1st Year heifer/calf born dead?

[SIMP221]

I had a first year heifer give birth this morning, calf was full term and looked normal but it was dead. any ideas or thoughts that may have caused this.
thanks for your input.

 

[dun]

Was it born dead or did it die at birth? How long was she in labor?

 

[SIMP221]

I'm not sure of that; when I found them this morning the calf was still wet and lifeless. it appears that it was born dead.

 

[dun]

I don;t recall how it is, but there is seomthing about cutting where the umbilacl cord attaches, if it's bloody or not will tell if it' was born alive or dead. Next time I see the vet, if I remember, I'll ask him.
We had a lot of problems in this area a couple of years ago becuase the sacks were so thick and tough that the calf couldn;t tear yhem when they were born. Ended up with suffocated calves.

 

[SIMP221]

Thanks, dun

 

[429421blkangus]

We generally don't keep back heifers that have calving problems their first year, and then very rarely do we keep a cow back that has issues either. There are so many varables involved sometimes you never know what it is, but our records have shown very clearly that past calving (or breeding) issues will crop up again in the future. I hope it is not something bigger and the remainer or your calving season goes better!

 

[dun]

Asked the vet about the still born or died at birth deal and the umbilical cord. If you cut right where it inters the calf, if there is a blood clot there then it was born alive then died, if there is no clot it was born dead.

 

[Chris H]

Another way our vet told us was to cut a chunk of the lung and drop it in a bucket of water. If it floats, the calf took a breath, if it does not float then the calf never breathed air.

 

[dun]

Another way our vet told us was to cut a chunk of the lung and drop it in a bucket of water. If it floats, the calf took a breath, if it does not float then the calf never breathed air.

Won;t work if the sack is too tough to tear and the calf suffocates, that was a real common problem in this area a couple of years ago. We had one early this year but I happened to go past just as the calf popped out intact sack and all.

 

[inyati13]

Dun, what was the reason for thick/tough sacks? Is it a breed related problem? Diet related?

 

[dun]

Dun, what was the reason for thick/tough sacks? Is it a breed related problem? Diet related?

We've pretty much decided it was a fescue related issue. Anyway that's what we decided to blame it on. Not all cows had the problem but one sack was so tough I needed a knife to open the sack instead of just poking it with a finger and tearing it.
Something else I thought about was the cows of ours a super easy calvers and possibly the calf squirts out so easily that it doesn;t stress the sack enough to make it easily tearable

 

[hillbillycwo]

Don't know if this will help you or not but...Lost a calf last season that was born dead that the vet said died during birth. Mom was a heifer that took to long to calve and she never showed she was in labor. She had a normal delivery this year and a healthy calf.