• If you are having problems logging in please use the Contact Us in the lower right hand corner of the forum page for assistance.

Calf stopped nursing ,need ideas please .

Help Support Ranchers.net:

H

hillsdown

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 5, 2007
Messages
1,669
Reaction score
0
Location
Central Alberta,Canada
I have a week old Holstein calf (dob June 30) that went off milk on Thurs. I thought she had summer pneumonia and treated her for it as well as electrolytes and milk ,no scours just very hallow. Her fever is down from the antibiotics but she refuses to nurse now, and will not take a bottle either . I am stumped, I thought she would get hungry once she feels better but she has no interest in anything. She is still a little week but up and moving around, and her eyes are bright and her coat is shiny. It is quite warm here ,but they have plenty of shade and she usually stays there. This morning I hosed her down jic it was heat stroke , she has not changed. I have given her selenium in case she was deficient for some reason, but it seems to have made no difference. I am tubing her so she does not get dehydrated or starve and hoping she will come around again and nurse from her mom, who by the way that was the first thing I checked and all 4 quarters are good and the calf obviously had no problem with her before . Never seen this before totally confused .

Any ideas that I have yet to try ?
Thanks
 
Years back before there were many good things to use to treat scours, a neighbor suggested giving a tablespoon ful of Peptp Bismo. I don't know if it helped the scours, but it sure made the calf want to nurse.
 
Vitamin B complex helps to build appetite. If the calf was younger I would guess a touch of meningitis and suggest Borgal or Trivetrin. Not sure if the symptoms are similar in an older calf forgetting/refusing to suck as it is on day one. Won't hurt to try.
 
...and remember to give some probiotic...don't know if it will make
her want to nurse tho...one way to find out, I guess...and it certainly
can't hurt.

Oh, and a little shot of banamine sure seems to help the ones that
are 'off' a bit,to feel a lot better. FWIW.

Good luck!!
 
Thank you.

Clarencen she doesn't have scours .

Gc I have given her the whole antibiotic spectrum as well as a steroidal anti inflam ,no navel infection or signs of any illness. Mouth is good no sores or swelling. She will not even suck my fingers or even have any interest when I tried to feed her her own dams milk. it is like she has decided to become anorexic ,first thought it was because of pain ,but she shows no symptoms. Even my 3 day old calf with a broken pelvis this year drank from a bottle eagerly .

Thanks again for the ideas , I sure appreciate any help I can get .

I will keep trying to get her to respond but tubing her twice a day sure must be hard on her little throat ,but better than starving to death. If she was older I might try a little hard love but she is much to young and to emanciated to even think of that .
 
When a calf is given lots of antibiotics, it can certainly take out the good bugs as well. Certainly agree with the probiotic route....or perhaps mixing an egg and real yogurt into a mix...believe baking soda also helps neutralize the stomach.
Good luck Hillsdown and stay cool!
 
Not to sound mean but when a holstein decides to died there is nothing that you can do for them. I would try to drench it with nothing more that luke warm water for a day or we have found that just water is the best thing for them. We have this happen a couple times a year with our calves look good just wont eat so we drench with water to keep them hydrated most of them pull out of it but some just give ip and lay down and died for no other reason than they have not heart to live. Best of luck
 
I would test the milk from the cow, may have a Staph infection in her udder. Our Brown Swiss got that last year, calf died for no good reason, and when I separated the milk in the house there was a wee bit of blood in the separator rings and discs. I had the milk tested and the vet said Staph infection. Said that's probably what killed the calf and it's awful hard to get rid of. You can pump the cow full of this or that and a month later it comes back, so we canned our old girl.

Who knows? If the cow is feeding other calves that are healthy though, I guess I'm out in left field. Good luck
 
This may sound off the wall........but is rabies in either cow or calf a possibilkity? There have been a few cases of that in cattle in western SD this spring/summer. Not sure of symptoms in earliest stages, or in a very young calf, but slobbering and strange bellowing in cows iscommon according story from a vet in recent papers here. Apparently bellowing is pretty continous and sounds like they are in pain.

mrj
 
Along with dehydration comes depression.. Maybe some banemine to make it feel better. We use pepto bismol for calves too and some yogurt for the bugs in the tummy. I know when we lost our cow this spring the vet had me glove up just incase it was rabies.... I know it wasn't, but followed orders.....
 
mrj said:
This may sound off the wall........but is rabies in either cow or calf a possibilkity? There have been a few cases of that in cattle in western SD this spring/summer. Not sure of symptoms in earliest stages, or in a very young calf, but slobbering and strange bellowing in cows iscommon according story from a vet in recent papers here. Apparently bellowing is pretty continous and sounds like they are in pain.

mrj
Click to expand...
If it is I think they go off water ?
good luck
 

Latest posts

Top