Vomiting Cow...

[menollyrj]

We have a 5yo cow that we purchased from the stockyard 2 weeks ago. She was 8 months bred when we bought her. She has started to develop a bag, and has had small amounts of mucous discharge for about 4 days. When we bought her, she was VERY skinny, hipbones & ribs showing. We just recently fenced new pasture from a leased farm next door, and she has been eating grass for about 3 days. Today there was snow on the ground, so DH & I gave them a little hay. She would eat a bit, then arch her back (like she's having a contraction), urinate just a little, and then vomit 2-3 times. She would shake her head, cough, then go back to eating. She is holding her tail out a bit as well.

So here's the question... What's going on? I think she's in labor and doesn't have enough sense to quit eating, which is making her vomit. FIL says he's never heard of a cow vomiting during labor, and he's had cattle for 25+ years. DH doesn't know what to think.

We put her in the corral to keep an eye on her. Anyone have any ideas/experience with this?

-Joy

[Teacupliz]

not sure why she would vomit- but when my cows are in labor the arch their back up-
Liz

[HazyDay]

Could it just be cud?? Never heard of them vomitting in labor.

[menollyrj]

She's still arching her back like she's having contractions. Nothing real regular yet, and no sign of a calf yet, but I feel pretty confident she's in labor.

What she was vomiting this morning was very liquid & green. It was actually running out the sides of her mouth as she coughed. She was only vomiting after she swallowed a few bites of hay, like she was choking on something. However, she seem to have stopped now. We watched her have a few contractions earlier, and no vomiting was evident.

Dunno... We're still watching her... I'll check her again in an hour or so when I go feed the bottle babies...

-Joy

[cindy04]

What breed of cow is she? I would think that she is in labor with discharge and arching her back. My older Jersey will eat while in labor. She is also prone to milk fever. With the early onset of MF she will try and eat and then act as if she was choking (which she was actually).

No expert, but I would stay on alert if she is a dairy cow. Even beef cows can have MF.

[menollyrj]

She looks like she may have some dairy cow in her, but we're not sure exactly what she is since we bought her from the stockbarn. Thanks for the head's up on milk fever, though.

-Joy

[DocM]

I'd dose her with cal drench. She's probably just gorging on fresh food and eating like a pig, thereby coughing up the extra. My cows never stop eating in labor. If she's skinny, the cal drench may ward off problems associated with her lack of good feed these past few months.

[agmantoo]

Has this animal been wormed? Has she been exposed to trash metal that she may have eaten?

[cindy04]

Feel her ears and body. If she is extra cool/cold my bet would be MF. Check her ear temp against another cow. She can experiance this pre, during and post. If she is choking go sub-Q or IP with cal and mag injectable or she will asperate on the drench. Is she drinking water without choking? That should have been my first question. If you can't do it, talk to a friend or neighbor who can. IF IT COMES TO THAT. If you have a friend or neighbor that has a dairy or a milk cow go ring their door bell.

Good luck. I'll check for your post later this evening as I am leaving work now. Hopefully she is just eating to much to fast like DocM said.

[veme]

Sounds like she's hogging her food down too fast and choking on it.

[prairiegirl]

Joy, just wondering how she doing this morning.
We have a cow that will almost inhale grain and hay (she's the "pig" of the herd) and will start coughing this hacking cough and this sometimes leads her to heavy drooling. I sure hope that's all it is for your cow. I've been reading up on MF - sure something to avoid.

prairiegirl

[menollyrj]

We kept her in the corral overnight. She was still arching her back like contractions yesterday evening, but not regular. Today - nothing. No vomiting, no arched back. Drinking & eating fine. We're going to keep her put up, though, since it has been so cold here. We don't really want to drive all over the hills & dales looking for her & a newborn calf.

I read up on milk fever, but didn't see anything about vomiting as a symptom. I did read that a lot of fresh grass before calving could be problematic, so keeping her up and feeding her hay seems like a good idea. We also moved some mineral in with her, free choice.

It is possible she could have gotten in scrap metal on the new pasture. It has been 2 years since cattle were on the property, so anything is possible. She was wormed 2 weeks ago when we bought her. We wormed & vaccinated before we turned her out.

I think she's going to wait until this weekend to calve because it always seems that cows calve when DH isn't here. He has drill this weekend, so I look for a calf on Saturday...

We've also had an adventure with 3 new dairy bottle babies. Had one down last night that we had to force feed (tube & all), give a shot, etc... It has been one busy week!

Thanks so much for the help. I'll let y'all know how it all turns out!

-Joy

[Teacupliz]

Hi Joy- we all we will wondering. We had a Brown Swiss heifer calf last weekend- huge bull Calf we had to pull but he is fine mom is good too. He is a giant.
Good luck- Liz in NY
Teacupfam.com

[smpooh1]

Gagging and the inability to swallow can be a Milk Fever symptom. Sometimes they will even grind their teeth when they are unable to swallow.The symptoms can be different each time.

I think you made a good choice by taking her off of the grass and just feeding hay.
We have packed snow and ice here. What grass we do have is frozen. I'm so jealous.

[menollyrj]

Just an update...

The cow had a pretty little red heifer calf two days ago with no trouble. We kept the cow up for 5-6 days, and no more vomiting, so we turned her back out to pasture. A day later, the calf arrived. We're still watching the cow, but she seems fine. Still don't know what the vomiting was, but whatever it was seems to have resolved itself.

Thanks for all the help.

-Joy

[Cat]

This adds absolutely nothing to the thread, but my "New Messages" included this heading, Vomiting Cow, followed by the Pet Forum's Farting Dog. LOL Had to laugh. One of those bizarre things that probably happen only once in a blue moon.