labor -long and difficult

[tglenn]

I have a Registered Beefmaster 2 1/2+ yo show-cow. she comes from excellent bloodlines and won State Grand Champion. Bred with another excellent bloodline bull. Second pregnancy. First pregnancy resulted in a "dummy" calf and died. This pregnancy has literally been a nightmare. 14 days prior to delivery, she was pushing so hard she started to prolapse vaginally and rectally while lying down. At first, things would return when she stood. 11 days prior to delivery, vet stitched her and said to cut stitches when she showed significant signs. Went on a 2 hr watch vigil. She continued to push!!! On day 3 after stitching, finally saw water sac expell. Cut stitches, had to pull a GOOD sized bull calf. Head was turned back. Everything coming with it. Emergency vet stitched her up and gave her antibiotics and anti-inflams. Took her to reg vet this past monday. opened stitches, cleaned her out as much as he could, gave more antibiotics and stitched her up again. Said "things" would desolve and she would pass fluids. Give another injection of antibiotic and wait time frame to ship her. Now finally for my questions. She has stopped producting milk for calf, stopped eating feed, still eats hay and water. She STINKS to high heaven. How long until she starts to show improvements? What else can be done to save her til we can take her to sale? What the heck happened and why?

 

[Jogeephus]

Sounds like you had a string of bad luck. It happens. A heifer that can't raise a live calf will normally go in my feed pen. They eat good. Also, a show heifer is the last thing I would want to try and breed but that is just me.

 

[milkmaid]

Sounds like she may have a major uterine infection now... what's her temp?

 

[KNERSIE]

High dose of pennicillin for 5 consecutive days followed by LA200 every third day after that till she is completely healed. An intra uterine pessary after pulling the calf could have prevented this.

 

[tglenn]

We have no intention of keeping her. Just wondering if anyone had suggestions as to how to save her for the purpose of the calf. Went out this pm and she has pushed past her stitches and continues to push. Son cleaned her up and put things back til she pushes again. We are just at a loss as to why and what next. Should we wait the next 21 days recovery after meds then ship her; give her another dose and see what happens? Our vet doesn't seem forthcoming with info and this is a new problem for us. His solution is a bullet. Don't know what temp is, son didn't say. She still eating hay, grain and water. Thanks for listening.

 

[rockridgecattle]

continued pushing indicates a problem.
Has she cleaned yet? Might want to try some after calf bolus inserted in. As well continue with an anti inflam...non steriodal.If she continues to push, is she just prolapsing or trying to push out her calf bed? An old timers trick is coating what she puts out with icing sugar...it does work to shrink the swelling. As well we use to clean a 2 litre plastic pop bottle and put warm water in it and insert the bottle in. to help wit reducing the swelling...again an old timers technic.
She really needs her temp checked and daily anti inflam to reduce the swelling so she will stop pushing...think human female bladder infection. A bad analogy i know but the only one i could think of

 

[Jogeephus]

I've never been very successful at turning problems around like this. Seems it always costs me a fortune in time and money and the results are usually not that great. The idea of raising a bottle calf in my situation does not intrigue me in the least. I won't say I will never do it again but it would be extremely unlikely if I ever did. Passing my problems off on someone else at the salebarn doesn't appeal to me either. When I figure time, fuel, meds and return on a cow like this it just isn't worth it for me. Not to mention the thought that I would feel like I just pulled one over on the buyer of my cow. So all in all, I would probably go with the vet's advice. As for the calf, I'd either bottle raise it or give it to someone willing to do so.

I hate it for you. I've been there before and wish I could give a happy ending but I've yet to have many success stories on stuff like this. From my limited experience with beefmasters, I'd say your problem is very unusual as I have found them to be wonderful mothers. Good luck with whatever you decide.

 

[Beefy]

if she smells she probaby hasnt cleaned out thoroughly or has an infection or both. infection/RP alot of times leads to milk production going way down. in this case it sounds like the calf would be better off being pulled off the cow before he gets the scours and the cow will benefit from drying off as well.


did the vet not check to see if it was a normal presentation before he stitched her up?

 

[DiamondSCattleCo]

Yeah, she just hasn't cleaned yet. Fire your vet, and pour the penicillin to her for a few days.

Rod

 

[tglenn]

:tiphat: Thanks for all of your posts with suggestions and solutions. There was no improvements and she kept going down. We decided to do the humane thing and end her suffering. Sure gonna miss her. And people wonder how you can get attached to a cow!! Our are like pets to us. It's a hobby (expensive) for us and I would recommend the 4H or FFA showing experience to anyone. Again, thanks for the inputs.

Sure you all will be hearing more, espically since I have fired the vet. :frowns:

 

[TheBullLady]

Gosh.. I"m so sorry for your loss. Been there, it sucks. And yes, it's easy to get attached to the animals you've shown, you spend so much time with them, it's hard NOT to get attached.

My ordeal with my "registered" cow (that would be the one that didn't DNA back to the AI bull she was supposed to be bred to) and the 90 lb calf and c section was a nightmare also. Luckily I live 70 miles from A & M, and I left her there for five days after the surgery, and then hauled her down there again two weeks later when she also got a bad uterine infection. The cost : $2200. Worth it? Of course not.

You did the right thing.

 

[Jogeephus]

Sorry to here that. I know its hard. Hope your son is taking it ok. Sounds like he was giving it his all. Good learning experience for him though. If you choose to bottle feed the calf yourself, this will again be a good learning experience for him and there are some really knowledgeable folks on the board that can help you with this endeaver. I doubt anything like this will happen again for a long time but I would be cautious about breeding heifers if they have been pushed on feed like many show calves are. JMO

Like you said, once you get to know the individual personality of cows its hard not to love them - the docile ones at least. (Got a couple I hate as well)

 

[jilleroo]

We shot a lovely red first calf brahman heifer this afternoon with a very similar tale to the above. However, she delivered her small bull calf herself easily but she kept on pushing until she also prolapsed vaginally and rectally. We replaced it all quite easily and stitched her up, things we've done successfully plenty of times over the years. We dosed her up with antibiotics and thought we'd done well. That was over a week ago and she never quit trying to push it all out again - she eventually was bleeding badly and wouldn't get up. So, don't feel too bad - we're here on the other side of the world, in Australia, going through the same thing!! Her beautiful bull calf had been pinching milk from other heifers but I caught him and brought him in and luckily he decided to drink straight up ( you never know with brahmans, they may drink or flatly refuse to co-operate.) Bottle or bucket reared calves over here are called "poddies" - so that's what he will be.
On the other side of the coin, a few months ago a charolais heifer had a total uterine prolapse after calving unaided. We laboriously replaced her uterus after cleaning it well and packing it liberally with sugar. Put a couple of stitches in her, gave her antibiotic, and she has never skipped a beat rearing her heifer calf. You can only do your best in each case and hope you get a good outcome! I hope you can cheer up and get consolation knowing other people feel your loss.

 

[jilleroo]

Well we did try Salers about 15 years ago. We still had a level of dystocia. There's not many Salers around out here in extensive situations, almost none in fact. We've also tried droughtmaster, (do you have them over there??) and murray grey for the heifers with mediocre results. Not brahmans - we know calves by a brahman bull out of a charolais heifer can be monsters.
All our charolais and charbray replacement heifers (about 300 a year) are calved to angus bulls handpicked for the job. We still get some dystocia if the heifers are in better than average body condition, but the main problem is low heat tolerance. Charolais calves are fine born in the heat, even not in shade, as long as you don't go running them around - the newborn calves by angus bulls have zilch tolerance, dead by 8am on a really hot day if born the night before, so we try and calve in cooler months which doesn't really suit our programme. So we are thinking of senepols - any information on them and their crossing over charolais and charbrays? Thumbs up or down?
Once past heiferhood, our cow herd calves to charolais and charbray with rarely any dystocia problems observed. We mustered 700 cows from two paddocks last week who'd been in there 8 months, and mostly all calved, and only came up one cow short so couldnt complain. Would like to hear any opinions on senepols for heifers please!