Post by littlemother on Aug 2, 2014 16:18:39 GMT -5
Hello everyone. We had to the vet out and finally got to ask our million newbie-to-cows type questions. We'd like to ask more on here so we can do the best we can for our old milk cow. I hate the thought of her suffering with her arthritis and wonder if there is a reason it is happening that we can change or if there is anything we can do for some relief for her.
Girlfriend was examined by the vet to do a preg check. She is not pregnant. We asked about all the horrendous creaking a snapping/popping that her back joints do and the vet said it was arthritis. It must be pretty bad because the vet kept shaking her head and saying, "Giiiirl!" when she was moving and making the snapping noises. We asked her if the 10 lb. of grain a day we feed her was right for her and she said that actually she wouldn't give her any more because if she put on more weight it might make it harder for her to get up and around. We got her in October and noticed she was popping a lot then and asked on here and someone said to give her ACV in her grain, which we've been doing, 1/4 cup each feeding that we soak her grain in. Over the winter she wasn't popping much at all and we thought the ACV had helped but as the weather warmed up she started popping even more than before. Another change we made was that over the cold, cold winter we would give her extra grain to help her have more energy to keep warm. The previous owners said they always gave her between 7-10 lb. a day grain and we had continued that until the colder weather. When it was in the teens we would go to 14 lb. a day, single digits and we'd do 16 lb. a day and below zero was 18 lb. a day. After spring came we went back to 10 lb. a day and stayed there since. She has also been grazing in our yard and barnyard instead of out in the pasture with the other cows. One reason is that our yard is about 4 acres and our mower broke and she was helping us keep it down in part, also because the steer mounts her and she topples over so we kept her separate from him. Anyway, it is different grazing than what is out in the pastures, maybe that might be contributing? Any ideas if we did something to improve it over the winter and increase it since spring or is it just one of those things in old cows?? She is 14 or 15 or maybe older, by the way.
THank you!
Girlfriend was examined by the vet to do a preg check. She is not pregnant. We asked about all the horrendous creaking a snapping/popping that her back joints do and the vet said it was arthritis. It must be pretty bad because the vet kept shaking her head and saying, "Giiiirl!" when she was moving and making the snapping noises. We asked her if the 10 lb. of grain a day we feed her was right for her and she said that actually she wouldn't give her any more because if she put on more weight it might make it harder for her to get up and around. We got her in October and noticed she was popping a lot then and asked on here and someone said to give her ACV in her grain, which we've been doing, 1/4 cup each feeding that we soak her grain in. Over the winter she wasn't popping much at all and we thought the ACV had helped but as the weather warmed up she started popping even more than before. Another change we made was that over the cold, cold winter we would give her extra grain to help her have more energy to keep warm. The previous owners said they always gave her between 7-10 lb. a day grain and we had continued that until the colder weather. When it was in the teens we would go to 14 lb. a day, single digits and we'd do 16 lb. a day and below zero was 18 lb. a day. After spring came we went back to 10 lb. a day and stayed there since. She has also been grazing in our yard and barnyard instead of out in the pasture with the other cows. One reason is that our yard is about 4 acres and our mower broke and she was helping us keep it down in part, also because the steer mounts her and she topples over so we kept her separate from him. Anyway, it is different grazing than what is out in the pastures, maybe that might be contributing? Any ideas if we did something to improve it over the winter and increase it since spring or is it just one of those things in old cows?? She is 14 or 15 or maybe older, by the way.
THank you!