Lame cow

sanarac

Hello
I wanted to ask your opinion on a lame cow( back left leg)
She calved a big calf at 22 months of age
But hasn't got up in 3 wks
I've purchased a lifting apparatus and lift her every 2 Days for 1 hour each day
I have her in a straw shed as its too cold weather to have her outside but she has grip
Calf is fine but I'm beginning to wonder if she will ever get up
I've went to vet and I've given her injections too from the vet
I'm just wondering if you had any more advice or experienced the same suitation

Thanks

secman

sanarac wrote: »

Hello
I wanted to ask your opinion on a lame cow( back left leg)
She calved a big calf at 22 months of age
But hasn't got up in 3 wks
I've purchased a lifting apparatus and lift her every 2 Days for 1 hour each day
I have her in a straw shed as its too cold weather to have her outside but she has grip
Calf is fine but I'm beginning to wonder if she will ever get up
I've went to vet and I've given her injections too from the vet
I'm just wondering if you had any more advice or experienced the same suitation

Thanks

Sorry can't help, thought of Theresa May when I read the title

tanko

Did you have to jack the calf out of her?

RD10

sanarac wrote: »

Hello
I wanted to ask your opinion on a lame cow( back left leg)
She calved a big calf at 22 months of age
But hasn't got up in 3 wks
I've purchased a lifting apparatus and lift her every 2 Days for 1 hour each day
I have her in a straw shed as its too cold weather to have her outside but she has grip
Calf is fine but I'm beginning to wonder if she will ever get up
I've went to vet and I've given her injections too from the vet
I'm just wondering if you had any more advice or experienced the same suitation

Thanks

make sure she has plenty of feed to keep her energy up. some nuts wouldnt go astray either and water.
Could you get her lifted more often than every 2 days? cows being such large animals-it puts extra pressure on them lying for long periods. the blood flow to their legs could be getting restricted if shes lying on it, making it numb.
is she eating ok?

The man in red and black

As mentioned above with the size of cows now often they have severe crush injuries. Best way to prevent crush injuries is to roll the cow over onto the opposite leg every 3-4 hours. Otherwise blood flow is cut off and severe muscle damage ensues. Discuss with your vet possibly blood sampling her, you can check muscle enzymes on bloods and would give an indication of if it's a hopeless case.

3 weeks is a long time to be down. If she is throwing herself out flat and won't stay upright I'd say it's hopeless. If she is crawling around the shed but can't quite get to her feet she has a chance. Welfare is always a concern with downer cows. At a certain point you need to call it a day unfortunately. Hopefully your cow makes it.

Signpost

On the few unfortunate occasions it happened here if down more than 10 days always ended up going away in the knackers lorry no matter how much we pumped into them. Try lifting her more often and giving a good quality nut for energy but if she's not making an attempt after 3 weeks I'd say you could be in trouble

tellmeabit

old neighbours used to say potcheen would give them the burst of energy to get up or finish them. when we have had one down in the past, turning as much as possible and avoid having her stretched as much as possible, prop up with straw bales

Jb1989

How is cow now?

FeelTheBern

Jb1989 wrote: »

How is cow now?

i.e. how now down cow ???

sanarac

The cow is getting better
I lift her every day
Vet said lift every second day though as gives her time to recover better
She stood on all fours for the first time on Sunday as was not helped by the lifting apparatus
She is eating well and I give her a high energy beef but with water and silage
I'm hoping for the best and giving her every hope so I'll make a decision in Jan

Jb1989

sanarac wrote: »

The cow is getting better
I lift her every day
Vet said lift every second day though as gives her time to recover better
She stood on all fours for the first time on Sunday as was not helped by the lifting apparatus
She is eating well and I give her a high energy beef but with water and silage
I'm hoping for the best and giving her every hope so I'll make a decision in Jan

Good work on the perseverance. Fingers crossed

jimini0

Touch wood she gets up and runs around the place.
Reminds me of the time my uncle had a cow go down in an old stone barn. We had to knock the gable wall so I could drive the 165 in and lift her with the loader. She didnt have a hard calving. She was eating and drinking and used to roll herself about. We continued to do it every day for 4 weeks. Then the uncle decided to get the vet to give her the injection. He didn't want to be there so I went down to help the vet. When I opened the make shift door in the gable the cow jumped up and nearly flattened me to get outside. She died 8 years later at the grand old age of 16.