Twin heifers born, 1 might die.

[Freerider]

Just had twin Sheriff Taylor heifers out of a heatwave cow. 1 is up and sucking while we have the other 1 in the house warming up and she looks like she might die.

The cow wouldn't lick her or anything and she was born outside and it was below freezing. We've fed her lots of colostrum and 1 bag of IV in the vein, but she's not showing much sign of improvement.

Any ideas on how to get her going, she hasn't even tried to lift her head yet.

 

[OH Breeder]

I am not sure if you have already done this or not but, you can also give the calf a shot of B vitamins and a shot of MuSe. MuSe is specifically for premature calves etc.

 

[The Show]

Good luck! We had a cow have twins last year and it was the exact same situation. We ended up losing the calf after about a day.

 

[Jenny]

I would bet money her body temp is way down; they really can't digest food or do much till you get that body temp up to where it should be.
using a rectal thermometer, get a body temp.
normal is from 99-102.5
I have had them so low they would not even register, and with my thermometer, that is below 90, however, often times you can still save them.
to warm her up run a space heater right on her head making her breathe in the hot air; that warms her from the inside out, the hot air in the lungs warming her blood and circulating through her body. 
you can also throw an old blanket over space heater, calf and all making like a tent;
however, you have to be there constantly often pulling the blanket back from the face, but that gives the whole body from the outside great warmth. 
wish you good luck with this baby....as you can tell I have had way too much experience with this!

 

[OH Breeder]

I would bet money her body temp is way down; they really can't digest food or do much till you get that body temp up to where it should be.
using a rectal thermometer, get a body temp.
normal is from 99-102.5
I have had them so low they would not even register, and with my thermometer, that is below 90, however, often times you can still save them.
to warm her up run a space heater right on her head making her breathe in the hot air; that warms her from the inside out, the hot air in the lungs warming her blood and circulating through her body. 
you can also throw an old blanket over space heater, calf and all making like a tent;
however, you have to be there constantly often pulling the blanket back from the face, but that gives the whole body from the outside great warmth. 
wish you good luck with this baby....as you can tell I have had way too much experience with this!

Jenny is on target. in order for the newborn to metabolize any nutrition you have to have core body temp up. You can also take a heating pad and put inside a pillow case or blanket lay the calf on the heating pad. Heating blankets work great. Making a tent and using a space heater is good. If you put an IV in the fluids should be warm using cold IV fluids will potentiate the hypothermia.

 

[kanshow]

What they said..  get her warm.   

We had a bull/heifer set of Sheriff Taylors born on the worst night ..  cold & rainy...  long story short, we didn't find one soon enough and ended up loosing them both. 

 

[Freerider]

Thanks for the replies!

I had her covered in horse blankets with the hair drier running underneath it, making it very warm under there, but her mouth just wouldn't warm up. We gave her another warm IV bag in the vein after a few hrs, then another litre of warm colostrum but it just didn't work. She gave 15 deep breaths and I just knew they were going to be her last.

I've never had one that couldn't even move, not lift the head or anything.

Its too bad really, she was 73lbs the other was 59lbs. I would have figured the bigger one would have been the healthy one, oh well you win some and lose some.

This heatwave cow will have a hard enough time raise 1, let alone 2 calves.  I really think this experiment with these heatwave mothers has come to an end, they don't milk, and they don't seem to even want their calves.

 

[DL]

Sorry about your calf - for future reference you can  re warm a cold flat out calf by putting it in the bathtub with water at 100 degrees - of course you have to have someone stay with the calf and hold its head up - but many a calf has been saved with this method, but this method is more successful for those flat out look like they are going to die cold calves. Of course then you need to dry it completely - baby calves esp if they are born a titch early get hypothermic very rapidly - they cannot regulate their body temp like adults and they have no fat and may have little hair. A flat out calf in the mud is likely hypothermic even if we think the weather is "not so bad" - remember the old saying - "it ain't dead until it's warm and dead" - couple of good web sites

http://www.cattlenetwork.com/cattle-resources/baby-calf-health/Re-warming-methods-for-severely-cold-stressed-newborn-calves.html
http://www.thecattlesite.com/articles/1317/caring-for-hypothermic-cold-stressed-newborn-beef-calves