Dead calf

[Findleyfarms]

Well my perfect record for the year has been broken. I checked the cows before dark last night and didn't see any signs of impending birth. This morning I find a calf frozen to the ground. Sigh. My red angus cows are just so difficult to detect labour in. I moved two cows to the cow/calf side after watching changes in the vaginal area (swollen and floppy), only one had a full udder. The one with the empty udder really didn't appear all that pregnant and my hubby even doubted she was going to calf. I trusted the signs I had seen and moved her. She was the one who gave birth last night.

Without a vet is there anything I should look for to know if it was stillborn? It is laying in the now frozen puddle of water from the mom and doesn't look like it had moved from where it had been born. Without having been there all I have are questions...was it the calf or the mom? I'm just heartbroken.

Any red angus folks out there? This is the second red to give birth with no signs of labour, no mucous, no mooing, no going off on their own, no laying down, and they seem to eat great right up to the birth. Any advice on detecting labour in these girls?

 

[dun]

http://cattletoday.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=39387

We had 3 surprises last year. One the cow didn;t even bag by 8 pm when I checked her, at 7 am she was bagged tight and a dead calf on the ground. The other 2 I checked on them and nothing a couple of hours later calves running around after them. Most times we can tell, but most times we know the breeding dates so we are more observent. These 3 where all Red Angus, but the same thing has happened occasioanlly with black Angus, F1 Red Angus Gelbvieh and F1 Red Angus Hereford. You just can;t catch them all.

 

[Findleyfarms]

Thanks for the link Dun, I'll keep it for reference. Unfortunately I can't do any cutting as it is literaly frozen to the ground. I'm going to need the backhoe to get it off, and it may not come off in one piece (sorry for being graffic). No bag over the head though.

I know I can't get them all but....dang!

Unfortunately my adopted herd has had constant bull presence for years so I can't tell by the dates this year...but next year I'll know.

 

[dun]

Lack of the bag doesn;t mean anything. Any decent cow will clean a calf, dead or alive or half decomposed. That's in their job description

 

[Findleyfarms]

I suppose that was part of what I was wondering about...the mothering. The bag and placenta are gone but the calf didn't move from the spot it was born. I'll never know the answer to this but I'm wondering...did the mom try to get it up and moving? Did she clean it off or did another do it? I'll probably keep her to try again next yer but it would be nice to know if I'm wasting my time on her. As I don't know her history or even her age it's a tough call. Is she young and didn't do her cow job? Old and couldn't care? Or perfect with a calf who just didn't make it on a very cold windy night? I'm glad I can't tell if the calf was female.

I've made up my mind to put two things in place.

#1 Put a lights up on the barn so I can see in the confinment areas at night (Just sent hubby out for electrical wire!)

#2 Hook up some wireless cameras so I can see from the comfort of my computer whats going on out there. Hmmm this one may require a new thread of its own!

 

[Cowdirt]

Findley Farm,
Looking at the calf's feet will sometimes reveal if it was alive at birth. If it was, generally the hooves will show signs of wear,ie, scratches, breaks, etc,.

 

[rockridgecattle]

Sorry about the loss Findley Farms. Sometimes stuff just happens.
again sorry

 

[Findleyfarms]

Thanks for the reply's. After finding this calf in the early morning light I just walked back to the house. I've just got in from having a better look. The mom is still standing watch over it (poor cow!).

Looking at the feet I would guess it did stand up and therefore it was alive. I'm going to say it was born in the worst possible place, on the ice in the wind and didn't have a hope born at night out there. It was a female. It appears to have been well licked around the head and so I will not place any blame on the poor mom. Although she could have picked any on the numerous straw piles, the barn, or shelters to have given birth...murphy's law.

 

[Limomike]

Its amazing how some cows will choose a good place during the winters to calve; out of the wind, among a bunch of trees or brush in some good grass... Yet others will just have them out in the mud, wind blowing, cold snow, rain, rising creeks right by them..
Goes to prove the mentality of them is varied.

 

[Medic24]

I can feel for you, exact same thing happened to me just a couple of weeks ago. I checked her just before dark as I was feeding, and no signs of impending birth (doom) the next morning after a very cold and windy night with snow a blowing ten different ways, I found a frozen female 77lb calf on the ground just a few feet from the barn doors..............Somb*tch is all I thought as I had counted on one more calf out of this really fine cow before I culled her only due to TMB (too many birthdays)... she will get her ticket to travel within a few more weeks. Oh well. :cboy: