# Anybody have success with getting a cow back up once it's down?



## Oldfashionedgirl (Apr 20, 2018)

We have a Charolais cow that has been down since yesterday. As far as we know she is not injured, she was just pushed down by another cow. She will attempt to get up but doesn't seem to have much strength and gives up quickly. Has anyone had a cow that lived once it was down like that? It seems like if they don't get up for more than 24hrs they become so stiff that they are never able to get up again. Any advice for how to stimulate her to get up and to get circulation going in her hind legs?


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## RollingAcres (Apr 20, 2018)

I don't but I'm sure some of our more experienced members might. I've tagged some of them, maybe they can help?
@greybeard @Baymule @Wehner Homestead


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## Oldfashionedgirl (Apr 20, 2018)

Thank you! @RollingAcres


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## Simpleterrier (Apr 20, 2018)

We always got a couple of people and pulled up on the back end u can get them up. It  takes a little not so nice coaxing but they usually get up


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## Wehner Homestead (Apr 20, 2018)

She needs forced up or she won’t make it. Your vet or a local farmer may have a hip lift. Those require a tractor or sturdy beam to support their weight as they are lifted. 

An alternate would be to run a heavy duty ratchet strap under her and lift her rear with a tractor loader/forks/bucket. 

If you can’t get access to a lift, she needs up now! Try flipping her so that she’s on the opposite side. This will allow the blood to flow to the side that was down better. Give her about 15 minutes like that then get several people pushing on her rear. I’d put a halter on her head and have a truck or tractor pull (not pull her across the ground, just apply enough constant pressure to encourage her to get up.) Make sure someone twists her tail HARD (not hard enough to break but make sure they have her attention.) 

Cows can’t get up when gravity is against them. Make sure her head is downhill or perpendicular, not up if she’s on a slope. 

This is going to sound super harsh and I don’t normally condone it but you are looking at life or death here...use a hotshot on her after she’s had a chance to get feeling in the down legs. 

Please keep us updated. If I think of anything else, I’ll add it.


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## Oldfashionedgirl (Apr 20, 2018)

The hip lift sounds like a good idea, there's a chance I could find a farmer around here that has one. I had thought about doing the ratchet straps to get her up but was afraid of hurting her because she is so close to calving. Ratchet straps are so hard to control, and even if you run one under front and back it really digs into the cow when you lift it.  You are right though, if she isn't made to get up she will die anyways.

The thing is my pet Brown Swiss steer through all this a couple weeks ago and we did the ratchet strap winch thing on him and were able to get him up, but I think he got internal injuries from it. The next day he wouldn't stand even when lifted all the way to his feet and he died that night.  It was all very tramatic and I'm reluctant to go thru it all again especially considering it did no good. 

Obviously there's an underlying problem since you shouldn't have two cows go down in a herd that close together. Probably a nutritional deficiency caused by the fact that both were smaller cows and probably have been getting bullied away from the feed. I don't manage the farm here though so I can't really address that problem. :/ 

Thank you for the advice. I'm rather sleep deprived right now (calving season etc.) so it's easy to be in denial and just hope that it will get better, or to think that it's not worth trying, but if I don't do my best I will look back and regret it. Sometimes you just need someone from outside the situation to tell it like it is.  

I think I'll give her asprin to help with any soreness, winch her up, flex her legs to get the circulation going then maybe lower her back down and use the hotshot? We don't have one but could pick one up pro'bly. I had wondered if one would help.


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## Wehner Homestead (Apr 20, 2018)

Best of luck!


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## Latestarter (Apr 20, 2018)

Greetings and welcome to BYH from NE TX! So glad you joined us, but sorry for the reason.   Sorry you lost your steer, and sure hope you can get the cow back on her feet. Would be a real shame and loss to lose her and the unborn calf. Hope you'll stay around and let us know what happens. There's a wealth of info, knowledge and experience shared in the multitude of threads. Browse around and see what interesting stuff you can find. By all means post away when the desire strikes you, especially if you have questions (provide as much detail/info as possible and pictures truly help)... With all the great folks here, generally someone will respond in no time at all. Please make yourself at home! Hope you enjoy the site!


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## greybeard (Apr 20, 2018)

Oldfashionedgirl said:


> Has anyone had a cow that lived once it was down like that?



Yes, a couple. And a couple that didn't.
If it's anywhere close to her due date, you might consider C section for the calf. 
Wehner Homestead pretty much covered everything, but I'll re-emphasize those words...time is of the essence especially if the ground is still cold up in your area.

If down for 24+ hrs, it likely is not going to be enough just to get her up. You have to get her up, support her some and get her to walk while under support. We used to call it "puttin her on a rail" and back in the day, they literally put a beam or rail under them the full length of their body, strapped the rail between a pair of mules or horses and walked them . 

Last one I had anything to do with was a neighbor's older bull last January, and he was a big one.  Not sure how long he had been down when we found him, in a muddy area, but it had been in the teens temperature wise the night before,and was going to be again the next night and it was close to dark by the time we found him & got him pulled out of the mud. Couldn't do much with him that night, so we covered him with shipping blankets, I got a half 55 gal steel drum and built a fire in it out of pine knots we knew would burn for hours to warm the air around him. (put the drum far enough away not to burn his hair but close enough to keep most of the air around him from freezing. Fed him about 7-8 lbs of good grain with molasses to give him a little energy.

Next morning at dawn, we used a thin steel bar & pushed a 4" wide strap under him right behind his front legs, another one in front of his rear legs and straddled him from the rear with the forks on a front end loader. Picked him up so his hooves would drag on the ground and started slowly moving forward with the tractor. We had to pick his hooves @ the fetlocks up and reposition them forward each 'step' but eventually he would pick his hooves up and take a step on his own, with most of the weight still suspended by the straps. We had to do this several times per day for a couple of days. He would walk on his own, for about 30 yards, but then laid down and couldn't get back up. Took about a week, but he finally got fully ambulatory, tho I don't think he'll ever mount another cow...he's over 15 yrs old anyway. 

Some, all they need is help getting up..just depends how much/long those leg muscles have been deprived of blood circulation. 
This is a rough drawing, but you get the idea.... (the yellow dotted lines indicate the straps are going under the animal.)


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## lilipansy (Apr 20, 2018)

I had to laugh at that cow...  very cute.


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## Wehner Homestead (Apr 21, 2018)

I’m trying to figure out keeping a bull until he’s 15!?! Did he not retain any daughters or is his herd that large??


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## greybeard (Apr 21, 2018)

Wehner Homestead said:


> I’m trying to figure out keeping a bull until he’s 15!?! Did he not retain any daughters or is his herd that large??


He's probably got 300 hd scattered between here and San Antonio. He keeps each of his bulls till death do 'em part. 
With few exceptions, he never sells a heifer. Commercial herd. He's been doing it a long time and making $$ so I can't knock him. Them people lined up at McDonalds don't care about genetics and until I showed him mine, he'd never seen,  much less had a use for a calf jack.


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## Wehner Homestead (Apr 21, 2018)

Very interesting! To each their own. It seems to be working for him, even though it’s not something that others would do in their herd.


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## farmerjan (Apr 21, 2018)

It is not common in beef cattle, but is there any possibility that due to your statement that the cow is a bit smaller and might be getting pushed away from the feed, that she is weak from lack of nutrients and being close to calving is just weak from "starvation rations" ?   What about "milk fever" or what is called Pregnancy toxemia in sheep?  It is due to their bodies pulling nutrients from their muscles and bones when they are close to calving.  "Milk fever"  is more common in dairy animals, especially Jersey's....  but could also be contributing to the weakness of a cow that is close.   Milk fever does not only occur right at calving.  Have had a few over the years that had to be treated both before and again after calving.  Sometimes more than a week before or after calving.  

Besides what has been suggested, there are several "gels" that can be given to animals.  They are for calcium deficiency - for milk fever, and different combinations.  But there is also one that is a  "high energy"  type that has propylene  glycol which will help any animal that is weak.  

I do think the hip lift might help to get her up and allow the blood flow back into muscles that  lose feeling... like when your foot or leg  "goes to sleep"  from being in one position for too long.  Rolling her over to the other side will help too but be sure you do not roll her over on her back.  Tuck her feet and roll her over her feet to the other side.  If you roll her over on her back, it could cause the uterus to twist or  for her to get a DA.


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## greybeard (Apr 21, 2018)

Wehner Homestead said:


> Very interesting! To each their own. It seems to be working for him, even though it’s not something that others would do in their herd.


Happens more often than we probably think. Most of the consumer end in-store purchase of beef is select grade beef, regardless of what we try to produce. He's selling beef, not pedigree and his potload of calves will sell every year. Worse that can happen is he comes up with some open cows one year and he'll have to change bulls. All the stuff about 2 headed  or 3 legged calves seedstock producers talk about is really a pretty rare occurrence. 
The only difference between linebreeding vs inbreeding is IF recessive traits show up. If they don't, don't go fixing what ain't broke. I personally go 3x, that's it.


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## Wehner Homestead (Apr 22, 2018)

We try to avoid linebreeding completely just in case a bull escapes, we aren’t in big trouble. That has happened. We had a heifer bred by her paternal half brother. Turned out fine but we were very guarded. That heifer was born last year and will be joining a friend’s herd. 

I also feel like bulls tend to get more aggressive as they get older and when they begin to challenge us...between ages 3-5 typically, we take to the sale barn.


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## farmerjan (Apr 22, 2018)

We keep bulls for many years if they produce calves that we like.  I am careful with the records to try to not breed kept heifers back to sire or grandsire.  If the bull doesn't get aggressive and his calves do good, we have been known to keep a bull for 6-10 years.  We do have different pastures to move them to and need several in the summer when we have cattle scattered at different places.  We just shipped a bull that was 4 or 5 when we bought him from a registered breeder.  They got him from Montana.  Used him 4 years and then a neighbor used him this past year on a group of his heifers.  He has BIG cattle and these heifers were big.  This bull was a very "easy breeder" and not rough with the heifers.  He started having some feet problems so he got shipped as soon as he was walking good.

We kept our Red Poll bull til he was nearly 13 and only then shipped him because his arthritis made it painful to get up and we would not make him suffer through another winter.  He had broken a bone in his hock joint at 6 and the vet said to get rid of him then, but said that if we opted not to, that 6 months of NO WORK and he might heal enough to use.  The joint was enlarged, but he did fine and went on to service cows for many more years.  His disposition was beyond reproach, he would come to a bucket and load himself into the trailer to go "visit the girls".  We NEVER saw him breed a cow, but he never had one come up open.  Any problem breeders went with "Bubba".  Both my son and I shed a few tears when we put him on a trailer to go directly to slaughter.

We do not find bulls get more aggressive as they get older but it could be because they are given enough work to do and then retired to the "bull lot" for several months or r & r.  But we are very conscious of their behavior, and any that show any aggession to us, leaves in a hurry.  I don't want that attitude in the calves either.  You never trust a bull, or a cow for that matter,  to turn your back on them, but they also learn that we are the "main bull" and that they have to yield to our will. We make allowances for a cow with a new calf and being protective;  and a bull that first goes into a new field with cows, so that he can get settled in.  But mean, they are shipped.
  Our biggest problem with older bulls is that they one day decide to "go across the fence" to a neighbor... then they won't stay "home".  And you are not going to stop them if they decide to go....
We have gone into other pastures where the bull has decided to visit and led them with a bucket of grain out a gate, up the road or into a trailer  many times. We will relocate them to a different pasture, but if they get out again, they go to the bull lot until they are shipped.


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## Wehner Homestead (Apr 23, 2018)

farmerjan said:


> We keep bulls for many years if they produce calves that we like.  I am careful with the records to try to not breed kept heifers back to sire or grandsire.  If the bull doesn't get aggressive and his calves do good, we have been known to keep a bull for 6-10 years.  We do have different pastures to move them to and need several in the summer when we have cattle scattered at different places.  We just shipped a bull that was 4 or 5 when we bought him from a registered breeder.  They got him from Montana.  Used him 4 years and then a neighbor used him this past year on a group of his heifers.  He has BIG cattle and these heifers were big.  This bull was a very "easy breeder" and not rough with the heifers.  He started having some feet problems so he got shipped as soon as he was walking good.
> 
> We kept our Red Poll bull til he was nearly 13 and only then shipped him because his arthritis made it painful to get up and we would not make him suffer through another winter.  He had broken a bone in his hock joint at 6 and the vet said to get rid of him then, but said that if we opted not to, that 6 months of NO WORK and he might heal enough to use.  The joint was enlarged, but he did fine and went on to service cows for many more years.  His disposition was beyond reproach, he would come to a bucket and load himself into the trailer to go "visit the girls".  We NEVER saw him breed a cow, but he never had one come up open.  Any problem breeders went with "Bubba".  Both my son and I shed a few tears when we put him on a trailer to go directly to slaughter.
> 
> ...




We have basically the same theory on docility and exceptions here for cows and bulls also. 

It seems like ours get comfortable with us and about age three we notice they get more daring. Another year of breeding and they’ll start to outright challenge you. This is our first purebred SIMM so I’m hoping he doesn’t have this track record! We really like him.

I do know people that buy older bulls or keep them until they have too many daughters but with only having 15-20, it doesn’t take long and can’t justify a second bull although I think we are going to bite the bullet and swallow the cost next year if having two.


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## Latestarter (Apr 23, 2018)

Ummm Can't you simply sell the one you have and purchase a replacement? Or maybe find another family and "trade" bulls for a couple of seasons? I know you're pleased with the bull you have and the calves he produces, but if you can't use him for breeding any of the younger stock that he's sired, why bother keeping him and still having to pay for a new bull for the younguns? I'd think it would be cheaper to just replace and start over fresh with new blood all the way around and not have to feed and maintain two bulls.


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## Wehner Homestead (Apr 23, 2018)

@Latestarter the jury is still out. DH would have more bulls than I have intact bucks (6) at the moment if I didn’t put my foot down. Lol


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## ducks4you (Apr 25, 2018)

IS the cow up or not?!?!?!?  If that was a horse, she would be a goner by now.


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## RoahT (Apr 25, 2018)

We had a cow that was down from milk fever for 2 weeks and she's now pregnant and has only a slight limp to show for being down. For those two weeks we turned her twice a day, rubbed her legs with essential oils and exercised them every couple of hours. We also built a lift similar to what you can find online called Upsi-Daisy and stood her up for short amounts of time at first and then lengthened the time and also how much weight we let her put on her own legs. It was probably over a month until she was totally back up and walking on her own, and even after that we had to be careful with her and take care of some "bed-sores" that she had from being down so long. It was a long process, but she was a champ and God worked a miracle!


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