Coyote Attack

[aggieterpkatie]

It's hard to say what I would do without seeing the calf in person. Are the wounds superficial or deep? Does he have a fever at all? Is he acting totally normal?

If there's no fever, the wounds are fairly superficial, and he seems otherwise normal (perky, active, etc), then I may wait on the antibiotics. I wouldn't use peroxide anymore, betadine is really better for wound cleaning.

If he's acting slightly off, like not as active, lethargic, etc. and the wounds are deep or oozing, I would go ahead and give antibiotics. IMO, you don't want to mess around with wounds in the summertime.

 

[West Wind Acres]

Hi there,

Sorry to hear about your coyote attack. This normally only occurs with Highlands when, as in your situation, a calf gets outside of a hot fence away from mama. Sounds like mama did the "normal" Highland thing and moved quick to help her baby.

How many Highlands do you have? Often other cows will help protect the calves as well as its own mama. Our Highlands (ususally the older calves first) our always our first indication something is odd. Our 2008 heifer calf "loved" coyotes and would stare and then chase them, probably to say "hi," although the coyotes didn't think so.




Is there a way in the future you could designate a calving paddock closer to your house where (possibly) a coyote wouldn't be so brazen?

As of now we have 7 Highlands, by fall we will have 8 more, possibly 9. I am in the process of designing a new birthing-cow calf pen to use until the animals are 3-4 months old. The difficult part is I am trying to rotational graze so this pen will have to be fairly large. I am considering 5 strand electric or possibly page wire.

 

[West Wind Acres]

It's hard to say what I would do without seeing the calf in person. Are the wounds superficial or deep? Does he have a fever at all? Is he acting totally normal?

If there's no fever, the wounds are fairly superficial, and he seems otherwise normal (perky, active, etc), then I may wait on the antibiotics. I wouldn't use peroxide anymore, betadine is really better for wound cleaning.

If he's acting slightly off, like not as active, lethargic, etc. and the wounds are deep or oozing, I would go ahead and give antibiotics. IMO, you don't want to mess around with wounds in the summertime.

I only used the peroxide the second day! The wounds aren't deep, but they are starting to scab up. I'm not sure if I should dress them with something other than the screw worm spray (which says it can be used as a wound dressing)

He doesn't seem to be off at all, but he is my first calf. He is pretty vibrant and active. He isn't running around or anything, but up and drinking water, and nursing.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

It's hard to say what I would do without seeing the calf in person. Are the wounds superficial or deep? Does he have a fever at all? Is he acting totally normal?

If there's no fever, the wounds are fairly superficial, and he seems otherwise normal (perky, active, etc), then I may wait on the antibiotics. I wouldn't use peroxide anymore, betadine is really better for wound cleaning.

If he's acting slightly off, like not as active, lethargic, etc. and the wounds are deep or oozing, I would go ahead and give antibiotics. IMO, you don't want to mess around with wounds in the summertime.

I only used the peroxide the second day! The wounds aren't deep, but they are starting to scab up. I'm not sure if I should dress them with something other than the screw worm spray (which says it can be used as a wound dressing)

He doesn't seem to be off at all, but he is my first calf. He is pretty vibrant and active. He isn't running around or anything, but up and drinking water, and nursing.

Does he have a fever?

 

[tiffanyh]

I would consider antibiotics depending on the condition of the wounds.

I am really impressed with how well you have done. I know maggots can be overwhelming. I am CVT and I know how hard it can be to de-maggot a large dog in a clean hospital setting, so I think it is great you have done so well with your calf!!

 

[amysflock]

Sounds like all you're doing is working very well! Congrats!

We're rotational grazing, too, on our tiny piece of land (2.5 acres pasture). We sacrificed a strip probably 200x150 for birth through maybe 1.5/2 months, just to get the babies past the stage where being in mud could be fatal. (They were born in early April and it was nasty mucky here in Western WA. I would prefer to either calve in March [pre-mud] or May/June. We'll be on track for June 2011 calving.)

We did a two-strand polywire temp fence lengthwise down one 250-foot side; the rest was permanent fencing (3-strand barbed wire and 2-strand hot wire). That worked fine until the boys got to be a few weeks old and tall enough to step right over the bottom poly. For awhile after that we moved the bottom poly up one notch on the fiberglass step-ins. Now that the boys are 3+ months old we're using just single-strand poly set in the 2nd to the top notch. They know it's hot and don't breach it...they're more likely to muscle through the metal hotwires and go behind the barn because it's just too interesting back there. (I had to get Clyde out this a.m. before work!)

How many acres do you have? Do you normally have a big coyote/predator problem?

 

[West Wind Acres]

this is our first year with cattle not even three months in yet. Calf is still maggot free. The wounds are scabbed over and the scabbs are starting to fall off. What's next? should I start using a cream to cover the wounds or stick to the screw worm spray?

Amysflock, there are a ton of coyotes here we haven't had problems with any of our other animals, but they have always been close to the house. We have 5 acres at our house mostly woods, and we are leasing a 25 acre plot up the road. How many cattle are you raising?

 

[amysflock]

Hi West Wind,

We're currently at 6, although butchering a cow this winter after she weans her calf and fattens up a bit (she's a bit of a hard keeper). We would really like to expand but I'm unwilling to pasture my animals too far out of view, and our options are currently limited in that regard. We prefer to be at 2 mama cows on this land.

As for the injuries, if the scabs are falling off your little one is probably in pretty good shape. We don't seem to have a problem with screw worms here in Western WA so I'm not sure the treatment protocol for that. Most insecticides will list the dosage period. Where are you located?

 

[West Wind Acres]

We are in upstate NY just north west of albany.

I don't think screw worms are really a problem here either, it was suggested to use the product to get rid of the maggots. It worked great, wound dressing as an additional use.

We have 7 cattle at this point (including the calf) by fall we are suppossed to purchase 3 more calves, 2 cows, a heifer, a steer, and a bull.