Help sickly calf

[goatgrl]

Hello, please be gentle, I am trying my best to help this heifer. My husband just had to have a few cattle on the property, so despite not knowing much we have raised some calves. We have had a Rancher friend who has helped us some, but he is a very busy man. Anyway, we have this heifer born sometime in February and purchased by us at a livestock auction. She is looking just awful. Shaggy coat, and rather malnourished looking. She also has a ton of weird bumps all along her neck. We treated her with Eprinex pour on in April. We are feeding alfalfa hay, brome hay, and 50/50 mix of grain of a 10% all stock feed and Nutrena Transitions for calves. The hay is put out twice a day, we are unfortunately pasturing them with horses for now while we work on fencing. We watch and make sure the cows get their food. I'm thinking she needs wormed again? Could have the vet out if necessary. Please help! first picture is Lilo, and second is our other heifer that looks great! I swear we aren't starving them!

 

[jhm47]

She is very obviously malnourished. How much grain/all stock/transitions are you feeding them? They should be getting 1 - 2% of their body weight in nutrient dense feed. Is the hay you are feeding green, sweet smelling, and fresh? Are they getting salt/mineral? How about their water source? Is it fresh daily? I would inject them with dectomax, Ivomec, or some similar dewormer. The injectibles are better for worms than the pour-ons. Is the thin heifer getting pushed away from the grain? I'd upgrade her ration quickly, and possibly isolate her from the horses and other calf for awhile till she regains some body condition.

 

[rude_mare]

Could the bumps on her neck be from wolves (warble larvae, cattle grubs)? We see them in my area this time of the year in wild animals and occasionally domestic ones. There is usually a hole in the middle of the bump if that is what it is. Parasites can really drag an animal down

 

[greybeard]

Looks wormy just looking at the hair coat mid summer. Should be slicked off and smooth by now.
X2 on the injectible wormers mentioned above, but if that is a problem for you, use the Safeguard pellet feed--comes in a package or bag that looks like this:
https://www.valleyvet.com/swatches/16581_S_vvs_000.jpg
Directions say Give each calf 1lb/1000lb body weight at a single feeding. (estimate her weight do the math and feed accordingly since she weighs less than 100lb--probably feed a little less than 1/2 lb is what I would estimate from the picture) Top dress it on her feed if you want to. Make sure she eats it all at one feeding even if you have to cut back a little on that regular meal. Repeat once, in 4-5 weeks.
Buy the 5 lb bag and you will have enough to do both animals twice, but again, the injectible is the best way.
Isolate her and get some groceries in her.
(safeguard does not kill grubs if that is what the lumps on her neck is, tho I suspect they are horsefly bites--squeeze on one firmly and if a maggot looking thing pops out, you have warble fly grubs)
Pour ons have a very low effective rate--not much of the medication gets where it needs to go.