Yesterday morning, I got a call from my dad to tell me that Molly, one of the dairy cows, was down with both her back legs behind her. I was walking and was about a mile from home...it was going to take me some time to get there to help. Thank goodness, he was able to get help to get her rolled to her side, laying with her legs right. By the time I made it to work, Molly had tried to get up and managed to get her legs behind her again. We rolled her again. Dad had already called the vet...so we just wait. Once the vet arrived, he gave Molly calcium, anti-inflammatory and antibiotics...just in case. He couldn't find anything physically wrong with her and assumed that she slipped or was knocked down. He did a pregnancy check on her and found her to be at least 7 months along...so at this point, we were working to save not only her, but the calf she is carrying. We've had lots of rain over the last few days and the mud is horrible. At this point all we could do was feed her and water her and leave her overnight.
This morning, dad called again. Molly had gotten her legs backwards again. It had rained overnight so she was laying in nothing but mud and water...just a horrible situation for her. Dad, Kyle and I got her moved again and set up. Dad headed to pick up some straps and hip lifts from family and when he got back we were going to try to get her up on her feet. None of us really want to deal with this situation...Molly is one of the most social cows we have and she is always in the middle of everything you try to do in the field. The thought of her not recovering is almost too much to think about.
Once we had discussed all the options for moving her and getting her up, Dad and I set out to get her taken care of. Unfortunately, Molly, had no intentions of moving. Once her back end was lifted with the tractor she never made even a slight attempt to get her front feet under her. My heart sank...I expected her to gain her footing and stand up, but she didn't. We used the straps and attached her to the bale spears on the tractor to try and lift her all the way up, hoping that she would try then, but she didn't. After nothing seemed to work, we decided the best thing was to get her moved out of the sun and the weather and into the lean to. She dangled from the tractor all the way to the barn. We set her down and rearranged the belt and turned her again with the tractor to get her slid around all the way under the roof. We fed her, watered her and gave her some hay...then we walked away knowing she may never get up. After talking to the vet again, he seems to think we have done all we can do...either she will get up or she won't. At this point, as long as she is eating and drinking the baby is growing and the longer the calf stays in her the more likely we will be able to save it. We've got a lot of days ahead of us...I keep praying that she gets up because losing her isn't going to be easy.
We had made it all day without eating so once we left work Kyle and I hit a drive through for supper. There was no way I was going to run in the grocery store. Today's activities had left me sweaty, stinky and covered in way too much mud and cow poop. It's been an emotionally draining day. I'm hoping for better tomorrow.
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