calves coming backwards

[robinb]

we just got done pulling our 3rd backwards calf. the first 2 were out of 2nd calf girls..this one was out of a heifer. we only had 8 calves. 3 backwards? i need to know what could cause this..people say just bad luck, but i find it odd that we had 3 in 1 year. we saved the first 2..this one didnt make it. any thoughts?

 

[JMJ Farms]

I'd like to follow this. Pulled my second backwards one this year just last night. But that's out of 60. I thought this was bad odds. 3 out of 8 sounds like more than bad luck to me also.

 

[robinb]

i agree..i think there has to be a reason for it. but i sure dont know what it would be..i cant imagine it could be the bulls fault, so it must be something else.

 

[Supa Dexta]

Were they AI, did you put the semen in upside down?

jk. Is it a different bull this yr? Anything else out of the ordinary, weather or condition wise? What size are the calves?

I dont think there's any real set reason for it. Calves are shifting around in there for the first 5 or 6 months and generally get into proper position by birth. But it has been said it may be that calves sired by certain bulls grow too large by that stage of gestation when the fetus is still rotating and then dont get pointed in the right direction in time.

 

[robinb]

this year we used an angus calving ease bulls. none of the calves have been huge. we had no trouble last year with our hereford bull..but since we had more heifers this year, we thought it would be smarter to use the calving ease bull,.let me tell you, it hasnt been too easy!! someone mentioned the cows being too crowded at the hay feeder and possibly getting rammed around..i suppose thats possible. we plan to add another hay feeder but really, they dont seem to ever be shoving around too much..

 

[Supa Dexta]

I'd be more nervous of abortions from the roughness, more so than backwards calves. But some of these b.itches take a running start and plow right into the gut of another cow for no real reason at all. Hard to stop that, no matter how many feeders you have.

 

[Aaron]

we just got done pulling our 3rd backwards calf. the first 2 were out of 2nd calf girls..this one was out of a heifer. we only had 8 calves. 3 backwards? i need to know what could cause this..people say just bad luck, but i find it odd that we had 3 in 1 year. we saved the first 2..this one didnt make it. any thoughts?

Just the way the stars aligned this year. Had more backwards calves this year than the last 10.

 

[robinb]

well i guess its good to hear its probably just a thing...planning to use the same bull this year and was hoping it wasnt his fault as we do really like his calves.

 

[Margonme]

I have not had a backward presentation. I hope my good fortune continues. I cannot begin to speculate on your bad fortune and my good fortune. It is certainly not due to "living right" in my case. Hope your luck improves!

 

[midTN_Brangusman]

Were you able to pull the calves by hand or did you have to use pullers?

 

[HDRider]

You don't say, are you in Australia?

 

[Nesikep]

I've had a few backwards calves.. it seems to be a family trait to an extent.. I've had a couple older cows that have had a couple of them, while most of the cows never had any

 

[robinb]

i am in iowa. we hand pulled all three calves but it took 2 men. my next question is, would you cull this heifer? i dont really feel like this was her fault. but our more experienced friend says can her...he has alot of cows..we have 8 with 4 new heifers to breed this fall..so 12 all together. i hate to get rid of her, shes a nice girl..but i dont want to deal with this either..both cows had their first calves with no problems, then this year, both backwards.

 

[dun]

How big were the calves compared to the cow size? I would probably keep her and give her another shot. But I really like heifers/young cows.

 

[robinb]

there hasnt been one calf that was bigger than expected. they have all been smaller than our hereford calves last year. the heifers calf that we lost was probably 70 pounds.

 

[angus9259]

My first and only backward calf was from a 10 year old cow. I gave her another chance. Her calf the next year (from a different bull) was backwards too. I thought that was really weird. She's in the freezer now.

 

[Waterway65]

I wouldn't cull them as they will probably never have a problem again.

 

[goddy]

I wouldn't cull them as they will probably never have a problem again.

I agree - never seen anything to prove there is a genetic component to malpresentation.

 

[dun]

The reason I asked was the only time a saw a lot of backwards calves was large calves that I figured just couldn;t get rotated to the birthing position. So maybe it does just boil down to the luck of the draw

 

[angus9259]

The reason I asked was the only time a saw a lot of backwards calves was large calves that I figured just couldn;t get rotated to the birthing position. So maybe it does just boil down to the luck of the draw

If that's true you could manipulate your luck by having cows/bulls that produce large calves.