Heifer that just throws her legs

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mainecattlemother

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 26, 2010
Messages
380
Location
Minneota
We have a Feb 2011 heifer that has had problems standing on her legs since about late June of this year and is progressively getting worse.  She was a show heifer until we gave up on her in late July 2012.  She actually was Reserve Champ Maine heifer as just a little calf in October 2011 at Minnesota Beef Expo.  She was absolutely beautiful at that time.  We have had her checked by two vets now and all they could come up with was microplasia.  I am wondering if it is possible that she developed a staff infection.  We bred her in May and she came back in heat so we put a cedar in.  She was bred just 21 days at our county fair in July and it was 103 degrees on show day with a heat index of 113 and she threw out the calf.  At the current time she cannot stand for longer than about two to three minutes and just throws her legs back and fourth when she is trying to eat.  She is severely undernourished because we cant get her to eat much.  We penned her up seperately yesterday to help her eat so she doesnt have to fight the other cows.  If it were me I would put her down which is very very hard as it is my youngest daughters calf and she is only 9 years old but I cant stand to see her suffer, but if there is something that we possibly missed I would try to save her.  Does anyone have opinions on what could be wrong.  Our vets where we live are very geared towards dairy and dont deal with a lot of show animals as beef is not very big in West Central, MN.  Any opinions would be appreciated.
 

mainecattlemother

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 26, 2010
Messages
380
Location
Minneota
Thanks for the info! My daughter looked it up, and it fits her symptoms to the tee. Are you a Vet or have you had expierence with this. I was wondering becuase of all the vets that we have had look at her, none of them have been able to diagnose it.
 

nkotb

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Joined
Oct 23, 2008
Messages
321
Location
Quinter, KS
Can spastic paresis be worse or better depending on calf?  Will it show up in both legs or can it appear in just one?  Have had a couple shorthorn calves that appear to do this.
 

mainecattlemother

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 26, 2010
Messages
380
Location
Minneota
There is Who Made Who in both bloodlines.  The heifer is a Rocky Balboa x Manchild.  We have watched a couple videos and this is clearly what she has.  It makes me sick but we are going to try to help out with some research by collecting some blood if we can.
 

willow

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Joined
Jan 8, 2011
Messages
308
mainecattlemother said:
Thanks for the info! My daughter looked it up, and it fits her symptoms to the tee. Are you a Vet or have you had experience with this. I was wondering because of all the vets that we have had look at her, none of them have been able to diagnose it.
Maine, I am not a vet.  I actually found out about Spastic Paresis right here on Steerplanet.  Best of luck with your heifer, but it doesn't sound like she has a future.  It is my understanding that Spastic Paresis doesn't go away and it really doesn't get better.  It is also heritable, so you wouldn't probably want to have any babies out of her.  I also have youngsters in the show business, so I know how hard it can be o get rid of an animal.  It seems like these kids that are involved in raising livestock have a good sense of reality and understand why we have to sometimes make those hard decisions.  This seems like it would be a good learning experience.  With all that being said I really hope this turns out well for you all. 
 
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