Blood in stool

[FFAgal]

Hi all!
I've found this board very helpful with a multitude of problems and have another one I'd like to see if anyone has any input for. We have a small black/red angus cow-calf operation and this afternoon one of our heifers calved. The calf wasn't overly big, but we believe born dead. Heifer wasn't doing anything at 2:30pm when checked, but 4:00pm calf was out and already gone. It appears the calf defected and there was blood in the stool. We called the Vet and he won't be able to be here until the morning and would'nt (or could'nt) give us any input over the phone on what may have happened. We've been raising cattle for about 15 years and this is a first on us. Thanks in advance for any input.

 

[msscamp]

I may be wrong here, but I didn't think it was possible for a newborn calf to defecate until he/she has nursed and the milk has worked through the digestive system. Prior to birth, nutrition/waste products are handled via the umbilical cord. Any amniotic fluid ingested would be excreted as urine I believe. Is it possible that another calf might have defecated near this one? That's the only other thing I can think of.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Newborns do defecate - it's called ??cadium - it's almost black - super thick & sticky.
If you are saying this is the first unexplained dead calf at birth - consider yourself lucky!
Sometimes, a calf is born breech, small enough for the cow/heifer to push out, but calf was in wrong position long enough to drown. Sometimes, calf's umbilical cord is pinched/broken during birthing & calf dies. Sometimes calf dies and that's why she calves - expelling the dead calf. Many unexplained reasons. I was told, you can cut open the calf & cut a piece of the lung. Put it in water - if it floats, calf was alive long enough to breath.

 

[got_cows?]

I believe it's called meconium (that's what it's called in babies anyway). And yes it is very sticky, thick and black. The calf can have their first bowel movement still inside their mother, which is one sign of a difficult birth.
It's hard to determine the cause of death if you weren't there to see what happened.
In the past week we've had three of our calves born with the bag still over their heads. I ripped every one of them. Would they have lived even if I didn't? Maybe. But calves do have strange ways of dying. If it can happen, it will.
Good luck and let us know what the vet finds.

 

[dun]

In the past week we've had three of our calves born with the bag still over their heads. I ripped every one of them. Would they have lived even if I didn't?

Not a maybe to it. If the cow didn't get to the head and open the sack before the calf started breathing in the fluids the vet seems to think that 2 minutes topss before they either die(drown) or have sever lung damage and die soon after birth. We had 2 this year with very tough sacks that wouldn;t tear. Vet said he hasn;t seen anything like this before in such large numbers. I think that sometimes if you find a calf dead that is freshly born and all cleaned off that this might be the problem. In the past I alwasy thought they were probably still born, now I'm thinking it's the touch sack issue.

dun