05/28/2026
So we had a scare with stinker.. 3 days post calving we bring the herd up for milking. Stinker and calf are completely fine. We had been checking for signs of milk fever prior to calving and post calving. Milk cows can suffer from numerous metabolic issues when they come into milk because their bodies are turning over so many minerals at once building milk supply. It’s a very hard strenuous process. Milking fleckvieh typically aren’t as prone to these one of the reasons we like them but not out of the question. A tell tell sign for hypocalcemia is cold extremities ears being a good point to check and feel for warmth. Her ears were nice and warm like normal. By the end of milking on the 3rd day right before we bring her in we noticed her back start to arch. And as she started moving, her back legs were unsteady. We immediately walked her to the cattle squeeze chute assuming she was either about to go down because hypocalcemia or ketotic. As soon as we got her to the chute she gets very uncomfortable and falls down. I took the opportunity to take our IV line and calcium glucanate and start the IV in her jugular vein. Calcium glucanate would take care of either possible problem. In about 5 mins we got the 500ml bottle down and 5 mins after that she was up and walking back looking for her calf. Looking back I believe she was in ketosis 1) being circulation was still good 2) milk fever they typically just lay down and then lack the muscle mobility to get up because their muscles lose the minerals to work properly this was more of a drunk staggering walk. 3) looking back and seeing the full context of the situation, it has been raining here for 5-6 days straight. When it rains hard dairy cows and most cows in general don’t graze much they stand off in the field with their butts to the wind or find shelter. With her calving in the middle of this rainy week she probably hadn’t eaten much before and after calving to keep up with her new energy surge causing her body to start trying to burn fat instead of carbs from grass. Cows do not run off fat like humans therefore by day 3 it was too much and her body was going down. Luckily she is such a fat cow which mostly likely really helped her. She has been going strong like it never happened she immediately went back to grazing and her and clove are doing well. Moments like this I’m so thankful to be prepared with supplies equipment and medical training from the fire service to give me the confidence to act and not have to rely on off farm vet services. Picture is about 10 mins after Iv’ing she’s up nipping some grass next to the barn and some alfalfa hay. Grazing dairy cattle is an art and a science there are so many things to take in consideration if they are to get 99% of their diet from grazing. Forage quality that’s ever changing through the year the month the day. In this case weather and the instincts of the cow, logistics of moving to and from the barn to areas that are ready to be grazed. And minerals that compensate what the land may be lacking.
