# Sudden death in young heifer



## lasergrl (Nov 24, 2007)

I went out to feed my two calves and donkey their daily pellets and found my 5-6 month old jersey heifer dead. Was extremely upset over it yesterday as she was a good good little cow. There was no indication of any problems prior. the day before she was very active and hungry and stepped on my foot while I was feeding. The steer and donkey are fine. They had all been feeding from a roundbale and had eaten it down. Untill I could get help rolling out another I was feeding from small squares, about 2 days. The same hay the goats have been eating no problem. No mold in this hay. I inspected what little was left of the roundbale and it was a bit moldy on the bottom layer, it has been rainy but very cold. When I first got the calf she was thin and had a runny nose. She seemed to improve and flourish with just normal feeding, and two wormings with cydectin (about a month ago). I just cant figure why she would just up and die. I am kicking myself as I never did get around to vaccinating her. I kept saying I will do it next week and then just plain forgot. Now Im worried my forgetfullness killed her.
We dont have a barn, just a run in shed. S.O. is convinced that she died from exposure, not having a barn. I doubt that.
Sooooo, what can kill a seemingly healthy calf so suddenly?? Her body seems completely normal, no bloating rumen, no fluid from any orifaces. It looks like she was i a laying position, not a standing.


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## commonsense (Jun 1, 2008)

Oh, so sorry to hear about your heifer! I have two of that age, and would be devastated to find either of them dead.


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## myersfarm (Dec 24, 2004)

Pneumonia would do that in just hours.....

I also would like to add it could be since you bought her with a runny nose she could have had lung damage from that and just grew to big for her weak lungs to support then just a little to much stress and they die

usually happens in 100 degree weather after a rain



tjm


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## lasergrl (Nov 24, 2007)

thanks, I wondered about that. One injection of Baytril 100 cleared it up at first but one never knows how bad they were before purchase.


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## Madsaw (Feb 26, 2008)

I would second the pneumonia idea. I have seen cattle have it when they are young only to die suddenly when they get older from a abcess breaking on the lungs or some thing to that effect. 
I know how you feel about your lose.
Bob


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## milkinpigs (Oct 4, 2005)

Possibly pneumonia, possibly endotoxemia...


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## topside1 (Sep 23, 2005)

Maybe the donkey kicked the heifer and damaged a vital organ...Topside


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## GingerN (Apr 24, 2007)

milkinpigs said:


> Possibly pneumonia, possibly endotoxemia...


Is this the same as grass tetnaus? That is what I thought when I read the OP. We had one do that, fine the night before about 7 p.m when Daddy checked them.Went out about 7 in the morning, and couldn't find her. When we found her a little while later, she was dead and had been dead long enough to start to bloat. Not a mark on her. Daddy had thought maybe she had been shot, but nope. Called the vet out to see what he thought and he pronounced grass tetnaus (I know I spelled that wrong but I am having a brain moment.)


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## lasergrl (Nov 24, 2007)

Now the steer is down. I noticed this morning that he didnt look good so I brought baytril home. He was just slower and eyes looked possibly a little sunken. He ate hay this am as normal. I had to go to work so I couldnt observe him long. Now I go out to check with a flashlight and find him down in the field, alive but barely. He is doing that twitchy eye thing (like in a trance) that my first bottle calf did before he died from its scours. Looks like from pain. He throws his back legs back and moans. His abdomen isnt bloated, but I can feel hard large object in the belly, not gas like. He has harder stools, horselike. His conjunctivas are are pale pink, his gums are white from what I can tell, they are pigmented though. 
Wondering if this is how my heifer died, they are laying in the same position. If so what in the world is going on. I am ging to cut him open tomarrow to find out what is really going on in there. If there is blood in the abdomen the donkey is out of here. 
Could this be something contagious?


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## Guest (Dec 11, 2008)

Did they have their blackleg shots?


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## Dodgegal79 (Aug 29, 2008)

I sure hope he pulls threw. I had a calf die like this but some drugaddicts had beat her to death. I found her just laying like she was a sleep but there was blood coming out her nose and month. I would really watch that donkey.


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## farmergirl (Aug 2, 2005)

Did the weather go from mild to very cold and wet suddenly? If so, I'm guessing it's pneumonia. I have learned from the time I have spent helping to care for and doctor a neighboring rancher's calves and cows, the pneumonia can kill a cow and most especially a young calf quicker than you would believe. Our donkey did kill two young llamas before we realized that he would hurt them  so I guess that is a possibility, but at 6 mos old the heifer would have been big enough to stand up to the donkey. I would give the steer a WHOPPING dose of antibiotics, either plain old penicillinG or LA200 if you have it. Sure hoping you don't lose another one. I know how awful it is to lose seemingly healthy livestock so suddenly.


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## lasergrl (Nov 24, 2007)

ladycat said:


> Did they have their blackleg shots?


Not vaccinated as far as I know. I got them from auction when they were about 4-5 months old. It was something I had just forgotten to do. A tough lesson if that is what this is. I was planning on getting the vaccine tomarrow (my only available time to get to the store since heifer died).

The legs look normal though, and are not particularly cold. He was standing with them a little under him this morning, but not unlike when it is cold but different enough that I noticed it. 
I am fairly certain he will be dead by morning even with the baytril. I dont have any emotional or financial investment in this guy, he was very cheap to buy and was going to be meat, but it is dissapointing.


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## farmergirl (Aug 2, 2005)

Cattle with blackleg will often have subcutaneous emphysema, so that when you run your hand over their hide you feel a crackly, popping sort of action. Did either one show any discharge at all from the nostrils in the last 2 days? Sometimes it is very slight.


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## Guest (Dec 11, 2008)

lasergrl said:


> The legs look normal though, and are not particularly cold.


The thing of it with blackleg is, they can die suddenly with few or no symptoms. 

But what the others said about pneumonia seems more likely. They can get pneumonia at the drop of a hat.


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## farmergirl (Aug 2, 2005)

ladycat said:


> The thing of it with blackleg is, they can die suddenly with few or no symptoms.
> 
> But what the others said about pneumonia seems more likely. They can get pneumonia at the drop of a hat.


It really is amazing, the problem of pneumonia in cattle, isn't it. I was shocked to learn that such sturdy animals were vulnerable to something that could appear so suddenly and be so deadly.


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## lasergrl (Nov 24, 2007)

I did look for the crackling skin and everything looks normal. Breathing is not labored, and no discharge that I saw. I have been working nonstop though and have only seen them the last week for as long as it takes to give hay grain and break water. I think yesterday morning he was slower to come to the hay then normal. These are auction calves so I dont expect them to be so healthy but I thought we were doing good they had really gained alot of weight. Are calves from private farms this fragile too? I have really fallen in love with cows but now I am afraid to get attached again, especially if they can get pneumonia so easy. I was planning on getting a highland heifer this spring. Now I am not sure if I should, but maybe that breed (with vaccines this time!) would be hardier and less likely to up and die on me??


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## farmergirl (Aug 2, 2005)

Yes, cows on private farms can also get pneumonia suddenly and be quite ill or die. If you are having to break water on the troughs, that's pretty darn cold. I have only ever had two cows that were not from the auction barn, and thankfully have never had any of the calves from either group get sick and die. Don't give up on cattle. It won't always be this tough. Every producer goes through good and bad times. Next time, look for the healthiest calves you can find and make sure you vaccinate them before you even unload them from the trailer when you bring them home; makes it easy.


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## lasergrl (Nov 24, 2007)

I am really almost sure it is pneumonia after thinking about it. It is very cold here, and things have been frozen, but the day the hiefer died it had warmed up enough that it was very wet. Yesterday was 45 degrees and wet again. It is very very wet and muddy here. They have a 3 sided run in shed, and its quite wet in it from the hooves sinking and collecting water in the hoofprints. Putting staw is futile as it just sinks. Everyone here has cows, I am right in the middle of amish dairy central as there is a cheese factory a few streets away. So people other then me are successfully keeping cows in these gross wet conditions. If this contributes I am not sure there is anything I can do as it is a regional thing. It dries up well in the spring. Is my property just not suited for cattle, or do tehse conditions require a barn to keep them off wet ground? The donkey seems fine. The goats are thriving but they have very thick staw down since they dont make it sink. Cows are only animal effected.


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## Guest (Dec 11, 2008)

farmergirl said:


> It really is amazing, the problem of pneumonia in cattle, isn't it. I was shocked to learn that such sturdy animals were vulnerable to something that could appear so suddenly and be so deadly.


No kidding. They can be fine one evening, and down with pneumonia the next morning. I saw it happen a lot of times.


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## Madsaw (Feb 26, 2008)

Lasergirl, 
A few thoughts of mine for you. I am new to using baytril. But, around here if pneumonia is suppected the use of either Draxxin or Nuflur is called for. These 2 are pneumonia specific drugs, they are great. I have treated calves with one only to have it just slow it down. I retreated with the other and cleared it up. There is different strains out there and they respond differently to different drugs. Also when treating with injectables, I use SustainIII boluses. These are a 3 day slow released dose of sulfa. Sometimes pnuemonia will not have much for outward signs.
Is there a chance you could put a gravel base in your shed to dry it up? You might have to hire a skid steer to remove the mud and put it in there. But, keeping it dry will make a world of difference.
Blackleg is a real nasty killer. All the yrs on the farm I have seen it 5 times. Twice we caught it in early stages. These we treated with pencillinG. The other 2 we found dead. If it gets into the main blood stream teh death is very swift. We had one die in the barn and was bloated like the blimp inside of 2 hrs. Another died outside at a feeder and by the time the dead truck picked her up she ran away in freezeing weather. Some say break outs of blackleg coinside with doing excavation work on the farm. Blackleg stays in the dirt and moving majior amounts of dirt stirs it up.
The last case was a vet F up. The vet got sloppy and injected a dead vaccine into the blood stream low on the brisket neck area. This was a 300 lbs jersey heifer. The next morn I went to the barn found the heifer down but still alive. One of the other vets tryed every thing he could to save her but she was to far gone. Fact about blackleg, if you think you have a animal sick with blackleg, TREAT IT WITH PENCILLIN RIGHT AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!! B;ackleg reponds great to penicillin.


Bob


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## Chaty (Apr 4, 2008)

Standing funny is a sign of fever...tail tucked. I treat pnuemonia with Nuflor and its helped here alot. I would also get some banamine for pain and to settle the tummy. Dehydration isnt good and I would geta floater to keep the water from freezing. The calves I keep up I have a trough floater to keep water from freezing here with a extension cord. works really great. Hope its not to late for you calf. If you plan to keep cattle on I would keep more types of meds on hand also. Mine will lay in the snow here but they hate muddy ground. You want to keep him dry and warm. Good luck


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