#14
Farmer Jon here - After the first cow calved, I came out the next morning
to find #14 on the ground with a live calf and a dead calf nearby. She
had twins! But only the one was still alive by the time I got there. To
make matters worse, #14 couldn't stand up. So we called the vet and he gave
her various things to help but nothing worked. He left us with a hip
clamp to help get her on her feet. We don't have a loader(front scoop)
for our tractor so our wonderful neighbors were kind enough to come over
to help.
We got her up but she couldn't support herself. Something was wrong with that right rear leg. Probably a pinched nerve or something. We stayed out there for a couple hours but she still wasn't any better. So they left the tractor for me to use the next day.
The next day I got her up again but still no luck. This went on for a couple more days before I finally got her on a trailer and brought her back to the farmyard.
A certain someone wouldn't stay out of the way of the tractor so I put her somewhere safe.
I put #14in the granary so that I could hoist her up multiple times a day without needing a tractor.
And then...
A couple days later...
She can walk!
Of course, that meant she walked away from my hoist.
So I tried to lift her up with the closest things I could find.
Attempt #1
Attempt #2. I actually had her up but then the hip clamp slipped off and she fell down.
I eventually realized that I could put the bale spear on the back of my tractor and it would lift her just high enough that she could stand up.
I'm glad she's doing better but I sure hope she can stand on her own soon. This is going to get old in a hurry!
We sold the calf to a nice family down the road because we didn't have time to bottle feed a calf and the momma needs to conserve all her energy for getting better rather than producing milk. It was fun to have a pet calf for those few days but selling her was the right decision for us.
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