The Loss Of Paulette

Mike and I had come across Paulette, our oldest cow, sequestered in the upper grazing field above the far, far field. She was no where near the rest of the herd that was on the opposite side of the hay field that had been harvested. She looked like she was resting in the tall grass, but we soon found out that she was not able to stand up.

We were originally worried that she had a broken leg as did the cow we lost earlier in the year. But Paulette did not seem to be in distress and her calf came up to nurse on her while she was reclining with her front legs tucked under her and her back legs folded normally.

Expecting a possible pinched nerve in her back, we used the device called hip lifters to raise her to a standing position with the help of the front loader on the tractor. The device looks painful, but it clamps down over the pelvic bones and ratcheted tight so it doesn’t slip. Hip lifters make it possible to raise a large animal easily without hurting them, even though it looks painful to watch. She had a very good appetite and wanted a couple of buckets of water to drink. After keeping her up on all fours for a good half hour or so, we slowly lowered her back into a resting position and removed the contraption so she could rest.

We repeated the procedure but the next day there was no improvement, or the day after that. She was no longer producing milk for her calf so we used the stock trailer to move her calf, #54 Hopper, across the river to the show barn where he got all the grain and hay he wanted. Luckily #54 is old enough to be weaned and he did not have any problem with the transition from being with his mother since he was hanging out with the main herd most of the time already.

The third and fourth day showed no improvement with Paulette even though we were lifting her several times a day. We realized that her injury was not her legs but something very serious with her back that was preventing her from being able to stand. We looked into the paperwork and found that Paulette who was born here on the farm,  was indeed 16 years old and that she had produced and raised 14 offspring counting this year’s calf. In cow years, that is quite impressive, but it also meant at her age that she was at a higher risk for unrecoverable injury.

On the fifth day of working with her and giving cow-sized aspirin, calcium, magnesium and selenium she showed no improvement and she was not able to withstand the pressure of the hip lifters anymore. She began losing weight rapidly. Not wanting to prolong her torture, we had to put her down. Paulette had served us well during her long stay with us and we are thankful for her contribution to the farm with all her beautiful, calm mannered calves.

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