Hernia

[garyws]

A few months ago I bought a 5 mo. old angus-breed heifer calf. I didn't think anything about the patch of skin hanging down her abdomen about 3" until I heard the term "hernia" mentioned. My question is...is this a problem which will affect her future as a breeder (I want to build a herd), or should I raise her for locker? Also will this be somethng which she will pass-on to her offspring? Thanking you ahead for your advice.

 

[wbvs58]

Have a feel of it. If it is an umbilical hernia you will feel a fairly firm sausage like sac inside the skin possibly trapped there or you may be able to work it up back inside the abdomin. Many will just have a loose bit of skin there which tightens up with age.
An umbilical hernia can be inherited but is only a minor defect and also the muscles around will tighten up and be less prominent. They can bulge a bit during pregnancy but are rarely a problem. It wouldn't mean that every calf from her would have one only the occaisional one.
If it was a hernia you could have bought a sibling of her's that had no hernia but just be as likely to pass it on and you would be none the wiser so don't panic.
Ken

 

[garyws]

Many thanks, Ken. Good to hear from our mate's Down Under!

 

[angus9259]

I thought umbilical hernias could present digestive track issues - blockages - eventually??

 

[wbvs58]

I thought umbilical hernias could present digestive track issues - blockages - eventually??

They have to be very big to do that. Most of the time it is only fat through the hole and that tends to get trapped there as the muscle tightens as they mature and you just see a bit of a bulge and it is more cosmetic. Very similar to ourselves.
Ken

 

[kworth1980]

If she is 5 months - it can still be fixed if hernia, we had a purebred calf born with it last year - she was 6 months before we figured it out due to her having more hair we didn't notice till the Fall. The way you can tell is if you can push it inside her then its a hernia - if solid - it could have already closed or be infected. Our girl they first thought it was just an abscess - they lanced it it did better but we noticed it was still there so we pulled her in and sure enough with the infection gone we could push it right into her.

Bad news if its a hernia - yes it can cause an issue when she is bred. We were told by the vets that if could go larger and her intestines could come out even more with her in calf with the pressure so it was either fix or ship - we decided to try to fix. We took her to a vet that had experience fixing them - was a standard procedure but unfortunately she died on anesthetic. They did take her for an autopsy at the University as this was the first time they had ever lost one. They concluded that she actually died from bloat due to their being so much scar tissue when they flipped her it pressed on her stomach and pretty much she suffocated to death. What we learned is now to really check them when they are young. If we would have fixed her when she was younger we would have not lost her. Even though we did lose her we would probably do it again as she was a pretty special looking calf. We have three other half sisters in our herd and none of them ever had a hernia so I don't think hers was a hereditary situation.