Do you have a sick cow or calf, but you’re not sure if you need to call the vet or give them medicine? Before rushing to the medicine cabinet, here are four tried home remedies that we use on our cattle!
Sickness with cows and calves on a dairy farm is to be expected. It comes with the territory.
Before shelling out (sometimes) big money on medicine or calling a veterinarian to come out, my husband and his family have developed four alternatives to try beforehand.
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Disclaimer
This post is not meant as veterinarian advice. These things have been tried on our cattle with successes and is meant to inform only.
Trying these on your own cattle may not mean that they will cure your cow or calf, and conventional medicine or consulting with a veterinarian onsite may still be needed if the cow or calf does not improve.
Medical Ailments
With the four home remedies or medicine alternatives that we commonly try for our cattle, here are the ailments we seek to alleviate before discussing what we use.
Diarrhea – This is where cattle’s digestive tracts are slightly off because of a virus or other bacteria, and they produce runny or liquid manure instead of it being usually slightly firm. It can be dangerous as calves especially are prone to becoming dehydrated because they lose so much liquid through having diarrhea.
Bloat – When cattle get bloat, it is due to a large amount of gasses being built up in their rumen and it hasn’t been able to escape. This usually happens when cattle are grazing on lush pasture.
Hardware Disease – This is where cattle ingest metal objects (nails, wire, et.) and it perforates the reticulum when grazing or eating chopped haylage or silage. The metal objects in their rumen can cause discomfort, and also cause them to stop eating, lose weight and decrease in milk production. In more serious cases, the metal objects can push into the sac around their heart and it can kill them.
Home Remedy for Cattle #1: Eggs
When calves are dehydrated from having diarrhea, or cows are off their feed and my husband is not sure why yet, he will give them raw eggs as a home remedy.
Eggs are a great source of protein, vitamins and minerals all on their own!
Giving cows and calves eggs helps ensure that they still have something in their stomach, and receive some needed nutrition.
To feed eggs to cattle:
1. Crack the egg open so you have the opened egg (yolk and white) in one hand. Or, have an assistant help do this for you.
2. Open up the calf or cow’s mouth with your other hand by placing your palm on the bridge of the nose so you can use your fingers to pry their mouth open slightly.
3. Place the egg yolk and white at the base (or the last part of their mouth towards the throat), so cow/calf will end up swallowing it.
4. Continue as needed for a couple days, until they start to eat on their own.
Pro tip: If you are buying calves from an auction, and you can tell they haven’t been fed at all (or in awhile), try feeding them eggs first. This will help get something in their stomach, increase their appetite, and it won’t be a struggle to get them to drink that first bottle of milk.
Home Remedy for Cattle #2: Soda
For any sort of bloat that happens in cows, where they have extra gases built up, my husband initially will give them 1 – 2 cans of soda.
It helps relieve the pressure, and most times my husband hasn’t had to use medicine, stomach tube or more invasive procedures like inserting a needle into their rumen to release the gases.
The thought behind this treatment is the same thing that a lot of humans do.
When we have upset stomachs, we choose something with some carbonation (soda, sparkling water, etc.) to help settle that “upset” feeling.
If it works for humans, why not cattle?
To feed soda to cattle:
1. Open the can of soda, being sure to remove the tab on top of the can as well. (This is so the tab doesn’t accidentally come off the can while pouring the contents in.)
2. Make sure the cow is standing up and then open the cow’s mouth slightly, using your other hand.
3. Pour the open 1 – 2 cans of soda down at the back of their mouth, so they swallow the soda.
What kind of soda do we use?
My husband prefer any dark soda, because it has the best results to relieve bloating. Any Cola (which is preferred above the rest!), Pepsi, Root beer are sodas to use.
Light sodas (like Sprite or Mountain Dew) don’t seem as effective to relieve the bloating.
Home Remedy for Cattle #3: Honey
Honey is a great product in itself for many different things including benefits for being anti-inflammatory, wound healing, and for helping heal gastrointestinal diseases.
When my husband is noticing cows have stopped eating, honey is his go to option.
Similar to the idea of feeding cows eggs, the goal is to have something in the cow’s stomach so they can continue receiving nourishment.
How do you get cattle to take honey?
You need to mix up a drench for them. The drench includes mixing the honey with warm water and alfalfa meal. The drench can also include eggs to increase their protein intake, since we talked about the benefits of feeding eggs already.
There are two ways you can choose to apply this drench:
- Purchase a drench gun, and insert the honey water drench to apply directly into their thoat.
- Have someone assist you, and use a small bucket to pour the honey water drench directly into their throat so they swallow it.
**Please exercise caution: With drenching it is extremely important to make sure you are putting it down their throat and not their wind pipe. This could make the fluid go into their lungs, and the cow could pass away as a result. We always make sure on our farm we give the cow a chance to swallow the drench for themselves to prevent this.**
Home Remedy #4: Magnet Boluses
For this last alternative remedy, my husband uses magnet boluses (or simply known as cow magnets).
Now, this is not something that my husband came up with or invented as a home remedy for cattle.
Cow magnets are something that he goes to and doesn’t hesitate about if he sees any hardware disease symptoms!
What he identifies as symptoms of hardware disease:
- General discomfort for the animal
- Cows standing up and down continuously
- Cows licking at their side/stomach continuously
Giving cow magnets are a good prevention and recommended before symptoms get worse.
It is always sad to hear stories from farmers who didn’t identify hardware disease in time. Cow magnets are a good prevention!
How to give cow magnets:
- Open up the mouth of cow
- Place the cow magnet into the back of their mouth so they swallow the magnet
- One magnet may be able to last for the entire life span of the cow. You may not need to reapply.
What if the cow doesn’t have hardware disease after all?
Cow magnets don’t hurt your cow. And they are a good prevention for the future against any hardware they may ingest.
Recommendations even include:
- Giving it to calves between 6 months – 1 year old.
- Giving it after calving. We find that giving cows a magnet after calving is a good prevention for any hardware that may have gone undetected, since the active “pushing” could aggravate any hardware in their gut.
If any of the above symptoms still persist, please seek out the advice of a veteran farmer or veterinarian.
What have you tried?
Have you tried any alternative remedies for cattle and had success? I would love to hear about it in the comments!
We are always looking for new ways to help improve the health of our cattle!
We have fed multiple differences species eggs as a home remedy for a weak animal or an animal not able to eat solids. It works great! Great tips!