my babies died

[wehes5]

I know you all can call me stupid, but right now,my heart is hurting soooo bad. I bought 3 gorgious little calves on Saturday at the auction, they were bull calves. I was a little nervious when I saw runny poop on a tail, but didn't really take it as a real problem....well one died saturday night, the other sunday morning and my last baby this morning. I did everything the vet said, anitiboitics, electrolytes, goat milk, vitamins, etc. i slept with the one last night and wrapped it in my bed quilt and it died so peacefully. The vet said the person who brought them in, knew they were sick and gave the problem to someone else. Since then, I have cleaned and scoured the area and I will always cherish the little time I had with them...please don't yell at me, maybe this e mail could help someone else...I guess it was a severe case SCOURS....deadly and such a fast killer of something so new and weak. My heart is ripping apart at this time and just needed to share the torment I am going through. Friends say i love my animals to much and i am a bad farmer, well, i sold a goat and the lady said that she is so spoiled, gets out of the pen and comes to the door (which is a glass front door) and waits to be let in the house,

[BlueHeronFarm]

No one will yell at you. I'm so sorry for your loss. My understanding is that this is not terribly uncommon with auction calves. ..which does not make it any less heartbreaking. Hang in there and try not to get too discouraged.

[SHELBY]

So Sorry, you lost them.

Calves with scours can be hard to keep alive if you don't catch it fast enough.

Not your fault at all, just watch the next time,
check their tails for scouring, look at their eyes, if their sunken in, more than likely you won't be able to help them. Do a skin tent, if it doesn't fall back quickly and stays tented for a few seconds or so, they are dehydrated, that also is not good as they are already on their way out.

[Jennifer L.]

Sorry, wehes5. Yes, scours are a really big problem with baby calves that were stressed. Bull calves may not get the care heifer calves do because they are going to auction, or the farm itself may have a bacterial problem that affects all calves born there. Or it could be from going on the truck and through the auction that did it. You were good to them to get the vet. That alone must have been a big added expense.

Many, many farmers will not buy stock that goes through the auction just for the reason of what you experienced. If you want to try with bull calves again, locate a dairy and ask them to sell you calves direct. You'll have a lot better luck that way.

If you lived near me I've got one to go right now . . .

Good luck with the next bunch.

Jennifer

[tyusclan]

Everyone who has ever raised calves has had losses. With experience you learn what to look for and minimize the losses. It still happens sometimes no matter what.

Very sorry.

[topside1]

No yelling here, raising calves is tricky business. Sorry about your painful losses. If you ever want to try again think about buying the calf that comes into the ring with it's cow. Tons of germs @ a auction house, but buying the calf off the cow may minimize some of the diseases found throughout the building. Also the chances are better that the calf drank lots of colostrum and has been fed by the cow regularly....Try again once you recover, buy only two next time. Look at the eyes, feel the ears and nose for fever, ears up not drooping, a dry navel cord is a good sign that the calf is a week old vice a day old....Lots to learn in the world of raising calves.....Over time you will be able to pick out healthy stock out of the crowd. Sorry about your bad experience.

[devdragon33]

Sorry about your loss.. You might want to see if your local feed store has or can get Hydrafeed. It is the best product we have used yet. We too have a calf right now that is a little down in the dumps and it is helping him out a lot. He was down one morning and by the afternoon he was up and walking around

[genebo]

I went to an auction with an experienced buyer of young calves. Some sold for $17, some for $50. He told me that the higher prices went to the ones that he and the other experienced buyers wanted. They were healthier and had at least some colostrum.

What I learned from this was: don't bid until the price goes up. The cheaper ones are being passed over by the ones in the know.

Genebo
Paradise Farm

[agmantoo]

As genebo stated, the cheap calves are cheap for a reason. Leave them to others! Once you have lots of experience you may consider others but not for a long time unless you like to shovel. Always be prepared with supplies, transportation and housing prior to buying any animal. Have everything on hand and hope that you will not have to use most of it.

[Shirley]

It happened to me too three years ago. The first ever "day old" bull calf I brought home died a few days later and not from lack of doing everything I was told to do for it. It was heart wrenching.
What helped me get over the grief was I went back and got another one and this time I was fully prepared, took everything with me, bottles, milk, electrolytes, a packet of scours medication. Fed and treated him in the trailer before I ever left the auction for home. Three years later he is my best buddy!
It isn't your fault, it is the person that put those babies in the auction knowing they were ill.

[genebo]

Wehess5,

I failed to offer you my heartfelt condolences for your grief. Death on the farm is so hard to take. Be consoled with the knowledge that the day old calves from the auction houses are often not destined to live.

The efforts you made on the calves' behalf are all we, as humans, can do. They needed their mother.

Genebo
Paradise Farm

[Up North]

My theory is that these calves did not receive any colostrum. A calf without colostrum is a dead calf walking. Shame on the seller.

[haypoint]

A Livestock Auction is no place for beginners. While many healthy cows go thru an auction, it is a place to get rid of the sick and dying.
Plus, you run the risk of getting a healthy animal that got exposed to a disease at the auction.
Nearly every dairy has bull calves for sale. Drive around and find some dairies, save the commission and avoid the auction stress and diseases.
Read up on controling scours, get the stuff you may need, then go calf shopping.
I bought a cute little Jersey heifer that had the tell-tail mustard colored poop on her tail. Farmer assured me that she was over the scours. After a struggle simular to yours, she died in my arms.
Sometimes scours is started by over feeding. When you see them poop so much, your natural reaction is to give more fluids and you increase the milk. Wrong!

[DJ in WA]

Originally Posted by Up North

My theory is that these calves did not receive any colostrum. A calf without colostrum is a dead calf walking. Shame on the seller.

I'll second that. Colostrum is EVERYTHING! It takes weeks for a calf to develop it's own immunity - until then it has to rely on what it got from mom through the antibodies in the colostrum. Without that, you can throw all the meds you want at them and it won't do any good.

As others have said, buy from a source who will guarantee they gave colostrum in the first few hours of life, and who are concerned about their reputation.

[donsgal]

Originally Posted by wehes5

I know you all can call me stupid, but right now,my heart is hurting soooo bad. I bought 3 gorgious little calves on Saturday at the auction, they were bull calves. I was a little nervious when I saw runny poop on a tail, but didn't really take it as a real problem....well one died saturday night, the other sunday morning and my last baby this morning. I did everything the vet said, anitiboitics, electrolytes, goat milk, vitamins, etc. i slept with the one last night and wrapped it in my bed quilt and it died so peacefully. The vet said the person who brought them in, knew they were sick and gave the problem to someone else. Since then, I have cleaned and scoured the area and I will always cherish the little time I had with them...please don't yell at me, maybe this e mail could help someone else...I guess it was a severe case SCOURS....deadly and such a fast killer of something so new and weak. My heart is ripping apart at this time and just needed to share the torment I am going through. Friends say i love my animals to much and i am a bad farmer, well, i sold a goat and the lady said that she is so spoiled, gets out of the pen and comes to the door (which is a glass front door) and waits to be let in the house,

I'm sorry. That is very sad. There is nothing in the world wrong with loving animals as you do. If more people did, the world would be a better place.

At least you know in your heart you did everything you could to try to save them. Hugs.

donsgal

[Tiffin]

So sorry for your loss. But, boy have I learned something. I have never bought an animal at an auction but I know now what to do if I ever do this. Bring all the equipment with me, the bottles, colostrum replacement, medicine. Your loss has taught some of us something.

[AR Transplant]

I too an sorry about your loss. Don't give up, it sounds to me like any calf would be lucky to get to grow up at your place.

like others said before, I learned a lot from your very hard lesson.

Hope you can find your perfect calf really soon.

[Calfkeeper]

Loving your animals too much makes you a great farmer, not a bad one. I am sorry to hear about your loss. We had one heifer calf scour to death in spite of colostrum and everything...it just happens sometimes no matter what you do.

We already have a regular bull calf buyer, but if you were in the area we'd slip one out to you. : ) So far our buyer has been really pleased w/ our bulls for the past 2 years and the the only one that died on them had some kind of bowel blockage. We didn't charge for him.

Don't give up, everyone has given such good advice, keep looking and you will find some good calves.

Rebecca

[pancho]

One thing to remember if buying from an auction. Just because a cow/calf pair come through the ring together does not necessarily mean the cow had the calf.