What if a newborn calf will not get up?

Answer 1

There could be many reasons to this, and one is as likely as the other:

1) You're too impatient. Usually it takes an hour or two for a calf to be able to get up. Some calves are more vigorous than others, depending on their breeding.

2) The calf went through a tough birth, which it needs the time to recover

3) It's a stillborn calf (born dead)

4) It may have gotten up already and has laid back down to go to sleep

5) He hasn't nursed yet probably because his momma won't let him

6) The outside temperature is too hot

7) The outside temperature is too cold and the calf is too chilled to get up or has frozen feet

8) The calf could be injured and unable to get up.

Answer 2

Other symptoms will help here, as there are many many different possibilities and reasons why a calf will not get up. Either the calf is already dead (a stillborn), or it is suffering from some form of malnutrition (i.e., rickets, white muscle disease, etc.) that is prohibiting the calf from getting up, it is still recovering from a hard difficult birth, it is injured from having it's mother stepping on it, it was born in the freezing cold and is slowly freezing to death, etc. If the calf is alive but will not get up, get some colostrum in it ASAP. With all the possibilities listed above, you will have to react accordingly. There's nothing you can do with a dead calf, except bury it, but if a calf is born in a cold environment, you must get some heat on it immediately: warm towels, a heat lamp, a blow-dryer, and putting it in your warm house is a good way to get the calf "defrosted" if it's really cold. Some forms of malnutrition can be so serious to a calf that there's nothing you can do about it. Contact your vet immediately if you have any concerns about your calf.