Dramatic Recovery of a Cow at Fowlescombe Farm

Amarylis, a Devon Red cow, was trying to have a calf in the middle of the night during July 2006. Unfortunately the calf died in the process and had to be pulled off. This was bad enough and we were all gutted. But the problem was made worse by the cow somehow doing the splits and being unable to get up and walk. We fed and watered her lying down, but no joy. We called the vet out a second time - he checked her out thoroughly and thought the worst - if she did not get up on her own we would have to put her down.

Amarylis in her net	And later leaning against the post to keep her balance
Well, John and I thought that we would have a go at saving her. From a previous problem with another cow we had a special net cradle. We used that to hold the cow up with the JCB and forks such that she could just touch the floor and with the back legs hobbled so that she could not do the splits again - all as agreed with the vet. We did this three or four times per day for an hour or so each time. (It took us 20 minutes to get her in it each time!) Each time we forced her to take fractionally more weight. At last when we tried to get her out, I lowered the cradle a couple of inches further, and she just walked forward, then fell. We had to untangle her from the net, then gave her a sharp kick on the bum, at which point she stood up and tried to walk. John hung on to her tail to help her balance as she walked about 20 metres. After that she was able to get up and walk on her own. For the first day, she very sensibly would lean against a tree guard. We sent the photos to the vet with the comment 'Oh you of little faith' - he was delighted that she had survived. PostScript - you will be glad to hear that she has made a full recovery and went in with the bull in mid Oct - three and a half months or so after the event.


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