calf that coughs...

i have my 3 month old pail bunter holstein heifer calf who i notice is coughing a far bit, never had this before with any we have raised any suggestions what i should do with her or what it is? the steer isnt coughing only her...? when she runs, plays allot then it takes awhile for her to catch her breath... they are eating grass not dusty hay as well..

Possibly hardware disease, Put a cattle magnet down her throat and it should help. Dairy cows are the worst for eating things they shouldnt, and if she did eat something metal it can migrate through the wall of her rumen into lungs and heart and kill her. We put magnets down all our dairy cows as a preventative.

Possible other is pneumonia, they can get a mild case that just affects their lungs no signs of nasal discharge, etc. Take her temp and see if she has a temperature.

my friends is going to bring me a shot of Nuflor she figures that will help, if not then yea maybe she did eat something???! darn cows! no she has no nasal discharge

check her temperature also watch her breath. If she breaths out of her belly and has a temperature then she probably has pneumonia if she just coughs and doesn't have a temperature no need for nuflor, calves get coughs just like we do sometimes. If her temp is above 103.5 she should have some painkillers like predef or flunazine. Most important thing is to make sure she has lots of fresh air.

Don't know if the life cycle of a cow parasite is like a horse parasite, but at some point a heavy worm load leads to coughing as they exit the lungs to be coughed up, re-swallowed and the whole ugly process starts again. I learned this the hard way with a young horse who was VERY wormy, and at certain times, would cough. It was worms. If horses and cows are similar in this regard, it might be parasites.