Clarabelle's Feeling "Under the Weather"

After the livestock shows, we were ready for things to settle down to normal around our little farm.  The rains came and never stopped falling, however.  The cows were all mired in knee-deep mud and were just miserable.  Then, all of a sudden, Clarabelle got sick.  She just began looking very lethargic and week.

Tricia called me at work one day to tell me that Clarabelle had fallen down in the milking stall and Tricia was unable to get her to stand back up.  Tricia got a saw and screwdriver and took the stall apart and was finally able to get her back on her feet. 

Sickly & Weak

Then she stopped eating her dairy ration.  She lost her appetite and the only thing we were able to get her to eat was alfalfa mulch and hay.  Clarabelle began rapidly losing weight.  You could count her bones.  Dairy animals are bony anyway, but this was alarming.  We were worried about ol' girl.

On Friday, Russ was off work, so he and Tricia loaded Clarabelle into the trailer and brought her to our veterinarian.  He's located about a mile away, so it is very convenient.  Our veterinarian put on rubber gloves and got a fecal sample.  Then he put it in a solution and waited for "things" to rise to the top.  He then looked at it under a microscope.  He diagnosed her with a high load of parasites.  Worms.

Worms are easily treated, but there are some medicines that cannot be administered to dairy animals or there is a long period during which you cannot drink the milk.  Due to Clarabelle's condition, he advised us to "dry her off" (stop milking her) and wean her calf, Astro.  During her sickness, her milk production had dropped to almost nothing anyway.  The vet gave us meds to give her that hopefully will help.

35 cc's by mouth should do the trick.  We administered it by using a syringe without the needle.  We held her head, stuck the syringe in the side of her mouth, and slowly pushed it down her throat, ensuring that none leaked out of the side of her mouth.

All we could do at this point was wait.  Tick, Tock...  I put up the temporary electric fence in the yard and she picked around at the winter grass.  Amazingly, she wouldn't touch the white dutch clover.  Pretty soon, she was ready to go back with the other cows.  Things weren't looking good.

Yesterday, I began to wonder if perhaps she had a virus and was running a fever.  I got the rectal thermometer we keep in the barn and lubricated it with Vaseline and then took her temperature.  It registered 100.5 at its highest.  A cow's normal rectal temperature is 101.5.  So no fever.  Perhaps we just need to be patient and let the meds work.

At last night's feeding, Clarabelle began eating.  Not a huge amount and not fast, but it was progress.  We fed her as much as she'd eat.  This morning, she didn't eat as voraciously, but she still ate.  This afternoon, she ate a little better.

Get Well, Clarabelle!

I think she's turned the corner.  Hopefully, she'll continue to get better and make a full recovery.  She has a lot of weight to gain back, but we'll keep working with her.  Get Well, Clarabelle!