Blind Calf Story-the second calf


This is kind of an on-going thing here which I have hesitated to post about, but since my first blind calf story is still getting comments off and on, I thought I would put this in here as well. Apparently this isn't as odd as I had thought it would be; people keep Googling and finding my blind calf story and adding their own. For this reason I have added the story to my list of interesting posts.


Anyway.


On Thursday the 7th, I believe it was, I went up to check on the dry cows and one had a tiny little heifer calf, she was so cute. She was sitting up looking around, she looked like she had tried to stand, but she was still kind of damp. I went and checked on another cow that was in labor, but nothing there. Later that afternoon I went back; the second cow had a nice bull calf, and the heifer calf was still in the same spot, though the mama cow had gone off into the trees. This isn't unusual; mama most always comes back to her calf. She'd cleaned it up so I know she hadn't abandoned it, or so we think. Since hubby was busy that day we left the calves and cows there 'til next day.


Friday when we went to get them the heifer calf was on her side and appeared to be dead, just like the first calf. She was breathing however, so we brought her back and I thawed some colostrum to feed her. She drank part of a bottle that AM, and I fed her the rest later that afternoon. That night she drank another little bit of a bottle and I managed to get her to stand on her feet.
Saturday AM hubby said she appeared to be dying, her nose was cold and she was pretty limp but I tried to feed her anyway. She drank maybe a quarter of a bottle. Then by that afternoon hanged if she wasn't standing on her own!
But somewhere along the way I noticed that her eyes are cloudy and she keeps them closed most of the time, I don't think she can see at all. She can hear because she twitches her ears when she hears me coming, but she doesn't blink when I wave my hand in front of her eyes.
Every time I go out there she seems just faintly stronger. This morning-Monday the 11th-she stood up by herself, it was kind of a wobbly effort, but she got up on her feet.
It's all just kind of weird that this has happened again within a year. The first blind calf was born August 15th 2007, I believe.

Comments

Unknown said…
I just had a registered milking shorthorn heifer born and from the time she was born he r eyes have been cloudy. She appears to be completely blind in her left eye and has some vision in her right eye as she always walks in circles to the right. She is two months old and, her vision has not improved.
We'll probably just eat her.
January 6, 2014 at 12:39 PM
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