Post by Twin Doves on Jul 12, 2010 6:29:21 GMT -5
I don't know what to do. My cow should have freshened (according to what I was told) late July/early August. She is a small Jersey and was thin-ish when I first got her and kept her in the barn for a week or so and she filled in a little. When we put her out on pasture with our other cows (dairy & beef) she was very passive and would take food last so out of concern for her getting thinner and being pregnant, I started keeping her in the barn at night so she could take all she needed without competition.
Finding a vet has been a huge problem since my regular animal vet doesn't come out this far for large animals and every vet I have called that my neighbor dairy farmers use are not taking new customers, I was left with only one option, to call the big "corporate" vet in town. I had met one of them at a horse farm I go to and she agreed with what I had started doing by keeping DewDrops in at night etc. I called their office to set up an appointment with them to come out and didn't hear back from them for 3 days. In that time I noticed that DewDrops had diarrhea (green not black) as well. I called the vet's office back and they said the soonest they could be here was in a week - which is this Wednesday coming (7/14), this in spite of the diarrhea that I told them about - they didn't seem concerned although I was.
That was last Wednesday and yesterday (Sunday) before leaving for church, we went out to check our new litter of piglets and there was a calf coming. All went well, calf born, DewDrops (second calf for her) was an attentive mother, the calf stood up and tried to suckle but doesn't appear to be taking anything - it looks more like she is playing with the teats and lets go of one to try another. DewDrops is eating and drinking LOTS but still has this awful diarrhea with a subtly bad smell. She cleaned out and passed the afterbirth. I tried milking her by hand last night but she really wasn't letting much down - or perhaps the calf is actually getting something and she is empty - but it is unlike milking my other cow, I can't even work it down and her udder doesn't get firm like when I milk my other cow so since I've never had problems with let down, I'm guessing this might be just that.
I have been really busy making hay and haven't finished my research as of yet on this whole calving thing and was focused on DewDrops condition and not the birth since I thought I had a few weeks at the very least. I was planning on letting DewDrops raise her calf and milking her as well but don't want to take her colostrum milk from the calf. I am not sure if the calf is a preemie which is possible if DewDrops is sick. I was planning on calling my regular vet this morning to see if I should bring a stool sample into them for testing in the meantime. I have been looking at threads here to find some answers but am just getting more scared with reading about all the other possibilities for problems in addition to what I have going on here. This vet's office won't come out on an emergency call unless they have been to the farm before so calling them is not a possibility - which is why I called immediately for an appointment so I at least had a backup if something like this happened.
Should I start milking DewDrops and how often (I use a machine) and is there anyway I could know if the calf is getting any milk and/or should I try to bottle feed it with her milk? Any ideas/suggestions on the diarrhea? At the time of this writing, the calf is about 20 hours old, alert and getting up and down easily and attempting to nurse and DewDrops has a nice moist nose and is eating, drinking and chewing cud and is alert and attentive to the calf. Thanks for any input you can give.
Dawn
Finding a vet has been a huge problem since my regular animal vet doesn't come out this far for large animals and every vet I have called that my neighbor dairy farmers use are not taking new customers, I was left with only one option, to call the big "corporate" vet in town. I had met one of them at a horse farm I go to and she agreed with what I had started doing by keeping DewDrops in at night etc. I called their office to set up an appointment with them to come out and didn't hear back from them for 3 days. In that time I noticed that DewDrops had diarrhea (green not black) as well. I called the vet's office back and they said the soonest they could be here was in a week - which is this Wednesday coming (7/14), this in spite of the diarrhea that I told them about - they didn't seem concerned although I was.
That was last Wednesday and yesterday (Sunday) before leaving for church, we went out to check our new litter of piglets and there was a calf coming. All went well, calf born, DewDrops (second calf for her) was an attentive mother, the calf stood up and tried to suckle but doesn't appear to be taking anything - it looks more like she is playing with the teats and lets go of one to try another. DewDrops is eating and drinking LOTS but still has this awful diarrhea with a subtly bad smell. She cleaned out and passed the afterbirth. I tried milking her by hand last night but she really wasn't letting much down - or perhaps the calf is actually getting something and she is empty - but it is unlike milking my other cow, I can't even work it down and her udder doesn't get firm like when I milk my other cow so since I've never had problems with let down, I'm guessing this might be just that.
I have been really busy making hay and haven't finished my research as of yet on this whole calving thing and was focused on DewDrops condition and not the birth since I thought I had a few weeks at the very least. I was planning on letting DewDrops raise her calf and milking her as well but don't want to take her colostrum milk from the calf. I am not sure if the calf is a preemie which is possible if DewDrops is sick. I was planning on calling my regular vet this morning to see if I should bring a stool sample into them for testing in the meantime. I have been looking at threads here to find some answers but am just getting more scared with reading about all the other possibilities for problems in addition to what I have going on here. This vet's office won't come out on an emergency call unless they have been to the farm before so calling them is not a possibility - which is why I called immediately for an appointment so I at least had a backup if something like this happened.
Should I start milking DewDrops and how often (I use a machine) and is there anyway I could know if the calf is getting any milk and/or should I try to bottle feed it with her milk? Any ideas/suggestions on the diarrhea? At the time of this writing, the calf is about 20 hours old, alert and getting up and down easily and attempting to nurse and DewDrops has a nice moist nose and is eating, drinking and chewing cud and is alert and attentive to the calf. Thanks for any input you can give.
Dawn