Natural health care for cows

In short

• Look at the cow every day: is she eating, cudding, what's her dung like, how much milk, how does she stand and walk.
• Normal: temperature roughly 38.0–39.0 °C (100.4–102.2 °F), pulse 60–80, breathing 10–30 a minute, cudding 7–9 hours a day.
• Cow down and unable to rise after calving, swollen left flank, hard calving, spurting blood: vet at once.
• TB and brucellosis are controlled under official programmes. Abortions are reported; these diseases pass to people.
• Check feet 1–2 times a year; lameness is pain, not a "habit".
• No antibiotics on your own. Every medicine is written down, and milk and meat wait until the end of the withdrawal period.

What's inside

Chapters

1. Prevention before cure
2. A healthy cow and a sick one
3. When to call the vet at once
4. Compulsory: tags, passports, TB and brucellosis
5. Milk fever and ketosis
6. Bloat and swallowed metal
7. Feet and lameness
8. Parasites and skin
9. Natural support and the home kit
10. Medicines, withdrawal periods and a dead cow
11. Common mistakes
12. Printable checklist

Worksheets

• Treatment record with withdrawal periods
• Health and check diary
• Prevention calendar
• Health cost calculator
• Contacts and emergency procedure