Fetus death/abortion observations?

[Putangitangi]

I'm having a bad start to (pre)calving. Two cows have produced long-dead mummified calves. I have a body in the fridge which is going to the vet this morning for testing, as well as blood from the two cows, to eliminate any infectious cause.

What I'd be interested in is your observations on calf death in utero and/or abortion: at what stage do you see most spontaneous abortions? Do you see mummified calves often or at all? Other than the occasional dead calf which has died just before or during birth, all but one of the half-dozen deaths/abortions here have been at around four months gestation and they've not been expelled until much later in the pregnancy. Is this coincidence, or a pattern?

 

[bandit80]

I have only "seen" 2 premature births in what I would call 12 years of having an active hand in cow/calf. That includes my herd and my brother's herd, about 150 cows/year. The most recent one was this past January. Calf seemed to be about 7 months along. The other one was probably 10 years ago, and the calf was maybe 5 months along, and the cow aborted in November. Always just wrote them off as "one of those deals".

Now as to those we haven't seen, who knows? A cow could lose her calf up to 110 days bred, and it would be next to impossible to see the fetus. 110 days, the calf is only going to be the size of a rat or so. Anything under 90, and you are talking smaller than a mouse.

 

[Putangitangi]

Thanks for that. I've seen only two (if my memory is working) 'fresh' abortions in my 13 years of about 40 breeding cows on my place and they were early on - found one body, the other was probably too small. It's these mummified calves which are interesting me in particular. They seem to take a while to come out, so can be fished out of the cow if you see signs of things happening which shouldn't be.

Vet says yesterday's body was probably dead by three months and would now be seven months gestation. All leathery and shrunken, only slightly smelly, hair just started on muzzle and a little above the eyes, otherwise bald, skull about two - two and a half inches across the top.

 

[Putangitangi]

Blood test results indicate very high Neospora. Three aborted so far out of 47. Fingers and everything else crossed, since there's nothing we can do but wait and hope. We've had a less-cold and far wetter season than normal; I don't know if that's relevant or not.

 

[Putangitangi]

Thanks for the link. My vet spoke to a rep from the vaccine company today and it seems there's about a 50/50 chance of the vaccine being effective in regard to the calves (my information and knowledge is very new and growing, so I may have misunderstood that detail). However, we're two or three weeks from the start of calving, not in the first trimester as per the vaccine labelled use. I am told there's little hope of doing much about any of them this season. Dead twins this morning and we'll have to get ourselves geared up for more dead deliveries through calving, perhaps.

 

[milkmaid]

Vet says yesterday's body was probably dead by three months and would now be seven months gestation. All leathery and shrunken, only slightly smelly, hair just started on muzzle and a little above the eyes, otherwise bald, skull about two - two and a half inches across the top.

Hair doesn't grow until later in gestation... I've seen 6 month old aborted calves and they were quite hairless.

Caustic has had quite a bit of experience with neospora.

 

[dun]

Fetal development

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=44910

 

[fourstates]

I had good luck, but only had one case confirmed. I treated and she delivered a healthy calf the next year on schedule. The only research I could find with research treatment and protocols was in Europe.
Heres one I found.
http://www.cuteri.eu/Lezioni/Neospora_c ... e_JAVA.pdf

I used high doses of Tribrissin which is a pricey equine medicine and oxytet, then used the Neoguard 4 times( the extra time was at standing heat). You may have access to better drugs than what we have in the US. Canada has the drugs used in the study, but I don't know about NZ.

The point is you must treat the cows for the parasite and protect the fetus. I don't think the neoguard would work very well without treating the cow. I think that you have to consider the treatment cost for your entire herd. Culling may or may not help, since it would be impossible to erradicate all cannids that may have access to your pastures. Any new cattle may get infected. I am so sorry but it is too late to save this years calf crop.

Caustic and I agree that this is a devastating disease, but we agree to disagree about how to handle it.

 

[Putangitangi]

Fetal development

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=44910

I was looking for that one, thanks!

Good links, thank you. The more info the better, since the vets seem to be differing in their opinions to varying degrees. Calving should run from 26 September to 18 November, so a bit of time to get my next step sorted before next mating. My R2&3 mob are better fed than the cows and on different parts of the farm and there don't seem to be any problems amongst them. Yet. As far as I can tell.

 

[Putangitangi]

Update: four cows aborted, two tested positive. Tested another 11 animals (calving 47 in total, 15 tested all up), of which three were positive, all three being daughters of the two positive cows. It seems we're dealing with vertical transmission rather than environmental contamination (although can never rule that out). Two positive heifers have calved successfully, one still to go. On the evidence it is likely there are another two cows in the herd (at least) which are positive, their dam having come from the same source as one of the infected cows; one of those is still to calve, but all the evidence is there's a live calf still on-board.

My vet suggests there is a possibility that treating an infected calf with Baycox which may rid it of the infection, being protozoan like Coccidia, and be relatively affordable. If a heifer calf emerges from the last known infected cow, I'll investigate further.

It is likely I have used a Neospora positive bull in my herd for a couple of years. It would appear that's not particularly risky - I didn't think to ask the vet at the time, but his daughters are all negative, as are their dams.

 

[fourstates]

Remember that the test for Neospora looks for the antibodies, and a calf will carry the antibodies from it's dam...so it doesn't mean they caught the active protozoan from the cow. It is possible, the antibodies carried by the heifers allowed them to have healthy calves. One of my vets believes that most cattle will recover and build immunity. I would treat any cow that showed positive. I think the baycox with oxytet, along with Neoguard as directed, will save your next years crop. Thanks for the update, and sincere best wishes.

 

[Putangitangi]

I don't have the results printout from the vet to see how/what they tested - one day when I get to town, I'll pick them up.

Thanks for raising the point about the antibodies. But at two and three years old, the antibodies in those heifers would be of thier own making in response to the active Neospora, wouldn't they, not a 'hangover' from response to the infection in their mother before they were born?

 

[ArrowHBrand]

I have only seen two abortions to date. The first was a shorthorn cow crossed on a show sire that later tested positive for TH, Tibial Hemimelia. She aborted twins and one was perfectly fine and proportioned and the other was about half the size and hairless.
The second time we had gotten some really hot weather for about a month and the cows started aborting in my Sis-in-laws pasture, those calves were about the size of jackrabbits.

 

[fourstates]

I don't have the results printout from the vet to see how/what they tested - one day when I get to town, I'll pick them up.

Thanks for raising the point about the antibodies. But at two and three years old, the antibodies in those heifers would be of thier own making in response to the active Neospora, wouldn't they, not a 'hangover' from response to the infection in their mother before they were born?

I doubt that the antibodies were left over, but they may be from an active infection they got after weaning. But, because 2 of the 3 heifers that are positive, delivered healthy calves, they may have developed their own immunity. Somehow, those pregnancies were successful, even without treatment. I would still treat the positive cows, but remember they will always test positive (due to the antibodies) to Neospora. This could cloud your detective work, in the future, of any abortion. Brain lesions are one of the only true test of an active Neospora infection. If one of your positive cows abort, have the fetus posted.

 

[Putangitangi]

As I understand it, the postive daughters of the positive cows were infected before they were born: vertical transmission. My vet tells me that most cases of Neospora they see here are a result of vertical transmission.

I think I've only had one abortion of a freshly dead calf. All the others have been mummified and beyond any use for post mortem examination.