Dead calf

[boondocks]

Hi,
Found a tiny aborted fetus in field today. Looks to be about 3 mos old, maybe just a bit more. Was from within the last few days, as we just moved cows Monday. Trying to figure out whose, and what went wrong...

We had a steer that turned out to still have 1 testicle a few months ago (Feb).. Once we found it out, he was castrated in an hour, and our short yearlings were given Lutalyse two weeks later per the vet. The bred cows are due in about 2 weeks and were AI'd last fall and confirmed bred; due in 2 weeks, so seems unlikely it's one of theirs. (I suppose some sort of problem could have caused a lack of growth and miscarriage, but I saw no evidence of delivery in any of the bred cows, although one heifer is bagging up a bit ahead of the others).

So, we are questioning whether the Lute didn't work as planned, and caused an abortion but it took a few months? Not sure whose calf is was. Tiny little thing Seems like best guess for now is that one of the yearlings got bred just before the steer got, well, steered? He was about 9-10 mos old at the time.

There's a thread I recall (but couldn't find) about how Lute does not always do the trick, right? (Or can it take this long even when it does?). Also worried about retained placenta or other basis for infection since we saw no evidence of delivery or afterbirth....They are right by the house so I will keep a close eye the next few days.

Thanks!

 

[Putangitangi]

Was it pink and freshly-alive looking, or more a brick reddish leathery color?

 

[dun]

If lute worked it doesn;t take months for them to pass the calf. Aborted at that stage you may see no signs on the heifer that aborted other then may (and it's a big maybe) a bit of tissue sticking out of the vulva. To abort anything possibly over about a month bred we use lute and dex.

 

[boondocks]

Was it pink and freshly-alive looking, or more a brick reddish leathery color?

I think it was more the latter. Is that a sign that it died in utero and was then expelled?

 

[milkmaid]

Was it pink and freshly-alive looking, or more a brick reddish leathery color?

I think it was more the latter. Is that a sign that it died in utero and was then expelled?

No.... just that it's been sitting out in the weather awhile.

A measurement of the fetus from top of skull to tailhead (crown-rump length measurement) can give a pretty good idea of gestational age. If you're curious - measure it in cm, post it, and I'll let you know what it translates to.

 

[dun]

This may help a little too:
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=44910

 

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

We had a recip abort this year. She was 130 days bred, and the calf was the size of a rat, maybe a little bigger. We found her with her placental membranes hanging, and gave her a shot of lute and kept her in the pen until she passed the calf and membranes. It happens. Look for someone in heat in a few days to weeks, that will tell you who it is.

 

[Putangitangi]

Was it pink and freshly-alive looking, or more a brick reddish leathery color?

I think it was more the latter. Is that a sign that it died in utero and was then expelled?

No.... just that it's been sitting out in the weather awhile....

And I'd say yes, quite possibly died some time before being expelled. What are its eyes like?

 

[boondocks]

Was it pink and freshly-alive looking, or more a brick reddish leathery color?

I think it was more the latter. Is that a sign that it died in utero and was then expelled?

No.... just that it's been sitting out in the weather awhile.

A measurement of the fetus from top of skull to tailhead (crown-rump length measurement) can give a pretty good idea of gestational age. If you're curious - measure it in cm, post it, and I'll let you know what it translates to.

Thanks Milkmaid, and all. We had placed the age based on just that measurement (using one of the university charts) so hopefully it's not too far off. (We buried her/him). Mice or insects had chewed thru some of the innards so the two pieces were barely together. The head still looked snoutlike. Overall it was somewhat similar to this one but much smaller and the snout more pointed: http://familycow.proboards.com/thread/4 ... -fetus-mos. Probably half that long. Everything (so far as we could see in a somewhat dessicated, nibbled-on specimen) looked "normal." Cows all seem fine today, no sign of anything odd....We did see "Big Mama" trying to ride a steer yesterday, but she was confirmed bred and is due in 2 weeks and big as a house---still quite preggers....Hope we can solve the mystery.

Any chance the heifer that has bagged up early than the others had one underdeveloped twin she lost and the other (fraternal?) is still cookin'? Thanks all!

 

[Putangitangi]

Here's a fresh one at 149 days' gestation. Just under 40cm/15 inches. Note the eye is full, not sunken.

 

[boondocks]

Here's a fresh one at 149 days' gestation. Just under 40cm/15 inches. Note the eye is full, not sunken.

Thanks. Ours was maybe a bit over half that length; it had been in the sun (a few days probably) so it was more leathery and I couldn't make much of the eyes. The nose was considerably more pointed and overall way more desiccated. Difficult to see much detail in the hooves etc.

Still trying to figure out the mystery...cows are due in 9 days so hopefully we'll start to fill in more pieces of the puzzle.

 

[Putangitangi]

More dessicated could mean the calf was partially mummified before being eventually expelled. Your description of the pointy nose is interesting... anything at all like this?

(A couple of other pics here.)

One of your cows probably won't calve and from my experience, it would be wise to have that cow tested for Neospora. I've been dealing with an infected family in my herd for several years. It's interesting and troublesome and worth knowing about if you have it!