Yesterday, I was checking on my other Jersey cow, Blossom. She looked...odd. I put out the feed and she sniffed it, but didn't eat. Even weirder. She usually cleans up the trough. I thought about that for awhile, while I stretched out the hose to fill the horse's trough. I glanced over and she'd laid down next to the fence. hmmm.... Next glance, she was stretched out on her side. Just like my cow, Lady. I flew up to the house and mixed up some Epsom Salts to inject her with magnesium for grass tetany. I rounded up my 2 oldest daughters, cause I knew I'd need help. When I got outside and begin looking closer, as I was injecting Epsom salts, I started thinking that she was presenting differently from Lady. After going over it in my mind (high milk producer, sudden weakness, turning the head back at times, cool ears) I thought it was more like milk fever. I sent my oldest daughter back to the house for the IV setup, needle and calcium gluconate. Once I got that set up, I plunged the needle into her milk vein, giving her the whole bottle of Calcium. 3 minutes after I pulled the needle from her belly, Blossom started trying to get up. We let her try a minute more, then my daughter and I helped her. She was on her feet, but a little shaky. This whole ordeal lasted for less than 15 minutes. And boy was it a frightening 15 minutes! How did I Know to do that? When Lady (my cow who died Monday) was sick, I scoured the Internet to find anything that might help her. I found a youtube video that demonstrated a milk fever case and what to do. Because of this, I did what needed to be done. I was terrified. But I knew she'd die if I didn't try SOMETHING! I really feel like a redneck... "Hey, I saw this video on YouTube, and...
Congrats on the awesome save!!! The Internet is a wonderful thing! It's my go to for our animals as our cow vet retired and there's no one else accept a teaching hospital hours away. YouTube is great for that also! Good job, thanks for sharing and be sure to replace your inventory
I went to TSC that night and bought more stuff. I have to give her a tube of cal-gel every day for a couple days too, to make sure she doesn;t relapse.
This is awesome, good job. I would had been too scared to do an IV. Then again, desperate times call for desperate measures www.calving2014.wordpress.com
Grass tetany is a magnesium deficiency. The Epsom salt is magnesium sulfate. Injected under the skin it'll help with that.
