Abortion...

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

Well, one of my best recips lost her calf last night. She has an October embryo bull on her, and took another embryo back in December. Went to wean the fall bull calves last night, and while bringing her in with the calves I noticed she had placental membranes hanging. We brought her in the chute and sleeved her. Felt what seemed like a hard mass, so I called the vet (after hours, of course!). He suggested we give her Lute to help expel the pregnancy. She was 135 days bred. We left her locked up in the barn next to the chute overnight so I can verify that she passed the calf. Found the calf this morning, about the size of a small cat. Looks like it has been dead for awhile, and smelled a little. The eyes were cloudy, and the skull seemed misshaped, but that might be because she stepped on the back half of it sometime during the night (I could not tell sex because the entire rear end was damaged beyond recognition). Anyway, while she was in the chute and I gave her a shot of lute, we chalked her tail (procedure for all open cows around here). Kicked her out with the group of cows this morning before I left for work. Guess what? Her tail chalk was completely gone and her tail hair rubbed into a mat from being ridden! She was obviously in standing heat today while I was at work. So, that is odd considering she just passed the calf that night. I bet that calf had been dead awhile in her, and she was cycling already.
Anyone hear of that? Vet said it is likely a problem with the fetus or membranes, since we have never had an abortion this early (just one other one, due to giving a heifer a MLV vaccine toward the end of her pregnancy) and our herd is vaccinated and healthy. It was one of my top embryos (A Steel Force calf), so hard to lose. We will try another on her after she has time to heal... She is a great dam! She is the "ugly betty" cow we own that is my son's.

 

[branguscowgirl]

Sorry that you lost your calf. I have not seen that before. Anytime mine have come up open after being preg checked bred, they have slipped them early enough on and I did not see anything.

 

[Lucky_P]

FSR,
Hoping you and your vet submitted this calf and placental membranes - and a maternal serum sample - for diagnostic workup.
This could have been an 'accident' - but it could, potentially, be the first abortion in an upcoming storm. I'd feel a whole better about the deal, if it were mine, investigating and ruling in/out infectious causes - particularly if there's the possibility of 'getting ahead' of any more that may be coming.
We're seeing more and more Neospora abortions in our service area - I don't know anyone who's vaccinating against it, and I'm not sure that the vaccine is currently available in the USA

The 'heat' behavior is not unheard of. Hormones and scents are in an uproar.
I have, on occasion had problems with a mob of randy weanling steers really making a nuisance of themselves trying to mount cows that have just calved - and sometimes even trying to mount the newborn calf!

 

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

FSR,
Hoping you and your vet submitted this calf and placental membranes - and a maternal serum sample - for diagnostic workup.
This could have been an 'accident' - but it could, potentially, be the first abortion in an upcoming storm. I'd feel a whole better about the deal, if it were mine, investigating and ruling in/out infectious causes - particularly if there's the possibility of 'getting ahead' of any more that may be coming.
We're seeing more and more Neospora abortions in our service area - I don't know anyone who's vaccinating against it, and I'm not sure that the vaccine is currently available in the USA

The 'heat' behavior is not unheard of. Hormones and scents are in an uproar.
I have, on occasion had problems with a mob of randy weanling steers really making a nuisance of themselves trying to mount cows that have just calved - and sometimes even trying to mount the newborn calf!

No, we didn't Lucky. I even asked him if he wanted to keep the fetus when she passed it to check for anything and he hummed for a few seconds and said since there is no pattern he wanted to wait. He knows I am the first to get things checked out, and knows how well our cows are cared for here, so maybe that is why he decided against it (he does all of our herd work, vaccinating and stuff, since I like to have him out on other occasions instead of just emergencies). He knows our health history just as well as I do. You can bet if I have another (hopefully NOT) that all samples will be submitted. We heat check at least twice a day, so I will be extra close at watching these girls now. This cow seemed to lose weight over the last few weeks, and I had noted we needed to get her weaned so she had time to recover before her next calf was born. Looking back, I bet she went downhill because she did not feel good and we have been on junk hay with a tub (30% Protein ADM tub) to supplement the last 30 days, and I bet she did not get in to fight for the tub. She is a low pecking order cow.
He called me back today, and said just what you did about her "heat". It is just hormones out of whack, and that it was not a fertile heat. He wants me to lute her again in about 2 weeks, then bring her in for evaluation to make sure she is OK for another embryo. A full repro work up, so to speak.
I am pretty sure the calf had been dead for awhile. It was all white, the placental membranes were pale also, and the cotyledons were even very light brown in color, so that tells me no blood flow for some time. The tissue of the fetus was soft, and came apart when I was feeling around in it. I was trying to determine sex of the calf, but the cow had stepped on the back half of it completely crushing it. But the leg bones were very soft, another sign that tells me the fetus has been dead a bit of time before being expelled.
Thank you for your input. I was hoping you would chime in. I also have a call out to our embryologist, to see what he suggests. That is what he does for a living, so I want his input on putting another embryo in this cow.

 

[Putangitangi]

My immediate suspicion would be Neospora. Test her for it before you bother going through the whole process again, because if she's infected she's a pretty dead-loss recip.

 

[Lucky_P]

Neospora was my thought, as well - or, at least, the thing I'd want to rule out, and can be dxed with a serum sample.
If she's seropositive, there's a chance she'll abort on some subsequent pregnancies, and may pass the infection vertically, in utero, to offspring that survive to be born alive.

 

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

Neospora was my thought, as well - or, at least, the thing I'd want to rule out, and can be dxed with a serum sample.
If she's seropositive, there's a chance she'll abort on some subsequent pregnancies, and may pass the infection vertically, in utero, to offspring that survive to be born alive.

I'll call my vet tomorrow. See about running a sample.. Thanks