Calf born dead this morning

[just learnin]

I have followed the board for a year. I hoped I would never be asking these questions.
We had our first calf on the ground in Oct.
This was our second one and first time heifer.
This took place between 7:18 and 8:00 this morning.
Husband seen the head and feet and in less than five minutes later calf was out, but unresponsive. He noted unbilical cord was not attached. He opened mouth and didn't see any blockage. He messaged the chest, held it upside down and shook it, etc.
This was a two year old Brangus heifer and her first calf. She was bred by a Brangus bull. We were concerned and watching closely.
She was over weight. She was due on the 25 of December. She wasn't bagging up.
We are not sure how long she was in labor.
Placenta came partially out right after the calf, but still has not completely came out and she is still laying down licking the calf.

Questions: 1. Should we try to get the cow up?
2. What should we do with the calf?
(She doesn't want us near it now)
3. Do you think the calf died during prolonged birth?
4. Is the umbilical usually attached at birth?
5. Any advise?

 

[ALACOWMAN]

get her up and check for twins. aside from being minerial difficient if not she should clean house on her own. sometimes this will happen with difficult births but i wouldnt sleep though till i got her up and checked her if it is twins the longer you wait by the way i forgot the cord snaps at birth

 

[randiliana]

I have followed the board for a year. I hoped I would never be asking these questions.
We had our first calf on the ground in Oct.
This was our second one and first time heifer.
This took place between 7:18 and 8:00 this morning.
Husband seen the head and feet and in less than five minutes later calf was out, but unresponsive. He noted unbilical cord was not attached. He opened mouth and didn't see any blockage. He messaged the chest, held it upside down and shook it, etc.
This was a two year old Brangus heifer and her first calf. She was bred by a Brangus bull. We were concerned and watching closely.
She was over weight. She was due on the 25 of December. She wasn't bagging up.
We are not sure how long she was in labor.
Placenta came partially out right after the calf, but still has not completely came out and she is still laying down licking the calf.

Questions: 1. Should we try to get the cow up?
2. What should we do with the calf?
(She doesn't want us near it now)
3. Do you think the calf died during prolonged birth?
4. Is the umbilical usually attached at birth?
5. Any advise?

1. Do your best to get her up. The sooner she is on her feet the better. Plus then the weight of the placenta will help her to clean.
2. I would get rid of the dead calf. Take it far enough that she cannot still find it. This will make it easier if you plan to adopt a calf on her.
3. The calf could have died during birth. Could have been stillborn, or even have had the sack over its nose.
4. The umbilical cord may or may not be attached at birth. As long as the calf was coming forwards the umbilical cord shouldn't have affected the outcome.
5. The length of time the birth took doesn't seem too long. I would think that the calf was born dead and that there is nothing you could have done about it. I would check her for twins too, especially if the calf seems pretty small.

 

[Wick]

You need to get the cow up ASAP. If they lay around could cause more problems later. The sooner they get up the better. I would skin the dead calf from shoulder to hips and cut some small holes in each side of the skin and tie it onto a replacement calf with baler twine. The cow should take the replacement calf. This works most of the time and not always. She may need coaching to accept the new calf but the hide from the dead calf will definatly help. If you check for twins and all is clear she should clean within a day or so if not try 5-6 cc Lut. This should help her to clean. Sorry for the loss.

 

[just learnin]

Thanks so much for the replies.
We did get her up and she appears fine.
She drank water and ate some feed. She than went back to where the calf was and won't leave.
We can't get her to where we can check for another calf. We was gonna take her in to the vet, but she refuses to leave that spot. She has charged us a few times.

We may try to graft a calf on her. We can get a dairy calf to day. I am scared she won't take to it.
She is a first time heifer and she appeared to have good mother instincts.

Do you think it would be worth the try to put another calf on her.

We may have other cows bred by this same bull. He has jumped the fence several times.
I believe are other heifers took to AI or bred by our Red Brangus bull.

Thanks again

 

[ALACOWMAN]

Thanks so much for the replies.
We did get her up and she appears fine.
She drank water and ate some feed. She than went back to where the calf was and won't leave.
We can't get her to where we can check for another calf. We was gonna take her in to the vet, but she refuses to leave that spot. She has charged us a few times.

We may try to graft a calf on her. We can get a dairy calf to day. I am scared she won't take to it.
She is a first time heifer and she appeared to have good mother instincts.

Do you think it would be worth the try to put another calf on her.

We may have other cows bred by this same bull. He has jumped the fence several times.
I believe are other heifers took to AI or bred by our Red Brangus bull.

Thanks again

personally with her being a first calver i would chaulk it up to bad luck and rebreed her. no sence dragging her down with a graft on. if she were a cow thats another thing

 

[Jogeephus]

Stuff happens. Get rid of calf. Give heifer another chance, I'd be willing to buy you a Coke if she isn't that much better a mother for it next year.

 

[preston39]

just...,
Get the mother away from the calf and dispose of it. Two pick up trucks in a v formation between her and the calf works great. One truck can traverse back and forth while the calf is being loaded. If she is agressive be ready to dive under a truck. LOL

We have a 8' x 6' cyclone fence box on a three point hitch for such instances when we can get to the calf for weighing,etc.

Skin it if you wish and put it on another calf ASAP. It works. Also, in lieu of the skin if you can milk her in a head catcher and wipe the milk on the new calf's head down the back to tail head and hips at each feeding she will most likely accept it also. Three/four days and it will be her own.

 

[*Cowgirl*]

I wouldn't bother grafting a calf onto a 1st heifer. Just rebreed her. She sounds like she'd've been a good momma, protecting the dead calf and all. Sorry for your loss.

 

[Wewild]

just...,
Get the mother away from the calf and dispose of it. Two pick up trucks in a v formation between her and the calf works great. One truck can traverse back and forth while the calf is being loaded. If she is agressive be ready to dive under a truck. LOL

Seems like alot of trouble. We don't have much experience with dead calves but on the rare occasion we use one truck. The one we went to check them with.

 

[randiliana]

just...,
Get the mother away from the calf and dispose of it. Two pick up trucks in a v formation between her and the calf works great. One truck can traverse back and forth while the calf is being loaded. If she is agressive be ready to dive under a truck. LOL

If she is this aggressive as a 2 year old I would be shipping her. The calm ones are dangerous enough (especially to someone inexperienced). She won't be calmer next year, she will be worse.....

 

[Victoria]

just...,
Get the mother away from the calf and dispose of it. Two pick up trucks in a v formation between her and the calf works great. One truck can traverse back and forth while the calf is being loaded. If she is agressive be ready to dive under a truck. LOL

If she is this aggressive as a 2 year old I would be shipping her. The calm ones are dangerous enough (especially to someone inexperienced). She won't be calmer next year, she will be worse.....

Glad someone said it.

Don't bother trying to put a calf on her. A cow that is charging you is not worth the trouble. I don't like bringing in calves from another herd anyway. You never know what they will bring with them that your calves are not immune to.

To get the calf away from the cow I would sit in the back of the pickup with someone else driving. Make a loop and swing it down to hook on a foot. Now you can either just hold on to the calf and have the driver take off. Or you can hoist the calf up by one or two ropes on the legs. This way you are not out of the vehicle and you have someone driving in case the cow decides to jump in the back of the truck, which some do. We've done this before. It works well as long as you haven't parked on the dead calf, don't ask. :roll:
The cow will probably run after you but you will lose her eventually. Watch yourself out in the field with her afterwards. She sounds aggressive and she may believe you stole and killed her calf and want revenge. Watch her closely. If she is the type to hunt don't fatten her up and rebreed before you sell her, just get rid of her now.

 

[backhoeboogie]

If you are going to graft another calf on, hang on to the placenta if you can. Rub it all over the new calf. Put the cow in the chute. Don't be surprised if she is proctective of the new calf when she smells it. Don't be surprised if she has nothing to do with the new calf either.

 

[just learnin]

Thanks for all the information.
We got the calf buried with no problems.
The cow is doing fine. She has rejoined the herd, but has returned to the spot where she calved. She appears to be mourning her loss.
We are not sure if we will retain her or get rid of her.

 

[Alan]

I agree with a couple of other post, ship her. Why keep a cow that will run over you? Do you really want to wait until someone gets hurt? I agree, as a two year old she will get worse not better.

Alan

 

[Gale Seddon]

just learnin, I am sorry to hear about the calf. I am not sure why some are saying she'll be worse next time. I've read posts complaining about first-time mothers NOT knowing what to do. Sounds to me like she knew AND tried to do what she should. I think she was being maternally protective by trying to keep you away from the calf initially and further by returning to the place where she calved; her calf is gone and that particular spot is the closest she can get to it. If she had calved and headed off to join the herd instead of staying with her calf, that would be a different story. Sure, I'd be cautious around her too, until she settles down and joins the group full-time, but I personally would not sell her for showing strong mothering instincts. I bet she'll do fine next time.

 

[just learnin]

Thanks for all the help and concern.
It is tuff. This was our second calf. First one had no problems, I was in Houston when it was born.
We have no more due until February.
I know sometimes things just happen. I worried about this one. Checked on it four times a day. If we had got out there earlier, we might could of helped, but maybe not. So I am not gonna go there. I just pray the rest get on the ground healthy.
We will most likely ship this one. Safety comes first. She may very well get a live calf on the ground next time around and I believe she would have been a good mother, but she is to friendly and pushy. She is hard to move, because she isn't scared. I can't even get the dog to move her very well.

Thanks again,
just learnin

 

[Alan]

I don't think the couple of post are saying she won't get better as a mother, I'm saying she well just get more aggressive as she gets older. If you have a hard time moving her, most likely in her mind she is ahead of you in the pecking order. I think you are wise to ship her, too many better mannered cows out there.

Just curious, did you have this cow as a calf and if so was she a pet?

Alan

 

[dun]

And now for a different opinion. A lot of heifers are nutty when the first calve, a dead calf just accentuates. If she settles down, no harn - no foul. I'ld rather have a heifer a little agressive defending her calf then a lazy lout that walks away and doesn;t take care of it. Heifers that don;t take care of their first calf aren;t generally going to do any better with subsequent calves. An overly protective heifer usually settles down. A heifer has brand new hormones flashing around in her, she had the pain of something strange happening and now there is this lifeless lump that instinctively she knows should be moving and it isn;t. Charging is her only method, since the calf can;t run with her, to protect her calf.
If you keep her, keep an eye on her next year around calving. We have a couple of cows that I don;t mess with their calves for the first day or 2, after that you can do anything you want with them. Depends on the cow/heifer

dun

 

[Victoria]

I'm glad to hear that you are shipping her. Cows are supposed to protect their calves against predators, not from the person that feeds them. A cow that isn't smart enough to know the difference should be hamburger. It is tough to lose a calf and when it happens it is good to ask the question "What could I have done differentlY?" it's how you improve. After answering though don't beat yourself up, just move on to the next. Not all are meant to live. Glad to hear the calf is safely buried.