Is it Milk Fever?

[JElfering]

Our older jersey cow just calved yesterday. I pretty big bull (57#). Today (3:30 p.m.) the cow is lethargic, won't eat and unsteady on her feet. Her temp is 98.4, ears are cold and she's mostly down. We cannot get calcium, our local vet doesn't carry it. The vet is on the way but won't be here for an hour.

Our new heifer calved last month (3/28). She is down and almost moaning. We have had a difficult time transitioning milking and feeding her calf. Can she still get milk fever after a month?

Is there anything I can do? The second cow just went down but seems sicker. Thanks. I tried to feed them Pasquelite Clay, it has 47 mg of calcium but they won't eat it.

[JElfering]

Our feed mill doesn't carry the calcium. Our vet is on the way with some. It just doesn't seem fast enough. I wish there was something I could do in the meantime.

[JeffNY]

If she holds her head to her side, isn't manuring properly, won't get up, that is milk fever. Calcium IVed is what needs to be done, and done properly (not too fast). Feeding it won't get the desired effect like the IVed method, because it won't get into her system fast enough (blood). Hope everything turns out well..


Jeff

[Tango]

No advice here but my heart goes out to you, I hope your cows come through it. I've had a goat go through Milk Fever so I always give my does a cocktail containing CMPK paste after they kid, but with cows everything seems more magnified, not to metion size and strength. Please let us know how they do.

[Up North]

By the time you read this the Vet should have administereed an IV and put your cows to right. Yes, they can get milk fever after a month, though less common. For future reference, you can purchase and have on hand an oral drench calcium product, which you can administer yourself. The one we use says RADIX on the label and comes in single serve plastic bottles with a long neck to put product to back of cow's tongue. These are handy because they can be stored on farm and administered readily when needed. Not claiming they are better than IV, but if you are not trained in use of IV or do not have tools required to use IV, the Radix drench bottles will work , save cow's life and save you a vet bill. Hope your cows pull thru and things turn better for you.

[JElfering]

You can bet a calcium drench will be on hand by next spring. The vet made it out and adminstered an IV and gave her a drink afterwards to hold her through the night. The sweet dear. DH was suppose to administer another this morning but she is fiesty and the vet said it was okay to skip if she fights it.

Here's the miracle, the heifer did not have milk fever but pneumonia. If we hadn't walked her out to pasture, we would not have caught it as soon as we did. Up in the Northwoods the temp dropped to 35 degrees one night and we forgot to do bedcheck (It was a late night with a 4H event). The exhaust fan was left on and a window slightly cracked because it was 65 degrees during the day. She was standing in a draft to keep an eye on her calf that we had separated and that was all she needed. She's been losing her winter coat and the vet said this weather up here is common for this. Our barn conditions are good but this error was Mr. & Mrs. "Homestead Farmer"! We have not had a problem with this before. I blame the fan and window. So far no one else is suffering.

SIDE NOTE: Our last cow calved this morning at 6:00 a.m. Another freezer item. He's precious. He had a rough start. Mama was not keen on that first nursing. Her bag was pretty sore. He needed the colostrum and energy to produce heat. It is still cold here in the mornings. We assisted and his full belly proved to be the cure for his rough start.

Thanks for your help!

[Up North]

Originally Posted by JElfering

You can bet a calcium drench will be on hand by next spring. The vet made it out and adminstered an IV and gave her a drink afterwards to hold her through the night. The sweet dear. DH was suppose to administer another this morning but she is fiesty and the vet said it was okay to skip if she fights it.

Here's the miracle, the heifer did not have milk fever but pneumonia. If we hadn't walked her out to pasture, we would not have caught it as soon as we did. Up in the Northwoods the temp dropped to 35 degrees one night and we forgot to do bedcheck (It was a late night with a 4H event). The exhaust fan was left on and a window slightly cracked because it was 65 degrees during the day. She was standing in a draft to keep an eye on her calf that we had separated and that was all she needed. She's been losing her winter coat and the vet said this weather up here is common for this. Our barn conditions are good but this error was Mr. & Mrs. "Homestead Farmer"! We have not had a problem with this before. I blame the fan and window. So far no one else is suffering.

SIDE NOTE: Our last cow calved this morning at 6:00 a.m. Another freezer item. He's precious. He had a rough start. Mama was not keen on that first nursing. Her bag was pretty sore. He needed the colostrum and energy to produce heat. It is still cold here in the mornings. We assisted and his full belly proved to be the cure for his rough start.

Thanks for your help!

You did right to get Vet out ASAP. Milk fever untreated kills, no doubt about it. Besides having calcium on hand year around, we use one other technique which has almost eliminated the occurence of milk fever.
On the first milking after calving, we DO NOT milk cow completely out as you normally would. We milk just enough to relieve pressure(3 to 3 1/2 minutes machine on time max), then remove machine. I know many Dairy folks would disagree with that. They would say you will get mastitis. I would say a cow with a healthy clean udder usually will not. Push come to shove, I can treat a live cow for mastitis, I would rather deal with that than drag a dead cow out on the end of a log chain. True you would treat a milk fever cow on detection, but if they leave the barn fine and go down in dark pasture in evening, you may be too late by time you find her in morning.

...Wisconsin is prone to Pnemonia in spring and fall, because of conditions were air is often damp and swings of 40-50F in one day's temperatures occur.
Discovering pnemonia and getting it treated made it worth the vet's bill!
I believe I have heard one of our vets say the exact same words....I bet we are closer to you than one might think!

[JeffNY]

Also Heather, what most farmers fail to mention is the fact that most first calvers don't milk completely out anyways, either due to adema, swelling etc. Their production tends to go UP after they freshen, so not milking an animal completely out shouldn't hurt, because she isn't ramping up production yet. We did this to Sassy, actually a friend of ours told us to not milk her out. Well we didn't, didn't for a couple milkings, 3rd milking I did. She is a lot better, attitude is better, walking better. She gave 62lbs on Saturday, and I think 58lbs on Friday. So she is on her way up, and this was only the 6th day, with adema present which is also going down. For a first calver, she has an udder that would rival most 3yr olds, yet her udder is above the hocks, and has a welded on fore udder. Rear attachment is good as well, can't tell how good untill the adema goes (I thought Ambers udder was so so, but was I wrong when she cleaned up). Either way, don't push untill they get some food into them, sufficent food atleast.


Jeff

[JElfering]

Our Matron of the Ladies gave 20# tonight. We milked out 1 qt. last night and she had her calf all day today. She is doing well! She is older now almost seven years old. That may have been a factor with the Milk Fever.

We took 1 qt. tonight from our three year old and tomorrow we will milk her out in the evening. She too has her calf with her.

Our heifer gave 12# tonight and is doing well! Her calf is separated at night and we let her nurse 3-4 times a day (she's 1 month). She would stay with her all day if the pen was big enough. Soon they'll be in pasture.

Here's to warmer weather.
Thanks for all your replies.