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Lost the Second Calf Last Night.

R

Ranchy

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Joined
Apr 14, 2006
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Location
scenic mountains of western New Mexico
Even after making a trip to town (and no short jaunt, either, at 115 miles each way :roll: ) and paying $20 for 4 doses of meds (2 doses for each calf) of the A180........gave them each a dose when I got home day before yesterday. Yesterday morning they were doing so much better, we thought we were finished with hauling off dead calves.

When we went out last night, the Holstein was down. We finally bodily got him back up on his feet, while Hubby held him up, I ran back to the casa and mixed up some electrolytes for him. Got back up there, got them down him, and he keeled over, dead. Just like the other one.

Gave Sweet Pea's calf the second dose of A180 this afternoon, he seems better.......was up moving around, and not nearly so dirty behind as he's been being. We may pull him through this yet. I hope.

Sure is disgusting to be out $270, and have nothing but two bodies to show for it. Hubby says next time we get calves, we're stopping by the vet's on the way home, and picking up some of that wonder drug. I said, what next time? Haven't we learned anything from this? He said, Yup, to start sooner with the wonder drug. :roll:

Do some people never learn that it's not a good idea to even start things like this? :roll:
 
Sorry to hear that Ranchy! :(

I wouldn't say that it was a foolish venture to start with, though. I've got a nurse cow that's about ready to calve (I think tonight) and I'll be bringing an additional 3 calves over to make a full set of four. Trust me, I wouldn't do it if I felt there was any chance I'd lose the whole lot of them! I treated a calf for scours the other day and he's looking fine and dandy now. SMZs plus oxytet200 -- I've decided that's my favorite scour treatment at the moment. And, it's a really cheap treatment! :lol: $0.36/calf/day.

IMO your problem at the moment isn't (wasn't?) needing to get more antibiotics into those calves, it's needing to get electrolytes into them. I lost one last year almost the same way your calves have died (except add that spine chilling death bawl!) -- she was one I was handed for free and half dead at the time, and I never managed to turn her around. I'm firmly convinced I could have saved her if I knew then what I know now, and if I had the right stuff on hand.

My vet's told me before he prefers to put drugs/vitamins/minerals/electrolytes/etc into an animal systemically, rather than orally, because when it's done orally you're at the mercy of the digestive tract. Add to that the fact another vet informed me when a calf gets severely dehydrated the digestive system shuts down, and it won't even absorb liquids. You can tube all the electrolytes you want into that calf and it may never absorb or utilize them. Certainly food for thought! See if you can't get your hands on some saline solution (9% sodium chloride) and/or lactated ringers and a bottle of 50% dextrose. I keep those things on hand, just in case I need them to rehydrate a calf.

Good luck with your remaining one! :)
 
Ranchy, I'm really sorry about what happened to you. Please don't
feel alone. I know lots of people who have gotten in wrecks with dairy calves. There is just so much more they are exposed to in a dairy situation. I hope you haven't brought something on to your place that
will bother next year.

Did you get them cultured to find out EXACTLY WHAT YOU WERE DEALING WITH? No guesses. Guesses won't work in this deal. You
need to know. If you don't know, I wouldn't ever bring a calf onto
your place again. You need to know what it was so you can treat them
effectively. There are just too many deadly scours out there.

Good luck!
 
I know some people that won't touch a dairy calf(bulls). They claim they are calved, tubed with milk(not colostrum) and shipped out as soon as possible
 
I WOULD NEVER EVER IN MY LIFE BUY OR TAKE FOR FREE A REPLACEMENT CALF OR EXTRAS FOR A HEAVY MILKER OR ANY OTHER REASON.

Sorry about your luck but I have been there and done that so that's why I would never do it again.
 
Scours can be caused by bacteria or viruses. Do these calves get scoures the first five days or after a week to 10 days?

<5, it's ecoli most likely
>7, it's coronavirus or rotavirus, most likely

If you are mixing or feeding whole milk, use Bio MOS, if you are seeing a problem after 5 days use "calf-guard", it's a cheap prevention!

Next year vaccinate cows!
 
Hey Ranchy - I posted this earlier -- you can check your original post in case you missed it. I know it could be a lot of things, but you might want to check into clostridium. We have some problems with that here in our Holsteins, even though they're given a preventative and we watch close for it. Hot weather seems to aggravate it, too....along with most other kinds of scours. It dehydrates them really fast. The saline helps as long as they aren't too far gone, and watch the antibiotics. It's a fine line -- sometimes they kill too many bugs and their guts can't get going right again. Don't over do them. Good luck.
 
Thanks, everyone!

The vet says it is/was ecoli......I trust him implicitly, so.........

I was so hoping that Sweet Pea's calf would be a heifer, all our "milk" cows when I was growing up, were half milk stock, half beef stock. They gave just enough milk to raise their calves and we got about a gallon a day, just right for our family of 5 (well, till I was almost 18, and then we became a family of 6 when our baby brother was born......but that's another story...... :lol: ). My plan was, if the calf had been a heifer, when she got old enough, go ahead and breed her, and when she calved, get the heck rid of Sweet Pea!!!!!!!!! God, that cow gives in excess of 6 gallons a day.........and that's what's in the bucket! :roll:

I always knew there was a reason I was reluctant to get a purebred dairy cow........ :roll:

On the "UP" side of things, though, SP's calf was doing better last night, and this morning is just about normal.........still just a little bit runny, but I think maybe (knock on wood) we've saved him........of course........he did get all the colostrum he needed, maybe that's why it took him longer to get sick, and he didn't get as sick as the other 2.......

All just speculation, ya know........we may never know just what happened with the other 2.......
 
Thanks, Tap. We used to joke about our lives being the basis for the old Hee Haw skits on If It Weren't For Bad Luck, I'd Have No Luck At All.......but it does seem worse at times, than at others.

Just thought I'd let ya'll know, that SP's own calf is doing well, no more scours at all......he's energetic and just a little bit ornery, which is how you'd expect one to be.......

This morning, Hubby had to chase him around the corral to get the halter on him, so he could tie him up and let SP out for the day.......lol It's good to see one with some get-up-and-go about them, than just lying around looking sick. :nod:
 
Faster horses said:
That is good news, Ranchy. Sure sorry about the other two.

Around here we call ourselves, "Ma and Pa Kettle on the farm.''

Some members of this site won't know who Ma and Pa Kettle were.
What a shame!! They were hilarous. IMO :lol: :lol: :lol:
Click to expand...

I know my wife bought a CD set of Ma and Pa Kettle my kids all watch them so they know who they are also.
 
I used to love when a Ma & Pa Kettle movie came on in the afternoons when I was a kid.........I looked forward to that all day, sometimes for a few days, even! They were sure funny folks, and so easy to relate to. Maybe they weren't sophistocated enough, though.........

I know I loved to watch them...........:nod:

Denny, where didja find them? I'd love to have a set.........just because! :D
 
Faster horses said:
Yes, Denny, where did you find them? I'd love to buy a set for our grandson. And maybe two, one for us!!!
Click to expand...


Cover your ears now I'm going to cuss.



WALMART...... :wink:
 
We lost three calves in three years from the same pen. A friend suggested bleaching the cement floor and scubbing with a brush after we cleaned the pen. Don't know if that was it or just been lucky, but we haven't lost one in two years now (knock on wood). I would use bleach to disinfect the area even if you have a calf that seems to get sick more than others. We run about 50-60 bottle calves a year and since we have started disinfecting, things have turned around. Stay in the game and don't give up. You will be glad you did in the long run.
 
Hey Ranchy, I would buy a couple of gallons and spray the area with a portable pump type sprayer like you would use to spray cattle for flys. I would wash it out with soap before and after. Just coat the area good and let it dry into the dirt before putting stray or anthing over it. Ours was easy becasue it was a 6 x 6 pen and had a cement floor. We pour enouph on the floor to wet the entire stall and them scrub it with a brush and let it dry. Loosing a couple calves make you question if what you're doing is right and we try anything we can to get every calf to the sale ring in the fall.
 

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