2 yr old Jersey: Down to Dead in 12 hours

[hollycow]

Our healthy Jersey went from being down at 10 AM to dead by 10 PM. When she went down, she was weak. It seemed that her hind end was weakest. We tried and tried to get her up but she couldn't. We managed to roll her onto her brisket and she stayed like that for a bit with some food and water, which she ate. She pooped as she was down and it was absolutely normal. I gave her a bit of sugar as I have no drench here and it seemed to help. When I went back to check on her, she was down again on her side with her neck arched back and she was flailing like she was trying to get up. I managed to rig a system up to drag her from where she had fallen in the mud to the grass. That took a few hours; husband was at work. I washed the mud off and I figured that the water would help to cool her off as it was stinking hot here today. I put a huge umbrella over her, tried to give her water which she would not have, then went to go chat with a doctor about how to give an IV shot (as I was going to try dextrose) and when I got back she had passed. Her head was back a abit and she had been trying to get up it seems. Also, her tummy was rigid and had air in it but this was port-mortem.

Our pasture is a joke. We spent a lot of money to have someone fence around our new barn and this guy passed himself off as someone who knew his stuff and he didn't. Near the barn, the water pools and the animals always seem to want to be there rather than up on the hill. The mud is about 1 ft. in those lower parts. We have been feeding hay and have not changed suppliers. All the other critters are okay.

Any ideas? Winter tetany?

By the way, it was Holly Cow, the same as my user name.

 

[Allison]

Was she ever vaccinated for blackleg?

I just read about winter tetany online, maybe could be that. Were you feeding minerals also?

 

[WildRoseBeef]

Allison: Blackleg at that age is impossible. Only young cattle less than a year of age are susceptible to blackleg.

To the OP: When was the last time she calved? Without any other information, I'm thinking either Winter Tetany or Ketosis or something else.

 

[Allison]

Blackleg at that age is impossible

I wouldn't say impossible; unlikely maybe, but can happen

 

[hollycow]

She never calved. She was two and very healthy before this. Her gums were pale and she was panting. I gave her what I had on hand: oxymycine. in case it was pneumonia. I had a calf go down with rapid breathing last fall and after a WEEK down, yes a week, we got her back and she is fine now.

 

[goodhors]

Sorry about your cow.

You probably should pay for an autopsy,
so you can have the cause of death determined
specifically. Guessing is fine, but you DO NOT
want this to happen again! So knowing
what the cause is, will help prevent it. Time
and money invested in having a nice heifer,
all wasted with a loss like this, and you can't
eat the meat either!

For your other drainage issues, maybe the ground
was not made to drain well after your new barn
was built. Were any drains put in to lead off
storm water from the roof?

You might consider getting a backhoe and trenching
to lay plastic pipe for draining that runoff water out
of the barnyard and field. We rent machines for
jobs like this, don't own them. Same backhoe would
move the needed stone to put over the pipe, for good
drainage once pipe is in the ground. Just dragging the
backhoe loader bucket will help level up the dirt, get
rid of ponding effect.