Cow not growing!?

[Katlyn Ann]

View attachment 7396 View attachment 7397 View attachment 7396 View attachment 7397 Hello all, I have a jersey/holstein heifer, she'll be 2 in March and she is SO small compared to how big my Jersey/Guernsey was at this age. I've attached some photos of her with my 13hh pony & my 3yr old 1,000 pound jersey heifer. I just want to know if there is a reason as to why she is this small. She gets all she can eat hay (usually eats 3 flakes a day) almost 24/7 access to water (minus night time). She was raised on milk replacer, has been in pasture Spring- Fall and she gets stalled in the winter. Shes never been wormed, & never been sick.

 

[jhm47]

This animal is severely malnourished. From the picture, I'd guess that she has a debilitating worm and lice infestation. The poor thing needs to be wormed and the lice need to be controlled. I'd suggest an injection of Ivomec for all these animals. The cattle need to be poured for lice at least 2 - 3 times at intervals of 2 weeks.

From the picture, it appears that the hay is fed on the ground to all the animals at the same time. The hay doesn't appear to be of very good quality, and it's likely that the heifer is being pushed away by the other bigger animals. Feeding the hay on the ground makes it very easy for worm eggs to be picked up when she licks the ground to pick up the hay. She likely is reinfesting herself each time she eats. The poor thing should be getting 1% of her body weight in good quality grain each day. I would guess that she might weigh around 450 - 500 lbs (and that is deplorable for a nearly 2 yr old). If this is the correct weight, she should be getting 4.5 - 5 lbs of corn, or another highly digestible grain, along with about 1lb of protein pellets. This grain ration will need to be increased as she adds weight. She also needs daily access to a high quality vitamin/mineral source, along with salt.

At 2 years old, she should weigh at least 1200 lbs. She has been stunted by poor nutrition and the severe parasite infestation. She likely will never attain her full genetic potential due to the damage that has been done to her system. I hope that you will do the correct thing and follow my suggestions. If not, do the humane thing and put her down. Good luck!

 

[Katlyn Ann]

She doesn't have lice, how do you check to see if she has worms? I also have another question, I got her when she was 1, and she was crammed into a calf hut with tons of straw so she almost had to crawl into it. Since I bought her she has grown maybe an inch or two, do you think being in the small hut could've stunted her?
As for the hay on the ground, they get fed in a bin and they rip it out, she also doesn't pasture with the pony and jersey, all summer and fall she had her own pasture. My hay is actually good quality, some of it is even still green. She weighs about 545 ish (tape weight) I will get her a mineral block and a salt block, I've tried the corn, she won't eat it and she won't eat any other grain than sweet feed and grower. So, I will do everything I can do to try and help my poor girl, I didn't know it was so bad or else I would've asked about her when I bought her is there anything else I can do for her? I can't bare to put her down, I've grown so attached to the little thing.

 

[SheepGirl]

Cattle aren't like goldfish where they grow to the size of their tank.

 

[Katlyn Ann]

No need to be rude, I am TRYING to help her and just asked if that could've been a reason. Simple YES or NO would've been just fine.

 

[greybeard]

Hello all, I have a jersey/holstein heifer, she'll be 2 in March and she is SO small compared to how big my Jersey/Guernsey was at this age. I've attached some photos of her with my 13hh pony & my 3yr old 1,000 pound jersey heifer. I just want to know if there is a reason as to why she is this small. She gets all she can eat hay (usually eats 3 flakes a day) almost 24/7 access to water (minus night time). She was raised on milk replacer, has been in pasture Spring- Fall and she gets stalled in the winter. Shes never been wormed, & never been sick.

"Shes never been wormed "
WHY Not???
"and never been sick"
She is now.

As jhm47 pointed out, she has every sign of parasitic infestation--internal and external, especially internal (wormy). People understand that worms 'eat up' most of the nutrients the animals ingest but another part of wormy livestock is that internal parasites also cause the animal to just not eat or intake as much as a healthy animal would and should. Her abomasum and small intestines are full of parasites and that leaves little room for food coming from the omasum. "She's off her feed" is what we call it and it's one of the signs of a wormy cow/heifer/steer or calf, and at her age, she should be 'eating like the proverbial horse' .
Bottom line is, she's starving and would be no matter how much you put in front of her if she has a big worm load.
Ivomec is cheap and easy--if nothing else, buy the feed sold at your feed store or tractor supply--SafeGuard I think it is--it's feed pellets with the Fenbendazole dewormer already in it--1 lb per 1000 lbs of animal weight. Read the directions!

http://www.valleyvet.com/c/livestoc...ctins/cattle-pour-on-ivermectine-wormers.html

 

[mysunwolf]

I agree with all the above posters.

I have made some pretty dumb mistakes with cattle and gotten lucky, but it could have been bad news. For all we know, she may not have been well cared for at her previous home either, or she may have severe vitamin or mineral deficiencies, or a combination of things. Let's all try to get your cow back to healthy.

Please deworm her ASAP. You can take a fecal sample to the vet and they can check for worms, but at this point I would give her a general dewormer first (like Ivermectin) and then take a sample to the vet for analysis, it doesn't cost much. Ask the vet to check for coccidiosis as well, sometimes a sickly adult cow can get it.

I would feed loose mineral and loose salt at this point as she will need it regularly. Be careful putting it out free choice or she might overdo it.

We have used old stock tanks to feed hay out of to raise it off the ground, just make sure to dump the dirty hay out every week or if it rains. There's no way to tell the quality of hay without having it tested. I would err on the side of caution and assume it's not that great, so supplement her with high protein feeds.

If the only grain she'll eat is the sweet feed, then feed her that. I would pen her separate from the others, then you can keep an eye on her and make sure she's getting all the grain for herself.

Good luck and please let us know how she does.

 

[Sweetened]

I will say i cannot help with this, but its unfortunate you feel attacked. I have been a member of this forum for years, and the rare occassion remembers respond abrupt and matter of factly like they have here is to be exact, to the point, and to save a life. We all make mistakes, but take heed what is said here and stop being defensive. This is a great group of people who will only help you, if you listen.

 

[secuono]

Cattle aren't like goldfish where they grow to the size of their tank.

This is a myth for goldfish as well. No animal 'grows to the size of it's containment area'.
But they all can be stunted by improper care.

The little cow looks terrible. She needs to be dewormed, needs better hay in a feeder and not on the ground and she probably also needs some good feed.
Get a vet out to do fecals on all 3 of them and then deworm them with the appropriate drug.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

A big ol' hug for you, Katlyn! You're getting a little bashed, but like Sweetened said, the situation looks critical and folks are responding to that. We all have to learn and sometimes the lessons are hard.

So glad you're taking steps to help the little gal!