I have had a little rough start to calvin this year. Just getting a good start, and have had to pull 2 that were coming backwards and one that was breech, tail first. Was only able to save one of the backwards calves. What are the odds that 3 out of the first 15 calves would have abnormal presentation? Hoping the rest goes a little smoother.
Backwards and breech
- Thread starter bandit80
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:lol: :lol:bandit80":1xdhb4bu said:
Seriously I feel for ya. I've had to pull 6 of my last 10 on heifers. Only one was a mal presentation. The rest were just big. Dun is right, you've seen more this year than a lot of folks ever will. Hooe it gets better for ya.
Nite Hawk
Well-known member
were these heifers or older cows?
There is a story floating around that usually it is the older cows who have the mal-presentations due to they are "stretched out" from many calvings, and the calf gets "confused" as to how it is supposed to lay at birthing time, whereas the heifers are not "stretched out" and the tight uterus "inspires" the calf to try and lay in the proper position to get comforatable.
Maybe this is an old wives tale, but then maybe there is truth in it.
Any thoughts out there? More mal-presentations in old cows than young??
There is a story floating around that usually it is the older cows who have the mal-presentations due to they are "stretched out" from many calvings, and the calf gets "confused" as to how it is supposed to lay at birthing time, whereas the heifers are not "stretched out" and the tight uterus "inspires" the calf to try and lay in the proper position to get comforatable.
Maybe this is an old wives tale, but then maybe there is truth in it.
Any thoughts out there? More mal-presentations in old cows than young??
regolith
Well-known member
Can happen - this year just didn't follow the usual pattern of maybe one once in a while and more towards the end than the start. Lot of assisted calvings in the first half.
What are the odds that you call the vet for a tail-first calf and she arrives on farm and pulls three live calves (from two cows) before leaving?
One vet I spoke to thought it bizarre that I'd never had a vet-assisted cow get back in calf. This year had more vet assisted calvings than I ever remember and the whole lot are back in calf again. The one with the breech + backwards twins, got a saggy udder so I didn't bother to AI her. Turned the bulls in after AI and two days later she came on heat and hasn't returned. September calf if I keep her.
Nitehawk I'd say the opposite. More malpresentations in heifers. Older cows more likely to have 'stalled' calving due to milk fever, but those calves are presented correctly. Maybe the heifer calvings are just more memorable?
What are the odds that you call the vet for a tail-first calf and she arrives on farm and pulls three live calves (from two cows) before leaving?
One vet I spoke to thought it bizarre that I'd never had a vet-assisted cow get back in calf. This year had more vet assisted calvings than I ever remember and the whole lot are back in calf again. The one with the breech + backwards twins, got a saggy udder so I didn't bother to AI her. Turned the bulls in after AI and two days later she came on heat and hasn't returned. September calf if I keep her.
Nitehawk I'd say the opposite. More malpresentations in heifers. Older cows more likely to have 'stalled' calving due to milk fever, but those calves are presented correctly. Maybe the heifer calvings are just more memorable?
A cople of years ago we had a cow that was within a couple of days of calving to her AI date and I hadn;t seen her around all day. Went looking and found her some thick timberdown in a holler with a little tail haning out from under her tail. Climbed the ridge and called the vet to come and help then went back down in the holler to try and herd her up before the vet arrived. When I got there she was licking a dead bull calf with the hind legs folded up under his body. Brought the cow up just as the vet arrived. As long as he was here he decided to check and see if there was only the one and if any damage had been done. There wasn;t and there wasn;t. Settled to first AI service 30 days later.
i have seen the most freak malpresentations in the last two years than i have in my whole lifetime. i'm talking about head to the side, upside down, backwards, upside down AND backwards, legs down, one leg down,you name it. ive decided it has to be a bulls fault somehow?? never seen anything like it.
randiliana
Well-known member
We've been there. A few years ago we had about 10% of the calves were upside down. Then a couple backwards and other malpresentations. Some years are good, some are bad....
greybeard
Well-known member
Do any of you think it may somehow be related to 2012's drought?
We had drought pretty bad in 2011 and had no bad or odd calving problems with the few I have.
We had drought pretty bad in 2011 and had no bad or odd calving problems with the few I have.
Jeanne - Simme Valley
Well-known member
I've also heard - lack of exercise causes mal-presentation.
OP
OP
bandit80
Well-known member
Calves have all been normal sized, which is 65-85 lbs for me.
On the exercise thing, I am not doing anything different than i have in the past. They must travel a little over a 1/4 mile to get to water, and on warmer days they will graze on the pasture they are running on. It goes back a full mile.
On the exercise thing, I am not doing anything different than i have in the past. They must travel a little over a 1/4 mile to get to water, and on warmer days they will graze on the pasture they are running on. It goes back a full mile.
