Cow In The Creek, Oh My!

Right before getting ready for church Sunday afternoon, Shane decided to make one more round to check on the cows and goats in the back forty. Not long after being gone, my phone rang. When I noticed it was Shane calling, I started wondering....what's going on? As soon as I said "Hello", he said to me "Go to the barn and get the come-along and bring it to the back. We've got a cow down in the creek."

This ole girl right here had gotten down in the creek and couldn't/wouldn't get up.  Shane tried many different ways to get her moving.  None of them seemed to work real well. 

Not to mention the location she was at was extremely hard to get to with any equipment.  Shane managed to use the come-along, some rope and the tractor to get her out.  It sounds so simple, but I'm here to tell you I didn't think we were going to be able to get her out.  Shane would get her to a certain point, and then he'd have to move the tractor to another location to pull her in another direction.  This went on for a while until he finally got her up and out. 

The first time he got her out ( yes I said first time ) that crazy thing walked  straight back into the creek she'd been delivered from.  Shane decided we needed to get her into the cattle trailer and put her in the catch pen.  After much work, we did finally manage to get her into our catch pen.  

She was pretty weak, so we decided that she needed some TLC and medical intervention.  All we had on hand at the moment was LA 200.  So I gave her an injection of that.  Hey, anything is better than nothing.

I couldn't believe how large of an injection it was!  I'm so accustomed to injections for the humankind, that this LA 200 seemed unbelievably huge.  And for some reason, I have the craziest issue with giving injections to animals.  I was trained in nursing school to "dart" the needle into the area you are to give the injection.  I have always been very proud of my "darting skills".  Many times I'd had a patient tell me they didn't even feel the injection. ( That makes a nurse very proud, I must say )  Well, the first time tried my darting move with a cow, the needle bounced right off of their hide and I had to scramble to catch it.  Their skin is so much tougher than humans, so to give an injection to them, you have to practically stab it.  Not very fun for me, yet it doesn't seem to bother the cattle at all.  Goat's skin isn't as tough as the cows though.  Thank goodness!

Shane called the vet and he ordered some antibiotic boluses and an injectable dewormer because she had the scours.  We really don't know what got her down.  She was an older cow, but raised a pretty good calf last year.  Sometimes, you just never really know. 

For 2 days I made trips to take her water, feed, and hay hoping that she would get up and bounce back. Each time I headed back, especially in the mornings, I'd have an audience.  It was almost as if all of the cows would come to check on what I was doing their herd mate. 

 

Unfortunately, after much trying to get her back to health, she didn't make it.  It doesn't happen often, but sometimes it can happen.  And I have to say, it really stinks!   I hope it doesn't happen again for a loooooong time.