heifer calving issue

[JC Man]

Having an issue with a heifer and wanted ya'lls opinion. Never experienced this before.

She is bagged up but not tight, and a couple days ago acted like she was going to calve. Laying down, off by herself, acting sore in hips etc. Checked on her several times during the night but no feet, no water sac ever showed. She joined the herd again the next morning and is back at the feed bunk acting normal. She walked about a half mile to the river for water and back. Small amount of blood/mucus on her vagina, other than that no other indication that anything is wrong. I can't catch her easily, if I am to check her I'll have to rope her and throw her down which I hate doing unless I think it's an emergency.

She missed her AI date by 2 days and could calve from the cleanup bull anytime over the next month. The local vet is far away and not super helpful over the phone. She is acting fine.

What do ya'll think? Dead calf or some kind of false labor?

 

[A.J.]

Given the situation, if she's acting and looking fine now, I would keep an eye on her and give her another month and check her if no calf after that time since that's the window she might be bred to your cleanup bull. They can act really uncomfortable when they get heavy bred sometimes. Hopefully that's what it was.

 

[Brute 23]

Get her to a vet to glove her.

If you will add a general location to your profile you can get more are specific recommendations in the future.

 

[wbvs58]

Not a good move calving a heifer where you can't help if needed. A breech birth where there are no head or limbs engaging the pelvis won't produce a lot of contractions and difficult to see they are trying to calve. They can go back to grazing with the calf rotting away inside them.
I think you need to get her checked out to confirm all is fine or otherwise. A bit of blood in the mucous would be a worry.

Ken

 

[Travlr]

Having an issue with a heifer and wanted ya'lls opinion. Never experienced this before.

She is bagged up but not tight, and a couple days ago acted like she was going to calve. Laying down, off by herself, acting sore in hips etc. Checked on her several times during the night but no feet, no water sac ever showed. She joined the herd again the next morning and is back at the feed bunk acting normal. She walked about a half mile to the river for water and back. Small amount of blood/mucus on her vagina, other than that no other indication that anything is wrong. I can't catch her easily, if I am to check her I'll have to rope her and throw her down which I hate doing unless I think it's an emergency.

She missed her AI date by 2 days and could calve from the cleanup bull anytime over the next month. The local vet is far away and not super helpful over the phone. She is acting fine.

What do ya'll think? Dead calf or some kind of false labor?

So to things... First, click on your profile, top right, and scroll down to Account details. Then add a location. Anyone being asked for advice appreciates knowing where the advice applies.

As far as the heifer, I doubt she was in labor but there is always a possibility. The first thing I would do is build a way to contain a cow and work her. Do you feed your animals someplace you can build a simple stanchion? A simple head catch can be built quickly and often with junk that's laying around. A few cattle panels around the water source with some kind of decent gate is a start. The very first thing anyone needs other than fences, grass, and water, is a way to catch them. The most basic requirement of having cattle is having a way to contain them. It's basic smarts...

 

[JC Man]

An update, the heifer did calve today - 2 months after I noticed the blood. The calf was born dead but fully formed. Mama appears to be fine, although she will end up at the burger barn after I put some weight on her in the spring. Best of luck and thanks for the advice.

 

[A.J.]

I'm sorry to hear that. It's always hard when you have that much time and money invested to not get a live calf out of them. Hopefully she will bring good when you sell her, and you can use that towards a replacement for her.

 

[moses388]

Sorry for your loss.
Cattle Today members recommend bred cows because heifers can be high risk.

She missed her AI date by 2 days

AI due dates are flexible. I've had cows anywhere from 10-days before and 10-days after the AI due date.
When to intervene during parturition -
If I see a water bag or hoof and the cow is not making progress, I will intervene. Things are coming out so you know she is dilated.
I have also intervened during the contraction phase. Nothing is hanging out, but her back will be arched with tail in the air. Watch her for several minutes and you can see when each contraction occurs. She will jump like she was poked in the butt. In this case I restrain the cow and measure the amount of dilation. You can start pulling the calf if the cervix has enlarged enough for your hand to pass thru. Pull slowly because she will do a lot of stretching and pull with the contractions. If you are not familiar with the internal anatomy of a cow, wait until things are hanging out.
Perhaps this information will be helpful next time.

 

[Brute 23]

Sorry for your loss.
Cattle Today members recommend bred cows because heifers can be high risk.

AI due dates are flexible. I've had cows anywhere from 10-days before and 10-days after the AI due date.
When to intervene during parturition -
If I see a water bag or hoof and the cow is not making progress, I will intervene. Things are coming out so you know she is dilated.
I have also intervened during the contraction phase. Nothing is hanging out, but her back will be arched with tail in the air. Watch her for several minutes and you can see when each contraction occurs. She will jump like she was poked in the butt. In this case I restrain the cow and measure the amount of dilation. You can start pulling the calf if the cervix has enlarged enough for your hand to pass thru. Pull slowly because she will do a lot of stretching and pull with the contractions. If you are not familiar with the internal anatomy of a cow, wait until things are hanging out.
Perhaps this information will be helpful next time.

It had nothing to do with being a heifer. The OP but an animal in a high risk situation on more than one occasion and lost.

A cow in the same position would be in the same place right now.

 

[angus9259]

Not sure if opinions still matter here or are helpful

Blood on vagina = not fine
Heifer or cow doesn't matter per Brute 23
If you can't catch your cows, it'll be coming again
When I first started I had a cow die because I didn't have a way to help it. Knew I had to change that.

I had a cow once walking around eating, chewing cud - happy as could be - except the placenta was hanging out of her. So I got her up to the barn (where today there's a chute) - calf was big and backwards and dead. Thankfully the placenta was still there for me to see because she gave no indication there was a problem.

I suppose if you have range cattle and the calve out on the range, then it just falls into the category of "it is what it is".