Very premature calf

[Sioux305]

We've also had this with a couple of premmie dairy calves - they are frequently blind but both times, after a couple of weeks or so, they have regained their sight. Many weeks of TLC though but worth it for sheer satisfaction of thumbing Nature one !

Thanks for that GenuineRisk, it was what I was hoping for, just a bit of hope. I'm no expert onbovine fetal development so had hoped that it was possible for her to develop vision as she grew - there is an outside chance and that is good to know. Cheers!

 

[Water Wheel]

Wish I'd found this thread earlier!
Got one 37 days early , 4 days old and doing well, had very rittly lungs / breathing so gave it Metacam which may have been a bad move long term, probably should have had steroids. First day or two tube fed with a Lamb tube.

No expense spared, first calf to have a coat, which drowns it, BBx in a Jersey coat,economics and business decisions are out of the window on this one.I like the previous posts , plenty of encouragement there.

 

[mixed farm]

There was a vegan on Irish tv last week who said that farmers only care for their animals for economic reasons. He should read this thread. Well done to all for trying

 

[Henarar]

We had a BF born more than a month early years ago when we were milking she was so small mum carried her up the road under her arm anyway we kept her and she ended up one of the biggest cows we had

 

[Headless chicken]

We had one that was 5 weeks prem, boss was going to shoot her but we decided to give her a chance so my wife had it to give her some TLC. Calved in at 2 years old and is living happy and healthy with all the other cows.

 

[One Finger Plantation]

This is a very old thread but I found it informative so I thought I would add to it / resurrect it.

My wife and I have a small farm on the other side of the pond in Florida with sheep, dairy goats, cattle and the other odds and ends. Yesterday (Nov 26, 2020) was the Thanksgiving holiday for us yanks and as always my wife's never ending search radar for "impossible / difficult to raise" livestock was right on que. A facebook posting of a unwanted newborn calf from a famer about 140Km north of us.

Being the understanding husband (who knows what's good for him) I of course bobbed my head up and down in my pre-morning coffee fog when her mobile was put in front of me with a picture of what looked like a tiny silver dog. So off she went on her holiday rescue mission...

What she had found was a calf that was born premature owned by a very nice older farmer. (his estimate 4 weeks) He understood what was at stake in trying to nurse the calf and self admitted that it was more than he could / was willing to handle in his age. Hats off to him for knowing his limits and at least giving someone else the opportunity to take on the challenge and kind enough to allow strangers out to his farm. (the US has HUGE issues with security and loony rights activists in crashing farms and stealing live stock).

Being a holiday and most of the stores closed and just ending our fall goat kidding season we're low on newborn supplies and finding freeze dried colostrum was another mission within its self. So in all of the running and doing and getting yesterday we were slightly lost on the actual "size" of this calf until late last night.

We're use to bottle babies and try to raise most of our livestock with human interaction to make the cute little 34kg calves into manageable cows rather than 680kg pet alligators but when she arrived home I was not expecting to see a 14.5kg calf considerably smaller than most of our dogs. The term "premature" took on a more relative meaning at that point and we went on a google mission that lead us here and a few other useful places.

In reading, we have decided that due to her size she is much closer to 8 weeks premature, With lung issues possible we would keep her in the house and well away from the barn. The hope or goal is mind is to keep the lung exposure issues to a minimum with dust and bacteria. Our kitting / birthing pens are quite busy with little knee knockers and not the place for a premature calf. We are in winter here its blazing hot during the day and can swing 4.4C overnight on any given evening so steady temperatures are just easier.

We have gone though our weak calf / kit / lamb treatments of B12, probiotics, vitamin E, Nutra Drench and selenium. Because she is so small and neurologically underdeveloped you cant tell what is what at this point, blind, twitching, no ability to hold her head for any length of time its hard to say. Florida famously has issues with white muscle disease due to our soils and where we do daily feed mixes of minerals for a herds many people do not.

Were holding fast on using LA (liquamycin) because if we can avoid using it we do.

Being a holiday weekend'ish were trying to leave our poor vet alone, the guy travels nonstop day and night and running after him for such a long shot is reaching. Dex requires a prescription here but we did manage to locate some from a friend if we need to run and pick it up.

Otherwise we have a very tiny twitchy beautifully colored 36 hour old (so far) angus / charolais mix heifer. She does not have much body control, no sight yet but has a very strong suckle response and keeps taking about a half liter every 4-5 hours, we've worked out communicating for help (come lift me up so I can go to the bathroom) .... Fingers crossed, hope and pray and I will post some updates.

Note the size of her next to the fly spray bottle!!!

 

[Beef farmer]

Good on you

 

[Wee Willy]

Good luck. It should be fine if it got colostrum. Had one 6 weeks premature that grew fantastic.

 

[Cowmangav]

Many , many years ago we had an Ayrshire heifer calf born very early - must have been over a month early , as it could walk right underneath its mother. It lived and remained undersized as an adult - but bred normal sized daughters !

 

[One Finger Plantation]

Thanks for the words of encouragement. I think in reading this thread the first time in addition to the medical that was the really good part! Optimism over doubt.

Because she is so young its a learning curve in understanding her, some thing that may be helpful to others whom happen across this.

At this age she can really only grunt or blurt/beeps a tiny bellow, mostly grunts, dont confuse it with a breathing issue. Her lungs sound great but she sleeps like a pig.

We're spot testing hand lotion on her to check for bad reactions. She has fuzz on most of her topside but her lower sides and underside are bare and getting chapped and scaly from exposure to the air.

She sleeps endlessly and you cant wake her. If she was older you would think she was in decline. I am settling into this being normal for her and chalking it up to a post natal growth requirement rather than a issue to keep pacing the floor about.

Her version of "hey i'm hungry" is just being awake and looking up and around periodically. Ignore that and she will lunge herself like a walrus but far less gracefully. There are no motor skills so its try and flail, try and flail.

"I have to poo" is flipping and flopping herself... Get here with a rag and rub my bum till in done... Nope I wasn't done, bahahaha... now change my towels again.

Calves / cows that go into decline and hit a what I describe as a neuroglial phase before passing, eye rolls, head curls, trashing, etc. I'm sure most have seen it and know exactly what I am describing. Her normal awake mode is a nonstop full body twitch, thrash, weird contortions at times. "im done eating, quit putting the nipple in my mouth" is eyerolls, head flops, thrash... then curl up... to peacefully sleep.

But she downed almost another half liter a few minutes ago as if to say... Not yet human... but... stay worried about it!!!

My wife has named her Damn It Janet, due to the phrase "damn it" being common in trying to handle her gently through the flails and flops.

High stress requires humor make the best of it.

 

[One Finger Plantation]

So wow at the day but its day three and Janet is doing really well today and we are starting to see some actual signs of the brain connecting to the body correctly. Over all Its nice to see the animal "helicopter husbandry" working!!!

We're leaning to moo... in our sleep... Which sent the whole house into an absolute panicked frenzy.
The tail connected to the brain and is now flicking.
She's staying more upright without being propped up so the gyroscopes are kicking in.
Her back legs have also connected and she's been able to get the butt up in the air on her own few times.
She INSISTED on standing for her afternoon feeding, which she can not do so it consisted of me picking her up and holding her for 10 minutes while the wife attended the front end duties.
Over all she has been being more alert, awake and responsive with her head up and following the noises around the room.
She is still at a half liter in feeding but is completely emptying the bottle so next feeding we will be going up bit.
Her vision is coming in and she's starting to respond to movement. Its a feeble attempt but she starts to scramble to get up if everyone walks by her at once.

We've been slowly migrating to raw / fresh goats milk spiked with freeze dried colostrum and will probably keep that for some time. I cant see over stuffing a preme with too many calories in correct feeding intervals. (currently about every 4 hours during the day and only once overnight)

Its probably going to be another several days before she can actually "get up" on her own but its nice to see the processes staring that normally happens in just few hours.

Pooping and peeing still requires a lot of stimulation. Else you get a perpetual leaky faucet accompanied by a endless nonstop magic marker. You WILL sit there and rub the butt or you WILL pay the laundry and baby bathing tax.

Were using Vaseline Intensive Care lotion on her bare spots and it seems to help with the dry chapping with no ill effects. We didn't want to use a typical "farm use" salve or balm and end up with a greased pig. Cleaning her is work enough!

Something that we've decided going forward overall...

We have taken in several newborns over the past few years and had a low success rate on keeping them alive. Mostly milk farm rejects that are getting dumped with little care to their survival. Going forward I think we well forego the barn and our nursery stalls all together and just keep them up at the house on the back porch with this for the first 2-3 days. Most would never require this type of persistent care but in having her under 21 hour a day observation I can see where even the smallest things can easily be missed or misconstrued with a healthy calf leading into a unhealthy situation.

I tried to get a few pictures but unfortunately when she is moving so are we in trying to counter or help her. If I want her to stop all I have to do is reach for the phone!!!

 

[One Finger Plantation]

Fast changes in the last 24 hours for day 4 but all for the good.

Feeding remains about the same .750 liters'ish, sometimes its all gone sometimes its not.
Last night was her first wobble stand by herself after getting her up for feeding.
This morning was her first independent "stood up on my own"... Im convinced she did this to spite my statement yesterday of it taking a few days.
All "normal" cow functions must now be done in standing position. Which means a hissy fit of "come get me up and hold me up" when I want to be fed, poop or pee. Two person job, I cant wait till this passes!!!
She's much more alert and awake for and hour, two or three at a time now.
The ticks, thrashes, floundering and eye rolls are getting less and less frequent. She still has a solid full body twitch going on every 15-20 seconds when she's awake but the overall all "brain to body" control is getting MUCH better.

We need to weight her again, I didn't on day 2 because honestly I didn't expect her to make it and then forgot yesterday.

I don't think she will be standing much beyond the occasional up and down for the moment. When she's upright she still doesn't have the leg strength to get her ankles into the correct position and is "slippering".

Pretty awesome just to see her trying to "cow".

Were debating next steps on keeping her on the porch health-wise we know it the better option for as long a possible with her lungs but it becomes a matter of room and logistics. She still tiny and swimming in size for the dog box she is in but with the standing up phase coming on she will need more room. The linen bedding is getting taxing on the laundry as well. Well probably end up digging through the lumber pile and framing up a small pen with a tarped bottom and switching to pellet bedding.

We also have a cold front coming so lots of prep work for -0C overnights where the lambs and goat kits are concerned.

Pictures...

Her last "lay down" feeding last night with her rescuer.
First wobbles on her own last night.
First stand up on her own this morning.

 

[One Finger Plantation]

Well, very sad news.

Last night after posting Janice got up and took several wobbly steps around the floor for about 45 seconds which was amazing to see. However sometime between me doing her last health check 330AM this morning and my wife getting up at 730am something happened and she went totally non responsive. Her lungs are clear, temp good, her digestive, etc have all very solid but she's just continued to crash.

A this point... were more or less waiting for the inevitable.

I normally dont put this much emotional investment into our animals because its always a huge risk. 2020 has been a really hard year for us with everything that's gone on in the world. COVID cost myself and tens of thousands of others in Florida their jobs (tourism, is our state economy and has evaporated) and to be frank, we know their not coming back with this election mess. We're lucky we had saved and lucky to have a little from our farm to fall back on but when you're struggling you look for those little things that get you by and get you though so even the smallest of creatures with the greatest of risks can become big deals. (emotionally anyways)

So... ouch!

On the positive side we had a new ewe born today, so where its been an awful day in some ways where the farm takes away it also gives... Still... where Janice is concerned, I am officially lodging my protest with the farm gods.

Be well, and may someone find use in our posts.