Cattle Aborting

[Anonymous]

I have had cattle aborting this week. My heard is small so this is serious. I have just started to calf and 4 of 5 nice cows have lost their calves. Pulled 2 of them, were dead. The fetus are last stage gestation; hair, look normal (no deformaties, look ready to be born). The one that is alive is not well, is standing up now, but not sucking on own. Just wondering what is going on. Never have had problems like this before. I took blood samples and sent them in. Having feed tested also. Maybe this will be it, but it is not a good start.

[email protected]

 

[Anonymous]

have a soil analysis done, might be a mineral deficiency or a surplus of Kalium.

[email protected]

 

[Anonymous]

Is there an mold in the feed?? This could cause them to abort.

 

[Anonymous]

> They are not able to eat pine needles are they? Those are known to cause a cow to abort. Id see if a vet could do check on a fetus if possible? This is serious. 4 out of 5? Is there something in the water? their is also a disease of the cow that will cause them to abort, I cant rememeber the name of it. Maybe Dun or Vickie the vet will be on and can name it. Sounds like all of them are affected. Good luck.

 

[Anonymous]

They are not able to eat pine needles. That is an interesting point though, I will remember that one. When we took blood samples we also sent in a fetus. Today I have three new ones, all healthy, and I only pulled one but she may have had it on her own (didn't want to take any chances). We don't think it is BVD, red nose, brucellosous, or any thing common. Maybe I am out of the woods now and just had a run of bad luck. I'll see what the results of the tests are. Four calves dead, now I have no room for mistakes. Thanks for your help.

 

[Anonymous]

Is it possible that the heavy rains (I suppose accompanied by warmer than normal temps) started something growing in the pasture that then became toxic after the freeze? Isn't sudan grass the one that they can't eat after a freeze? I hope I don't sound ignorant, but that is the first thing that came to mind. Something started growing and turned toxic.

 

[Anonymous]

I havn't seen a rain since December. It's only been above freezing here for five or six days this winter. Right now it is 3 degrees. The ground has been snow covered for quite some time. It's a little bit cold here. If they had ate something toxic it would have been months ago. I'm still puzzled. Thanks for you help.

 

[Anonymous]

Late stage abortions are never good. You could certainly be looking at leptospirosis, bvd, less likely ibr, certainly brucellosis is possible, chlamydia, moldy feed....even toxins. I'd guess viral or bacterial as most likely though. Any results yet?