Post by nursebishop1 on Feb 16, 2019 14:38:45 GMT -5
First of all you should know that I have always had an intuition that Daphne is actually the last incarnation of my sister Lesley who died of breast cancer in India. Since Hindus believe the last incarnation of a good person is a cow. So you can see how what I am about to tell you was the most worst thing. when I first met her, Daphne did choose me when I was leaning on a fence looking at a pen of dairy calves for sale. A rasping tongue started licking my leg and I looked down and there was a beautiful golden Jersey who put her head through the fence to lick my leg. Daphne has been with me for 8 years now and because of her I have learned to make 7 kinds of cheese, yogurt, butter and icecream and I have shared milk with her calves. I love her and she loves me. So you can see how what I am about to tell you was the most worst thing.
This happened 10 days ago. It was 32 degrees, north wind and light rain. At 5 am Daphnes calf was probably born. We found her down and she could not rise to her feet. Having a downed cow is about the worst thing that can happen. The new born calf was lying there bewildered, wet and shivering so I put blankets from our bed on him. Jarad saw this great big bull calf and said she probably bruised her obterator nerve. My cowboy husband a few years ago made two cow dystocia videos with a vet and they sold them to ranchers. He said it is the nerve that holds cows legs together in a normal position and it runs past the birth canal along the pelvis bone. If the nerve is bruised in a difficult birth their hind legs can splay when they stand up they and can dislocate their hips and hocks. So he put hobbles on her hind feet connected with rope to only go 2' feet apart in case she gets up. I gave her 5 gallons of warm sugar water and she drank it and 20 mg of Banamine by mouth for pain and inflamation. Later she had tried to get up and flopped on her side and facing down hill. Her heavy rumen was up against her diaphragm. She could not breathe or burp and was probably fixing to bloat. She gasped and moaned with every breath, I thought she was fixing to die. So we tied ropes on her feet and used the truck to turn her over so she could lie on her chest. We propped her up with tires so she could not lay flat. She was imediately more comforatable. We flipped her several more times that day. She could turn herself trying to get up so thats good.
My retired dairy rancher friend told me by email what if its milk fever? Thats when cows suddenly put so much mineral and calcuim into their milk and udder they cannot use their muscles of their legs. That's because calcuim is a neurotransmitter that causes muscles to function. This is critical, they can quickly die of this. So At 4pm I gave her a tube of CMPK paste by mounth. 6 hours latter I gave her another one.
I milked what colostrum I could get as she was lying there on the ground but only got about 1/2 cup. So I went and bought some commercial colostrum and the calf sucked down the whole thing. The calf was fine, I just hoped I didn't have to raise a bummer calf (orphan). Jarad said he never had to deal with milk fever because all he ever raised were beef cows and they don't milk huge amounts of milk like this.
That evening she finally delivered the placenta. Then she felt better and was stronger and wanted to eat so I gave her a small dish of wine, which she loves. But because she could not rise and defend her calf from the wild hogs and coyotes it was a long night for me. I coudn't put Inga down there to guard her because to Daphne Inga is not a German Shepherd but a wolf........ animals........ :-(
So I had Inga in her run by the house to bark and bark all night and drive off the hogs and coyotes. Not much sleep that for me night. I was so tired from rolling cows and moving corral pannels. I felt like I was run over by a large object. Then I realized all I ate that day was cup of coffee and an orange.
At 7 PM that night she delivered her afterbirth after 14 hours. I had gone and gotten some penicillin because I though she would retain her placenta and get infected but didn't have to use it. After thet she was brighter- sure, they are still in labor as long as that afterbirth is inside- She was what is called a creeping downer, that is, a cow that can crawl around on the ground and doesn't have to be turned every 2 hours by people. But she would flop into a downhill position laying flat out and then could not breathe, could not burp, moaning and was fixing to bloat which will kill them. We had to flip her a few times for that. Sometimes we had to use the truck or tractor. So after the afterbirth she was feeling better looking brighter lying near against a woven wire fence. So I put a sheet of plywood so she could not get tangled in that trying to get up. At 11 PM I gave her some more CPK mineral paste and she seemd OK and the calf lying next to her so I went back to bed.
At 2 Am I went out and found her in a wreck, She had flopped down to a heavy metal gate and piled upside down against it with her head turned back. So I woke up Jarad and we took the gate off the hinges and it weighs about 200 lbs, cut the fence and pulled a T post so we could roll her out of there. Propped her upright again with the tires. I fed the calf some milk replacer because he was pestering us so we built him a pen out of corral panels. That morning she had flopped prostrate and head pointing downhill again, that same problem. So we flipped her and pulled her facing uphill again with the truck. I gave her the rest of the elecrolyte paste that morning. I saw her try to get up and it looked like she would have splayed for sure if those hobbles wern't on her. She ate and drank well and with increasingly frequent tries to get up during the day. At 3 PM I looked out and she was up and walking around :--)
When all this started and it looked like she was dying I had told God Sir your will be done and if she dies that is OK, thats life. But here is my little whiney voice again God asking that my cow friend live a longer time. And by golly, 34 hours later I looked out and there she was, walking around with that big black calf hunting for a teat. Its a miracle.
This happened 10 days ago. It was 32 degrees, north wind and light rain. At 5 am Daphnes calf was probably born. We found her down and she could not rise to her feet. Having a downed cow is about the worst thing that can happen. The new born calf was lying there bewildered, wet and shivering so I put blankets from our bed on him. Jarad saw this great big bull calf and said she probably bruised her obterator nerve. My cowboy husband a few years ago made two cow dystocia videos with a vet and they sold them to ranchers. He said it is the nerve that holds cows legs together in a normal position and it runs past the birth canal along the pelvis bone. If the nerve is bruised in a difficult birth their hind legs can splay when they stand up they and can dislocate their hips and hocks. So he put hobbles on her hind feet connected with rope to only go 2' feet apart in case she gets up. I gave her 5 gallons of warm sugar water and she drank it and 20 mg of Banamine by mouth for pain and inflamation. Later she had tried to get up and flopped on her side and facing down hill. Her heavy rumen was up against her diaphragm. She could not breathe or burp and was probably fixing to bloat. She gasped and moaned with every breath, I thought she was fixing to die. So we tied ropes on her feet and used the truck to turn her over so she could lie on her chest. We propped her up with tires so she could not lay flat. She was imediately more comforatable. We flipped her several more times that day. She could turn herself trying to get up so thats good.
My retired dairy rancher friend told me by email what if its milk fever? Thats when cows suddenly put so much mineral and calcuim into their milk and udder they cannot use their muscles of their legs. That's because calcuim is a neurotransmitter that causes muscles to function. This is critical, they can quickly die of this. So At 4pm I gave her a tube of CMPK paste by mounth. 6 hours latter I gave her another one.
I milked what colostrum I could get as she was lying there on the ground but only got about 1/2 cup. So I went and bought some commercial colostrum and the calf sucked down the whole thing. The calf was fine, I just hoped I didn't have to raise a bummer calf (orphan). Jarad said he never had to deal with milk fever because all he ever raised were beef cows and they don't milk huge amounts of milk like this.
That evening she finally delivered the placenta. Then she felt better and was stronger and wanted to eat so I gave her a small dish of wine, which she loves. But because she could not rise and defend her calf from the wild hogs and coyotes it was a long night for me. I coudn't put Inga down there to guard her because to Daphne Inga is not a German Shepherd but a wolf........ animals........ :-(
So I had Inga in her run by the house to bark and bark all night and drive off the hogs and coyotes. Not much sleep that for me night. I was so tired from rolling cows and moving corral pannels. I felt like I was run over by a large object. Then I realized all I ate that day was cup of coffee and an orange.
At 7 PM that night she delivered her afterbirth after 14 hours. I had gone and gotten some penicillin because I though she would retain her placenta and get infected but didn't have to use it. After thet she was brighter- sure, they are still in labor as long as that afterbirth is inside- She was what is called a creeping downer, that is, a cow that can crawl around on the ground and doesn't have to be turned every 2 hours by people. But she would flop into a downhill position laying flat out and then could not breathe, could not burp, moaning and was fixing to bloat which will kill them. We had to flip her a few times for that. Sometimes we had to use the truck or tractor. So after the afterbirth she was feeling better looking brighter lying near against a woven wire fence. So I put a sheet of plywood so she could not get tangled in that trying to get up. At 11 PM I gave her some more CPK mineral paste and she seemd OK and the calf lying next to her so I went back to bed.
At 2 Am I went out and found her in a wreck, She had flopped down to a heavy metal gate and piled upside down against it with her head turned back. So I woke up Jarad and we took the gate off the hinges and it weighs about 200 lbs, cut the fence and pulled a T post so we could roll her out of there. Propped her upright again with the tires. I fed the calf some milk replacer because he was pestering us so we built him a pen out of corral panels. That morning she had flopped prostrate and head pointing downhill again, that same problem. So we flipped her and pulled her facing uphill again with the truck. I gave her the rest of the elecrolyte paste that morning. I saw her try to get up and it looked like she would have splayed for sure if those hobbles wern't on her. She ate and drank well and with increasingly frequent tries to get up during the day. At 3 PM I looked out and she was up and walking around :--)
When all this started and it looked like she was dying I had told God Sir your will be done and if she dies that is OK, thats life. But here is my little whiney voice again God asking that my cow friend live a longer time. And by golly, 34 hours later I looked out and there she was, walking around with that big black calf hunting for a teat. Its a miracle.