Today was much too much! Hubby came back to the house on a dead run only seconds after he went out to do the calving pen check. He was hollering Ripley is down. She is bloated BAD. She cant get up! I raced downstairs for the anti bloat bottle, scrambled into my gear & raced to the barn as fast as I could; skating across all the ice. There she was laid out with her back down a small slope & her navel literally pointing to the sky! On the biggest patch of ice in the whole corral!!! My heart stopped & my eyes filled with tears. This was a CRITICAL situation! My beautiful big eared girl was losing her grip on life...cattle cannot lay with their backs down a slope as it puts too much pressure on the heart and lungs. We had no idea how long she had been like this - perhaps since just shortly after the last check 2 hours previously or how it happened. I suspect someone shoved her & she slipped & fell on the ice. We quickly rolled her over, off her right side & onto her left side; her back was now higher than her navel & she was up on her sternum like she should be. The gas pressure build up was so intense her rectum was distented! Down her throat went the garden hose to bleed off the gas when it was evident she wasnt going to burp it out on her own. Hubby worked that hose like his life depended on it just as much as Ripleys did. We had to pick her up with the tractor because not only was she too weakened by the ordeal, she was on ice & would have thrashed herself into another wreck! We moved her onto dry ground & bundled her up in 3 heavy horse blankets, completely covering her; trying to trap as much heat as her shivering body could produce. I crawled under the blankets face to face with her; the tears flowing freely now, begging her not to give up & working acupressure points for shock. She continued to shiver & burp but could not bring up cud, so hubby ran a full bottle of calcium under her skin - calcium will start up their guts. Minutes after, she brought up cud! She is resting comfortably in the barn now - she got up on her own & wanted inside!!! She isnt out of the woods yet, but she didnt give up. We are waiting for a good healthy pee as well as a poop before we will breathe a sigh of relief. In the midst of all the panic & turmoil, another bull calf was born!
Posted on: Mon, 31 Mar 2014 03:07:47 +0000
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