OT-Need advice about newborn calf

[Anonymous-0]

Hey Guys,

One of my heifers calved during the night last night. I found her and the calf when I went out to do chores early this morning. The calf can't stand up. He has no strength or coordination of his hind legs. He doesn't have much strength in his front legs. He simply lies down on his side. Not on his haunches. Not curled up. Just flat on his side.

I used a feeding tube and gave him some artificial colostrum this morning, and fed him powdered, calf milk with the tube again this evening.

He seems to be having minor tremors all over his body. It's 75 degrees right now and I have him and his mother on straw in the barn, so I don't think he's cold.

Any ideas? Do you suppose he didn't get air quickly enough and has brain damage?

Thanks for any advice you can give. BTW - I called the vet and he didn't have any advice. He said what I did was what he'd do.

Tom in TN

 

[Dan88]

TRY SOME ELECTRA LITE MILK REPLACER I THE ELCTRA LITE DOESNT GET HIM GOING I THINK U HAVE BIGGER PROBLEMS

 

[BillinCentralMO]

Maybe you need to call another vet. Back in the '70's we had 300 head of beef cattle. We fed them raw eggs and what we could milk from the cow to try and keep him going. I had one and it was the heifer's first calf. She didn't want him and she kicked him in the head when he went for the first milk. He was quakey like that and died two nights later. Think she kicked him? Is it her first? Hope it works out for him. Always sad to lose a little one like that.

 

[Ron in Nebr]

We calve out over 900 head every year, and unfortunatly there's a few every year that are like that, and nothing you can do for them will help. Occasionally one will come around, but 9 times outta 10 when they're lyin' flat on their sides and making no real attempt to move much less get up, they never do. Hate to see it happen, but it does. Let us know how things turn out.

 

[cj in wisconsin]

I had one do the same thing this spring, had a good appetite for the first two days and then slowly went downhill. Unfortunately not much you can do, vet told me its just one of those things, kinda like people, every now and then one comes out that just ain't right. Hope it gets better though, good luck.

 

[Bill in IL]

Does he respond any if you roughly rub his ribcage or down his spine? What about if you try to curl his legs up under him and prop him up against a bale of straw, will he stay there? Usually they die soon or come out of it.

Energy supplement with electrolye may help and giving him the colostrum was the right thing. He very well could have brain damage of some sort.