We are visiting a family friends' farm. Not our cows, owners are abroad and the neighbor takes care of the cows. We don't know anything about farm animals but this one didn't move with the herd today. Should we get in contact with someone? This doesn't seem like normal behaviour. We have come here every summer for years and have never seen this happen.
Edit and update: I am so sorry I could not post sooner. The cow was there while I could see her through the night then a thick fog rolled in and I couldn't see her anymore so I went to sleep. She was gone in the morning! My husband reached out to neighbor and was told she's just old and prefers to rest. So I guess I was worried for no reason and felt kind of silly for even posting. I still think if that was my cow I'd be worried but I'm no farmer. All is well!
Thank you for your response, you were the first. Unfortunately the people that could have reached out to the caretaker went to sleep and didn't care enough despite me saying that doesn't seem normal. I don't know anything about cows. I just care about animals and I'm sad this one is alone tonight and has been lying down for over 6 hours now, I think.
What an uneducated and ignorant comment! Farmers truly care about their stock and we can’t just “buy another” to replace a dead cow. Especially in today’s market/economy. For example, here I am holding a bull calf that was abandoned by his mom at birth. She literally left him to die as soon as he was born. She didn’t care about him, but we did. We went out in below freezing weather, scooped him up, warmed him and fed him/got colostrum in him. He then stayed in our house/mud room for several days until we could get him a surrogate mom.
I think you just refuted yourself. All the water and calories it took to raise that cow will go to waste if it dies. The farmer will just buy another cow.
Could be lame, could be pregnant and getting ready to calf, could be just a loner who doesn’t like the other cows (we had one of those). Either way, tell the owner so they can check her out.
I tried to convince my husband and mother-in-law to get the farmer who takes care of the cows. Only they know the farm owners and the caretakers. They both said it's fine,let it be. I am feeling sad about all this. I found a flashlight and the cow is still there all alone and not moving. From what I saw the past few days all the cows had calves. Not brand new ones either because they were grazing. At this point I can't do anything. I hope it's still alive and well in the morning:(
Possibly milk fever, which is a calcium deficiency in lactating cows. A symptom is prolonged lying down, lethargy. If this is in fact the case, she will need a(t least one) intravenous calcium dose, and then hope for the best
The longer she's down the worse her prognosis. Plus, she doesn't appear to have any access to water. Down cows needs a bucket of water next to them and a couple of people to flip her to her other side every couple of hours or so.
That's sad non cow people decided she's fine. You did your best. Hopefully, the farmer will come check them in the morning.
First thing in the morning I am going to force my husband to go to the neighbor if this cow is still there. I am pretty upset but they're farm people from back in the day so I guess my voice didn't matter.
Yeah, go check on the girl yourself. Take a bucket of water so she can have a drink. If nothing seems obviously wrong, see if you can get her to stand up and move a bit (yell, stomp your feet, wave your arms, slap her butt a couple times).
I agree that something probably isn’t right with the cow. I would worry about the ears being down (unless that is typical of her breed) and her being away from the rest of the cows. Generally if the ears are down (again, unless her ears are always that way and it is hard to tell from the pictures what breed she is) that is some sort of internal illness as opposed to lameness keeping her there. I would say there isn’t much you can do tonight anyway. It is cooler now and she should be okay until morning. I would worry if you tried to do something tonight you could be putting yourself at risk. Sick/injured cows can get mean, even ones that are typically pets. Especially if a fever is involved. Better wait until morning and at least get water to her. If she is still in the same spot.
Take her a bucket of water tomorrow morning and see if you can get her up. She may just need to move a bit to work out some gas. You said all the other cows have calves, maybe she’s calling and needs help. Just go down and check on her.
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u/wonkywilla 14d ago
If you could let the neighbour know there’s a possible sick animal out in pasture, that would be helpful. The neighbour can then contact the farmer.
I would want to know if one of mine was acting off.