On a farm, there are any number of illnesses that may crop up, affecting calves, heifers and cows. My husband is constantly on guard, diligently keeping tabs on our livestock, and actually the whole family plays a part in tirelessly watching for signs of distress.
A while back, we had a bout with sick calves. Nursing them back to health took time, patience and tender loving care. Our daughter was in the barn more often at that time, and she was really very good with the sick calves. For our convenience, we had stuck an old lawn chair in the back pen. It would take so long to feed them that we sat down while doing it. One time as daughter was feeding a calf, it stopped sucking and just laid its head on her lap to rest. It was so sick. My girl’s eyes filled up as she was telling me about it later. She helped save that little thing.
When calves get sick they just stop drinking. When they stop drinking, they get dehydrated quickly. I have tubed them periodically with an electrolyte solution. Tubing a calf is tricky. If the fluid gets in their lungs they could die. The tube must be administered down the side of their throat with the solution held up and off to the side in an intravenous bag.
One day husband mentioned a cow wasn’t eating properly. It came to his attention as he was feeding. He sees if they don’t clean up their plate. Cows eat. When they don’t, there’s a reason for it.
This animal had just given birth and it wasn’t a normal one. The calf came backward, meaning instead of its snout cradled in its front feet coming out, its back feet were coming first. The cow needed help. As she’d push, my husband would pull, and eventually, out came the calf.
He poked a bit of straw in her nostrils to encourage inhaling and exhaling. The newborn snorted and shook its wet head. Now she’s a fluffy black-and-white fur ball, and as she’s eating, wags her tail like a puppy.
The mother continued to be lackluster and didn’t want to dig in and eat as she should. After a time, the vet was called. It was determined that she had a displaced abdomen, or sometimes called a twisted stomach.
I Googled, “Displaced Abdomen in Dairy Cows” and came across www.thecattlesite.com. There it states, “The abomasum (or true stomach) normally lies on the floor of the abdomen, but can become filled with gas and rise to the top of the abdomen, when it is said to be ‘displaced.’
The majority of cases occur soon after calving. During pregnancy the uterus displaces the abomasum, so that after calving the abomasum has to move back to its normal position, increasing the risk of displacement. If the abomasum stops contracting and turning over its contents, accumulation of gas will occur and the abomasum will tend to move up the abdomen.” That’s why the condition is called, “displaced abdomen.” Makes sense.
The symptoms are loss of appetite, drop in milk production, reduced rumination (digestion doesn’t kick in well) and mild diarrhea. All symptoms are easily identifiable and the condition treatable. The vet has to get the stomach back in the right place and then tack it to the body wall, which requires an incision. This procedure needs room to maneuver and an extra hand or two.
A couple of years ago, we had a twisted stomach case. For some reason, our daughter had to pitch in and help the vet that time. She recalls, “I remember there was steam coming up from the side of the cow, and there was so much blood. I kept telling myself it wasn’t blood, it was just the color red! The vet handed me a big glass thing and I had to pour that right in there.” (It was penicillin in a cow-sized vial.)
“The vet was really nice, he asked me about sports and stuff and what I liked to do.” (Sweet guy, he was keeping her mind off what she was helping with!)
The other day as we were talking about it, I asked her how she felt that time after assisting the vet with that slightly gory procedure. “I helped the animal survive, it made me feel pretty good, actually.”
Diligently watching our livestock for anything wrong and if so, then nursing our animals back to health is a family affair and one we all take satisfaction in doing.
(“With My great power and out-stretched arm, I made the earth and its people and the animals that are on it, and I give it to anyone I please.” Jeremiah 27:5. “A righteous man cares for the needs of his animal.” Proverbs 12:10)
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