MySpace-July 13, 2010-The Mud Princess

I earned a nickname a few weeks back.

I was out with Dr. Hasco doing food animal calls and having a rather nice, pleasant day when we got a call for a milk fever. It was only about a mile down the road from where we had a herd check and some sick cow checks so it was only logical to send me. Logical because it was JUST a milk fever. Easy enough for your first call solo said Dr. Hasco. He reiterated what I should do, showed me what I should give and gave me some directions. Away I went…

As I neared the farm, the farmers-a man and his two adult sons who were probably about my age were standing in the drive. The cow was down in the pasture they tell me. Good enough I though. Still no big deal. I drove into the pasture and realized that the cow had chose to lay down in the muddy creek bed. Sigh. Not ideal but I can do it. Still not a big deal.

So I get out and gather up some stuff. I ask when this cow calved. They didn’t think she had. Sigh. Well. I did my physical exam and then decided it was imperative for me to check and see what was going on with the calf. For all I knew, for all they knew, this cow could have dumped her calf in the pasture before deciding to take a nap in the mud. So I clean her lady business up and check her out. The calf’s head is right there. But not its legs. I know this calf is alive. I want to get this calf out alive.

So I get back there and set to work on seeing if I can get the calf’s legs up and get it pulled out. At this point, the farmer suggested giving the cow some calcium because it would be easier to manipulate the calf if the cow was standing.  I refused this suggestion at first because like I said before, I want this calf out now. As I was down in the mud and wrestling around, the farmer’s two sons were asking me what they could do, could they get me some things, and on and on. They kept referring to me as Doc which at first made me just wonder who this doc person was before I realized that it was indeed me! My boots were rapidly filling with mud and both arms were covered with mud and fluid from the cow’s uterus.  After a while, I found that it wasn’t working that well to try to get the calf pulled out. Plan B was to give the cow some calcium and see if she would get up and this would also give me some time to think and hope that Dr. Hasco would make his way there.

So I did manage to get a needle into the cow’s neck but it wasn’t flowing as smoothly as I would have liked. I could hear the farmer inquire to his son if I knew what I was doing. Luckily, the second bottle of calcium went much smoother.  At this point, I thought it was time to get the cow out of the mud. I asked what their (the farmer and his sons) plan was and the response was that I didn’t want to know. To which I answered to let me use the hot shot and we would see if she would get up. I shocked her a couple of times and she did manage to stand and then fell back down. At this time, Dr. Hasco showed up and laughed at my mud covered appearance. He told them that it was their cow and they could get her out anyway they wanted. It wasn’t pretty.

With the cow out of the mud, Dr. Hasco went about extracting a live bull calf. Several bottles of assorted fluids and electrolytes later, we did manage to get the cow standing and licking off her calf. We left the farm and this happy scene. I was allowed to go home as there were no more calls and I was covered in mud. Later, I learned that this cow (who was considerably old for a dairy cow) was found dead the next day. Sometimes it just happens that way.

[EDIT-Orginally published to Blogger on 7/30/11]