Calf Death....Coyotes?

[TR]

The question now is, what caused the bloating?

dun

Well, the vet verdict is in, and he said most likely it was bloat that put enough pressure on the calf's diaphragm to stop her from getting air in her lungs.

That IS the million dollar question......Nearest I can think of is that it was that last round bale of heavily fertilized Bahaia hay that was put out. This would have been the first bale that she was actually eating on. I wouldn't have thought that hay would have done that, but the vet said that when the gut was making that transition to developing the flora necesary for digesting solids, that the high nitrogen (?) content can cause the bloating, and she was full of the stuff. From what I've read, the predisposition to bloating can be a heritable thing? That hay was put up two season's ago, and was stored in a hay shed, so I would think that after being stored for that long, its nutritional content wouldn't have been that high? The sad thing is that it was only supposed to be a hold over until I could get a delivery of the high quality, fresh coastal hay that I usually feed. This was my first experience with the Bahaia, and the older cows seemed to do really well on it. They actually preferred that old bale to the new one of coastal that I put out last weekend. The pasture that they're on is Bahaia too, and the little one had just stared grazing it. It hasn't started growing green yet, and it wasn't fertilized last year or this year yet to make the nitrogen content too high. I dunno......the hay was the only food stuff in her belly. It was clean and weed free, so I don't think there was anything in there other than the Bahaia that could have cause bloating.

 

[Tc]

that just dont sound right to me.bloating frome eating 2 year old hay! thats a new one on me.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Tc

 

[dun]

If it was stored inside it wouldn't loose that much of it's nutrient value. What I was thinking was the possibility of nitrate poisoning. I don't know if bahia has that problems. Sudan, and several others have the problem when highly fertilized with nitrogen. If the alf ate enough to prevent it from belshing, gas could build up enough to cause problems. I played these scenerios in my mind and can't come up with any other (semi)logical reason.

dun

that just dont sound right to me.bloating frome eating 2 year old hay! thats a new one on me.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Tc

 

[TR]

If it was stored inside it wouldn't loose that much of it's nutrient value. What I was thinking was the possibility of nitrate poisoning. I don't know if bahia has that problems. Sudan, and several others have the problem when highly fertilized with nitrogen. If the alf ate enough to prevent it from belshing, gas could build up enough to cause problems. I played these scenerios in my mind and can't come up with any other (semi)logical reason.

dun

that just dont sound right to me.bloating frome eating 2 year old hay! thats a new one on me.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Tc

Yup, it had been stored inside since it was baled. This hay was heavily fertilized, but I dont' know what with. I can find out though. Vet mentioned nitrate poisoning and enough gas buildup to prevent eructation and said that usually happened with heavily fertilized johnson and such, but put his finger on this particular bale of hay as well. He also mentioned that the little ones who are just learining their limits often don't know when to quit eating and will over eat at times?

Here's another question....are we safer off with high quality coastal hay, or do we run the same risk with that too?

 

[SPRINGER FARMS MURRAY GRE]

My neighbor has had cows that were down calving hit by coyotes, and they had the rear end eaten out of them (along with the calf). 8)

 

[Campground Cattle]

Craig is right about the kill method look for tracks coyotes leave only the claw marks off the two middle toes, a dog leaves all four. Buzzards start from the rectum or wound area. I have lost calves to coyotes typically when cow is in labor or the first day or two. Two and half month old is pretty big for coyotes, as they are opportunist. If you do determine that it was a predator consider a guard donkey as this solved my problem. It really doesn't sound like predator from your description.