I was given about a 20% chance of survival to 4 weeks with this calf. Started out being incredibly low in glucose, to being sick and not being able to stand, to having a bad case of Joint Ill. This calf never got colostrum, he actually never nursed for 3 days until we found him wobbly in the field. His dam had a BIG udder. We were told by the vet that her teats were just too big for the calf to grab, interesting enough when his dam was slaughtered we discovered she had NO MILK at all. Huge udder and was completely dry. This cow also lost her calf last year.
We were persistent with care and went off label for pretty much everything. We treated with metacam, nuflor/resflor and trimidex for double the normal dose, 5 days we pushed to 10 days. We gave him electrolytes everyday for the first 5 weeks of life. We kept him in the barn at night and when it was cold and rainy. We kept him away from the herd until he was running again. We treated for pneumonia even though he didn't have it and we treated him as if he had scours, even though he didn't.
He is now 9 weeks old and is as perfect as can be, eating hay, eating grain and grazing. Now fingers crossed when I say this but it just goes to show that not all calves that didn't get colostrum and get joint ill are destined to die. Many people told me to put him down but, he is now a healthy, bouncing, happy cow.
. You have done such a good job caring for him. I have heard that calves can only live 8-12 hours without colostrum. With seeing this little guy survive he is a little inspiration.
