hard lesson learned

[holly heifer]

:x I lost a calf last pm. The cow slipped it, it was about a month early. The fetus weighed about 50 lbs. The calf
had legs that were too short, neck was too long, ears were
tiny. tail was thin, bones were not formed. The vet said the
problem was from the mold in the big bales. It causes the fetus
to not develope right and then the cow will abort in the last
part of gestation. :shock: I had no idea that mold can do this.
We had such a problem with the hay this year( no rain) that
i had to buy 2 year old hay. It was not good hay( obviously!!!)
I have another cow penned up that looks like she may slip her
calf too. I think I need to raise hamsters! :roll:

 

[wearycowgirl]

Hi,
I am so sorry to hear you lost your calves. Thank you for posting because I think so many of us would have made the same mistake. I have always been told that mold won't hurt cows. Would have never known that it would hurt the unborn calves. I know more about horses than cows but thanks to everyone here I am learning so much. The loss of baby animals is hard to take but you learned from the experience and helped inform others. Take comfort in that and don't give up.

 

[msscamp]

Holly, what kind of hay were you feeding?

 

[jw]

I have been on the boards a long time. I have never heard of such, but I truly thank you for that information. I am sorry for your loss, but thanks again for the heads up.

 

[msscamp]

A pretty good article about moldy feeds and what can happen for anyone interested.

http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department ... endocument

 

[shutskytj]

Thanks for the helpful info

 

[holly heifer]

The hay was 2 year old grass hay that was obviously really
nasty. It was "dusty" , but to me did not look like mold, but it was. we would put out a good bale and also one of the
"bad " ones. I thought the cows would not eat the really bad
parts. The cows are really healthy looking and seem fine.
They also get grain once a day and free choice mineral.

 

[holly heifer]

:lol: I found a farmer with a twin that needs a momma!
The calf is an angus- hereford , healthy, got colustrum and weighs in at 80 lbs. I will be picking it up right after work
to see if the cow will take it. She was a bottle calf herself and last
year was letting everyone nurse her! Hope this works! ;-)

 

[holly heifer]

:heart: The cow has taken the twin as her own. I took the tail from the aborted calf and tied it on the new calf. The cow
was cooing and licking the baby and this am the calf was nursing her without my help! :heart:

 

[warpaint]

Congrats, Holly! Real glad something good came of this.

 

[Susie David]

Glad that you were able to turn around a bad situation.
Good luck to you. DMc

 

[Rustler9]

Awesome news about the orphan calf. Sorry to hear about the loss of the first one but glad that you were able to graft a new one on to the cow.

 

[Saltydawg]

Good story Holly. Sorry for you losses but it turned out ok it seems and you learned something (so did I).

I guess I'll consider myself lucky cause where I'm from droughts are actually very rare so its not too hard to find decent hay for cheap.

 

[Z&J Cattle]

:heart: The cow has taken the twin as her own. I took the tail from the aborted calf and tied it on the new calf. The cow
was cooing and licking the baby and this am the calf was nursing her without my help! :heart:

That's great to hear Holly. It's funny how god works that way sometimes isn't it?

Zach

 

[Farmhand]

Glad to hear you had a happy ending to a sad story.

Never really thought about what could happen with bad hay. We just always have made sure anything in gestation got good quality stuff.