I need some advice!

[Oakshire_Farm]

I have a 6 month old Holstein steer, he has been out on pasture all winter and he comes and goes, always see him at the feeder (free range of haylage and hay) but never take a close look at him. Last week, he was hanging out in the barn and we noticed that he was really thin??? So we seperated him and his buddy (7 month jersey he is in good shape) so that they can get extra feed. He has since gone down and has not gotten up for 5 days, we have tried and he is not showing any ability to get up.

When he was first seperated he gorged on hay and grain and bloated. He is not quite happy just laying there eating has a great appetiete, drinks lots of water. He just cannot get up. I have heard that if a cow is down for to long they will never get up.

We are thinking about putting him in a sling? Does anyone have any advice???

Thanks!

[Ronney]

Get him into a sling as soon as possible - he's been down too long and the longer he's down, the less chance they have of ever getting up again. Have you been moving him from one side to the other?

Once you've got him slung don't leave him hanging in it. Raise him every couple of hours and leave him up for 10 minutes or so and extend that time once he shows signs of supporting himself. You may have to work on his legs, especially the back ones, to get circulation going.

As to what is wrong with him, because he is eating and drinking, my first thought is a massive worm burden. When were your steers last drenched?
Because the Jersey is in good order doesn't mean that there isn't a worm problem, some animals deal with it better than others.

Good luck,
Cheers,
Ronnie

[Oakshire_Farm]

Thanks for the resposne ronney!

Yes we have been moving him side to side, we tried to prop him up on a hay bale, he sat there proped up for a while we came into the house had a cup of tea and went to chack on him and he had fallen off and was looking a PO'ed that he was on the ground again.

As for the worms, that never crossed my mind??? I will drench him today, along with the rest of the herd.

Any ideas what we can use for a makeshift sling???

I should also add that he is pooping normaly. Would we not see worms if that was the problem??

[kscowboy]

Call a vet !

[agmantoo]

You may want to read this
http://beef.osu.edu/library/feedlot/ch10.html
My solution to this problem would be different. I would prepare to dig!

[Oakshire_Farm]

IMO he is not worth the vet call out fee, I know some people may not agree, but holstien bull calves in my area the farmers are almost paying poeple to take them away, or they are just shooting them and burring them.

So the calves fate was sealed this afternoon, dh put him down.

I have 5 more sitting in the barn so it is not worth the fight

[agmantoo]

Do these animals have to wait turns to eat or can all of them access food at once? You are going to worm the remaining ones right?

[Oakshire_Farm]

All the cows have 24 hour access to feed and the calves have a area that the cows cannot get to, so they have always have feed and cannot get pushed around by the adult cows.

And yes the whole heard got wormed. The calf that we lost is one that came from a farm that we have not had good luck with, I am going to chat with the vet to see if it may be some kind of a problem that that farm is having??? I will not be getting anymore calves from that farm! Out of the last 4 that I got from this dairy I have now lost 2, this past one was #2 the first one was only about 3 weeks old and he went down, had really bad scours, and lost his appitite compley. I raise about 40-50 calves/year so I am familar with scours and treatment and dealing with calves. I usually have really good luck and don't loose many but ever since I started getting calves from this one farm I have had problems???


Thanks for all the advice!

[genebo]

Some farms don't let the calves suckle for a couple of days before taking them from their mothers. Without the mother's colostrum the calf doesn't have much chance. Store-bought colostrum works for some, but isn't nearly as good as mama's.

Genebo
Paradise Farm

[Valmai]

I dont know if this is relevant but a friend had a couple ofholstien/freisians do something similar. At about 10 12 weeks they started losing weight even though they kept eating. My friend checked everything she could think of, and came to the conclusion that they most likely had injested some poison.