Sick calf-help

L1985

Hey guys some help would be appreciated!
Found a calf in the ditch on sat morn. It was lying under some brambles. Now he is about 4weeks old and wasn't able to stand. We managed to pull him out and get him home. Got the vet and vets baffled. Reflexes are good and he is kicking with all of his legs so backs not broken. He is v alert and can sort himself and was trying to stand but has given up now. Vet thought menengitis but he's too alert. Drinking milk out of the bottle fine. He is v alert and can kick like no ones business-just can't stand. Vet doesn't know what to think.He is in a small space now to help him heal but we are baffled. Any ideas?
Typical it's the best calf we have had this year!!

Pidae.m

Joint ill at a couple of days old and maybe has flared up again now in its spine?? Just a guess.

whelan2

Does it have a temperature? Did vet treat it with anything?

L1985

No temperature. Vet gave it couple of different injections for us to give him but they haven't really worked TBH. One was a muscle thing and not sure of the other but I think a general antibiotic. They are finished now. Don't know about the joint at birth-calf was cracked we couldn't even catch him in the field. He was hyper so don't think he had any issues there.
Oh and sorry for the duplicate post of mods can delete one? Phone went funny!!

whelan2

The last calf I had born here had something similar, I was lifting him a few times a day. I put him over a bale to steady him. Gave up after about 10 days. He was eating and drinking no bother

The man in red and black

L1985 wrote: »

One was a muscle thing

White muscle disease. Deficiencty of Selenium/Vit E. Sounds like it could be the case. He would be approx the right age for it. Likely a lovely calf growing fast? Have you a history of Selenium deficiency on farm? May take a while to stand if that was what was wrong. Have a chat with your vet again as they have a better idea of the history. Lots of TLC for the calf and consider physio/rehab exercises for the legs(helps if there are young kids on farm to do that stuff as a game).

L1985

That sounds right!!
Looks like similar symptoms I'll call the vet on it tomorrow. He does need his legs massaged I'll try do it tomorrow. Don't know re selenium deficiencies but we lost two other calves earlier this year unexplained. I wouldn't be surprised if there was some deficiencies-we don't test for them. Dad refused to do blood tests but we are deff doing it this time if we lose him.

rangler1

L1985 wrote: »

That sounds right!!
Looks like similar symptoms I'll call the vet on it tomorrow. He does need his legs massaged I'll try do it tomorrow. Don't know re selenium deficiencies but we lost two other calves earlier this year unexplained. I wouldn't be surprised if there was some deficiencies-we don't test for them. Dad refused to do blood tests but we are deff doing it this time if we lose him.

Definitely should've got a PM when you had the second 'unexplained' death

L1985

Fully agree but dad seems to think itl give the dept an excuse to come in and close us down!! I've had enough of it now-we have had similar arguments over soil testing/scanning etc and I've won them so I'm putting the foot down on this going forward!

The man in red and black

L1985 wrote: »

Fully agree but dad seems to think itl give the dept an excuse to come in and close us down!! I've had enough of it now-we have had similar arguments over soil testing/scanning etc and I've won them so I'm putting the foot down on this going forward!

Fair play you must have a stubborn streak about you! I face the same battles at home with my father. It's not easy being young and trying to be progressive and God help us when we are wrong!

L1985

Stubborn is one word....and yes when I'm wrong I never live it down!! And as some of what I'm trying to do is trying to be more systematic and analytical it's not going down too well. Sometimes during the battles you have to look at the ground taken and take the small victories. It's heartbreaking with this calf thou -he is some animal so hopefully we can get him right.

rangler1

L1985 wrote: »

Stubborn is one word....and yes when I'm wrong I never live it down!! And as some of what I'm trying to do is trying to be more systematic and analytical it's not going down too well. Sometimes during the battles you have to look at the ground taken and take the small victories. It's heartbreaking with this calf thou -he is some animal so hopefully we can get him right.

Are you giving the cows minerals, unlikely to be a mineral deficiency if you are

L1985

No we give some of them minerals his mother was still out (couldn't catch the calf which is why she is still out!!) so doubt she got them. She would have got some precalfer but it was a while back....

charolais0153

:mad:we used to have calves with bad legs like below.we changed from all sure bolus to coseicure to solve this....it didn't work,it made it worse, we lost three great bull calves that year all of them were slow to stand and slow to suck..it must have been some deficiency we thought..we blood tested r the cows nothing showed up. We done some research and concluded that it must be white muscle disease or something similar . we now give all sure bolus 2x a year, minerals on top of silage and give 8ml of vitesel 6 weeks precalving. Nothing happened since thanks to be god.
A few pictures of bad legs and such.
L1985-i would definitely try multivitamin or such and make sure to give him glucose

Self explanatory this one...a course of vitesel eventually got them straight


A calf whose legs were facing outwards instead of straight ahead-unsaleable


Another bull whose legs were sort of spread out and couldn't put significant weight on them, he also was buckling on them.


A bull who had massive knees and couldn't walk properly

Crow Pigeon and Pheasant

Actually thanks for this post as I can't say I ever heard of this before! So it'll add to my knowledge hopefully thanks!

rangler1

Best spent money in asuckler herd is pre calving minerals, especially spring calvers where the cows are in for the winter, I even used to spray 20ml iodine with a dosing gun on the cows shoulder to lick off for a few weeks before calving.
Lazy calves take a lot of time and dead ones take a lot of money

White Clover

rangler1 wrote: »

Best spent money in asuckler herd is pre calving minerals, especially spring calvers where the cows are in for the winter, I even used to spray 20ml iodine with a dosing gun on the cows shoulder to lick off for a few weeks before calving.
Lazy calves take a lot of time and dead ones take a lot of money

Best post on this thread. The amount of hardship that can be avoided by completing a couple of simple tasks at a time of your choosing is quiet substantial.
Things like blood mineral analysis should be a routine annual job until you have enough information built up that you may be able to push it out to every second year.
A vet call out at a time of your choosing is a no Brainer compared to a call out to a sick animal.

Bass Reeves

L1985 wrote: »

Fully agree but dad seems to think itl give the dept an excuse to come in and close us down!! I've had enough of it now-we have had similar arguments over soil testing/scanning etc and I've won them so I'm putting the foot down on this going forward!

You are right. I cannot understand the attitude of some farmers. Take those lads that hold onto PI calves it is penny wise pound foolish. I see the same talking to lads. I think I would blood test that sick calf even nor if this is happening a bit there is a reason.

L1985

Yea I've already had this discussion with dad and he has backed down. He will be blood tested. I think I might run an analysis of the cattle and see how we go as we know copper deficiency is a problem around here.
We are giving him some selenium today and see how we get on. I personally think there's an issue with minerals before all of this happened. Might just give every animal a bonus in the coming week as dads putting the powder on the silage for some animals hit even so I'm not sure that's enough!!
Thanks for all of the advice it's v helpful!!