calf death per year

[plbcattle]

last year i didn't lose 1 calf. this year I have lost 3. I know the reason on 2. I had a 3 1/2 month heifer weight 350 lbs die yesterday. she was healthy as an ox the day before. checked on cows today and she is stone dead. what is your precentage of calf death per year for any various reasons. thanks

 

[skyeagle]

haven't lost calf in 3 years , look for poisoning or foreign objects.

 

[Cattle Rack Rancher]

Maple Leaf Screwin the Pooch

Do you actually work on the cutting floor at Maple Leaf? I thought they were a Canadian company.

 

[jcissell]

I have lost 4 calves and 2 cows this year. It's been kinda rough this year for us. We lost 1 calf early b/c it was stillborn and 2 around Christmas b/c they were born during the extremely cold weather we had and had frozen to death before I got back down to get them. The 4th was lost the same week but b/c the momma was trying to hurt me and I couldn't help her. We lost one cow b/c she was old and we should have culled her along time ago and the other slipped down in the mud and got pinned under the fence one night. When we checked the next day it looked like she had put herself into shock and was almost dead when we got there.

Josh

 

[certherfbeef]

How was the heifer laying when you found her? Do you feed hay in rings or have deep ruts of hills in your pasture.
What I am getting at is stupid cattle...
I lost a healthy breeding age heifer earlier this fall because she laid down hill. Lost her mother last winter because she laid on an old patch where I had fed hay, got her back down off the edge of the pile and by evening she was dead.

 

[jcissell]

Our cows are on the levee bording the mississippi river so of course it is sloped. She was at the bottom and it was really muddy. I guess it was at enough of an angle that it was so slick she couldn't push herself out from under the fence. The mud around her for several feet looked as if she had struggled for sometime. We had another do this Tuesday but my dad got to her in time and she is doing fine now.

Josh

 

[jgn]

Last year was a pretty good year, I lost 2 to illness and 1 stillborn, large calf and evidently an all night attempt at delivery which never happened till I pulled it. With all the rain we've gotten this week and as wet as it has been it could start out ugly this year.

 

[Campground Cattle]

None in seven years.

 

[docgraybull]

I don't know about a "calf" loss percentage in and of itself, but an overall yearly death rate of 2 percent is acceptable. Some years will be higher and some years will be lower. If you're raising sorry cattle, old cattle, "trader" type cattle, or calving out a high percentage of heifers, then your "acceptable" death rate may be higher.

 

[dun]

I don't know about a "calf" loss percentage in and of itself, but an overall yearly death rate of 2 percent is acceptable. Some years will be higher and some years will be lower. If you're raising sorry cattle, old cattle, "trader" type cattle, or calving out a high percentage of heifers, then your "acceptable" death rate may be higher.

The only part I wuould change would be "acceptable" to "expected"

dun

 

[nrs farm]

Here's a website that addresses death loss in feedlot cattle. Some interesting notes they found, one being the increase in death loss the last few years of the study (2002) throughout the industry despite all the meds we use.

http://www.beeflinks.com/deathlossnormal.htm

 

[plbcattle]

do any of you follow the rule of only the strong survive. by that I mean that if a cow has a calf she needs to raise that calf and if she doesn't it was meant to be. I lost a calf that I couldn't get to. teh momma about got a couple of us. I even drove my ford f-250 crew cab desiel about 2 feet from the calf and she wouldn't let me out of the truck and left me a few get out of here bumps. she is about 1600 lbs and was set on hurting someone. she was this way with her last calf but after a couple of weeks she is back to normal. I want cows that raise unassisted calves. am I wrong for not intervening

 

[Beefy]

We normally lose 4 or less a year. thats still 97.5% so not too bad, considering we have so many heifers. last year we had one hiplocked heifer that calved at night, deep in the woods, and had an enormous calf out of a bull she had no business being bred to (whoops.) and then another "dummy" calf that apparently never nursed. and our first calves were a set of twins that both were dead when i found them first thing in the morning and early according to the breeding date. to be expected with twins i guess. I will intervene if i have to as far as pulling a calf, or teaching one to nurse, or teaching a heifer to be a source of milk ("mom?") until her first calf is weanable. one of my favorite cows is a 14 year old angus who lost her first calf trying to deliver it. She wanted to be a mom so bad we got her a holstein bull to raise the first year and she has raised 12 excellent calves in all so far. we have lost zero out of 160 before but then there are those that you cant do anything about. I try to keep an eye on them as much as possible during calving season but cant hold their hands the whole time. nor should i have to.

PLB-yes. you should have intervened her butt to the salebarn.

 

[Hutch]

.//

 

[dun]

Hiplocked is a situation when the hips are just a little too wide to easily slip through the pelvis. If you rotate the calf about 1.4 turn, sometimes as much as 1/2 they'll usually just slip right out.
A few years ago we had an old cow that had a hip locked calf. She was standing up and started swingin her butt from side to side and the calf swung like a pendulum. Second or third swing and the calf came flying out.
I'm frequently amazed at what a cow will do instinctively.

dun

 

[hillbilly]

Hiplocked is a situation when the hips are just a little too wide to easily slip through the pelvis. If you rotate the calf about 1.4 turn, sometimes as much as 1/2 they'll usually just slip right out.
A few years ago we had an old cow that had a hip locked calf. She was standing up and started swingin her butt from side to side and the calf swung like a pendulum. Second or third swing and the calf came flying out.
I'm frequently amazed at what a cow will do instinctively.

dun

Last year had an older cow with a calf with one front leg back.
One leg and the calves nose sticking out.
I went to the house to get some help, when I returned she was throwng herself to the ground.
She would get up stand there till the next contraction then
just flop on her side like she just took a 30'06 to the head.
After the contraction ended she would stand again.
On the fourth flop she blew that calf out past the shoulder.
mom and babe were fine.
They may or maynot be smart but the have good strong instincts.

Hillbilly

 

[dun]

Had a cow do the same thing a couple of years ago except all I could see was one foot. She kept getting up and throwing her self down. I finally went and a rope so I could secure her to pull the calf. The last time she flopped down, out came the other foot. One contraction and the head and neck, next contraction the rest of the calf. The cow was a little slow getting up, but the calf jumped to it's feet and started dancing around the cow still laying on the ground. All of that particular bulls calves were the livliest I've ever seen.

dun

 

[ollie]

Looks like in this discussion the first liar don't stand a chance. Ease up I'm just joking. I had a cow with a leg back and I caught my collie dog giving her the Heimlich . Spit the calf right out of her mouth like a piece of dry chicken. And that's the truth.

 

[Craig-TX]

LOL. Surprised you didn't claim the bull was holding her hoof, counting and helping her time her breathing. If you ever catch him doing that he'll owe you a cigar.

Craig-TX

 

[docgraybull]

Looks like in this discussion the first liar don't stand a chance. Ease up I'm just joking. I had a cow with a leg back and I caught my collie dog giving her the Heimlich . Spit the calf right out of her mouth like a piece of dry chicken. And that's the truth.

Hilarious!