I had a Heat Wave bull calf a week ago. He was up and nursing within 45 minutes, everything looked good. The next day he seemed to be laying around more and I never saw him nurse or move much after he was about 36 hours old. Heart rate and lungs sound great, but he does not want to walk without pushing him. He can get up on his own, but just seems unstable. I am bottle feeding him now, does not nurse for long when cow is around. Any ideas? Mineral deficiency?
Health Question on Calf
- Thread starter WMW11
- Start date
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Some babies, especially the big ones it seems, do lay around and sleep alot. Could it be that his tummy is full and he's just content? Have you checked the cows udder to make sure the teats are open and he's getting milk? (which I'm sure he is, since he made it this far without supplemental feeding) If he were mine I'd leave him and the cow alone and just keep an eye on him to make sure he's growing. My bet is all is fine.
We had one we thought we hit the home run on this spring. Calf was beautiful and normal for the first week. Then seemed to lay around a lot. Figured he was just big and needed to nap all day to support his growth. At 3 weeks of age he developed spastic paresis. He got around the pasture and would lay down and eat all the grass around him, then move and do the same thing again. He could actually run quite well, but walking and standing still were very difficult for him because his legs were completely straight and would not be still so long as he was standing up. Last week at 3 months of age, he got pneumonia or something and died. There wasn't a thing we could do for him. Hope this isn't what your calf has.
