Cow will not get up

OCF

Hi guys,

I have a problem with one of our cattle that you might be able to help with.

An Aberdeen Angus cow, out wintered, had a large bull calf on the 9th May. After an assisted calving, unfortunately the calf died.
Currently the cow is in good condition but will not get up. She will only get up on her front legs to pull herself around to eat.

Any thoughts you have on this would be helpful!

Bizzum

Down a week now, Have you tried lifting her?
Is she indoors or out?
Wouldn't be looking great to me now, I've heard of cows being down longer, but you could be fighting an uphill battle.

Storminateacup

how do u lift a cow up?

hope shes ok

Juniorhurler

Get that lady lifted as soon as possible. One of my dairy neighbours has a super sling that he bought in from the U.K for the job. I had this same problem 2 years ago and after three days started using this lifter. I left her on the sling for about half an hour per lift three times per day. It supports her but makes her take her own weight if that makes sense. On the fourth day she got going and walked with me holding her up by the tail. Your cow will be getting sores and the grey crows will start attacking her under her tail shortly. I also moved her legs as a basic kind of physio when I had her up. let us know how you get on.

Bizzum

Storminateacup wrote: »

how do u lift a cow up?

Very gently!

(Google cow lifters and you'll see pics.)

Bodacious

poor thing must have snapped something calving. as the lads said get her lifted asap, lad beside me here had heifer calve unassisted and did damage to herself never got up for an amazing 22 days!!:):)

Storminateacup

do you need to call the vet for cows that are down?

bob charles

Storminateacup wrote: »

do you need to call the vet for cows that are down?

No, most good stock people would need to consult a vet on most health issues as they would be so used to dealing with them. In my own herd I hadnt a vet call out in 4 years for animal health problems. Over this time I had numerous consultations regarding treatment programs etc. then recently I had the vet out twice in the one week for the same problem:mad:

Im all for a little rest and recovery for animals. When my back is shagged I dont want to be doing allot while some healing takes place. I would keep the anti-inflammatory into her and give some extra TLC. If she is getting up on her front legs it sounds like she has the will to get going again. Of course allot depends on the size of the animals etc. I have a lovely heifer myself with a screwed back and I will put her down tomorrow. She damaged it bulling outside on grass and has never recovered even thought she can get up and move around but she seems now to be in pain:(

whelan1

bob charles wrote: »

No, most good stock people would need to consult a vet on most health issues as they would be so used to dealing with them. In my own herd I hadnt a vet call out in 4 years for animal health problems. Over this time I had numerous consultations regarding treatment programs etc. then recently I had the vet out twice in the one week for the same problem:mad:

Im all for a little rest and recovery for animals. When my back is shagged I dont want to be doing allot while some healing takes place. I would keep the anti-inflammatory into her and give some extra TLC. If she is getting up on her front legs it sounds like she has the will to get going again. Of course allot depends on the size of the animals etc. I have a lovely heifer myself with a screwed back and I will put her down tomorrow. She damaged it bulling outside on grass and has never recovered even thought she can get up and move around but she seems now to be in pain:(

op that is the main thing if the animal is in pain they she has hurt something, if she is down for a week the circulation in the back legs will be affected ..so if you do lift her she might be numb there for a while

mantua

Same thing happened with us with a limousine that lost her calf and the worst is he was a lovely bull calf! she damaged the nerves in her back and was down for around 3-4 weeks! gave her 2 injections a day of 5cc into each back side and i don't remember the name of it off the top of my head! all i know it was a small bottle white stuff and we bought a lifting thing for around €100 which tightings in around the pin bones and tie a rope to the top of it and lifted her with the front loader!! was a great job as we lifted her twice a day but after around 3-4 weeks i came along and she was up walking around! This was about 2 years ago and we still have her to her credit!:):) so don't lose hope anyways!!
http://www.google.ie/imgres?imgurl=http://www.farmrite.ie/processed//images/products/270-270-1--150062.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.farmrite.ie/product/150062/Vink-Cow-Hoist&usg=__ePsln6EspvkffIDEiNNnMweRtaQ=&h=230&w=270&sz=20&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=J1c_oztpELwyIM:&tbnh=123&tbnw=144&ei=KgPUTYyQDpGhOuW91OQK&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dcow%2Blifting%2Bequipment%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG%26biw%3D1362%26bih%3D530%26gbv%3D2%26tbm%3Disch&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=504&vpy=72&dur=2059&hovh=184&hovw=216&tx=92&ty=115&sqi=2&page=1&ndsp=24&ved=1t:429,r:3,s:0
Thats the lifting harness!

OCF

Thanks for your suggestions lads. Will try lifting the cow some way and see what happens from there.

jimmy2pens

I had a suckler cow like yours, down after a difficult calving, she was getting up on the front legs, but could not get the back legs under herself, I gave her a calcium injection, multi-vitamin and a shot of anti botic incase of inflammation, after three days I went into the shed and she was trying hard to get up, I helped her by lifting by the tail, I got her steadied up against a wall, I bent her legs up and down a few times to get the blood flowing. She stayed standing for 40 minutes, She got better and stronger with each day. And hasn't looked back since.
I hope your cow gets up, Be careful lifting a cow, she could fall on you.

Bactidiaryl

be sure she got calcium.after that if lifting (i use the hip lifter quite good) have an experienced gentle person on the tractor.have someone hold her front(tongs or halter)to stop her trying to lunge foward when back is lifted. just put a little pressure on the back legs and gradually increase if she will allow.good luck

pakalasa

If you do manage to get her up, put her in a field on a hill. She will be able to use the hill to her advantage to get up.
One with no drain at the bottom of course.

5live

pakalasa wrote: »

If you do manage to get her up, put her in a field on a hill. She will be able to use the hill to her advantage to get up.
One with no drain at the bottom of course.

I would be at the other side of that argument pakalasa. If she is on level ground she has less of a chance of going over and not being able to right herself and end up bloating herself or suffocating herself by falling on her head. i would put her on level ground so there is less danger.
I only have 2 level bits around the yard and anytime i put cows elsewhere they end up falling wrong or belly up the slope. Every bloody time:mad:

blue5000

OCF wrote: »

Hi guys,


Any thoughts you have on this would be helpful!

FFS just shoot it, job done no more worrying about it in pain, will/won't she get up? Down 5 days now, cold, pissing rain.

whelan1

blue5000 wrote: »

FFS just shoot it, job done no more worrying about it in pain, will/won't she get up? Down 5 days now, cold, pissing rain.

5live

blue5000 wrote: »

FFS just shoot it, job done no more worrying about it in pain, will/won't she get up? Down 5 days now, cold, pissing rain.

Had a cow down 3 months last year. She is on course for 1400 gals this year so a small bit of time and patience might be useful:)

I am not going to mention the others that didnt make it