Maybe old fashioned but it works.
 
The theory behind the tire pump is to mimic the udder...when it is full of milk, milk production shuts down....by pressurizing the udder, it thinks it is full of milk, so it does not demand more calcium.
 
Curious...you milked her, got 8 gallons- that"s over 64 lbs...why would you milk her out that much if she just had milk fever?
 
She was up and strong,I was nervous too but she looked very uncomfortable and needed milked out. I'm not sure if we've had a cow go down than recover that went down again without calving again.
 
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