Losing Calves

[Way of the Cross Farm]

Hello from Georgia on a beautiful cool morning....
I am having calving issues, we have already lost 3 calves. Two of them looked cleaned up and developed. The other one was found in the pond. I know these were the first calves for these cows, could that be the problem? Or do I have something else going on?
We have had 2 healthy calves also but this is so heart breaking. The cows came to us expecting so we had no idea when we would be having calves but we were so excited about having them and now we have lost 3. Can anyone give me some advice on what to do to prevent this from happening again? Thank you in advance, Kim :frowns:

 

[Gale Seddon]

Best advice I can give is that you need to get your vet involved immediately. Probably need to get a necropsy on a dead calf (and that needs to be done as quickly as possible after one dies). Fence off your pond so cows don't calve in it. If you have others due to calve, bring them into a smaller pasture or enclosure where you can keep an eye on them.

I'm sure other people will offer other suggestions.

 

[regolith]

three out of how many? They're heifers, don't know first off how to look after a calf (it's only a week since I pulled one out of a creek because the heifer had apparently wandered out into the middle of it to calve) so your first move is as said, keep them close and keep an eye on them.
Aside from that, calving difficulty caused by the calves being too large is a common reason to find a heifer with a dead calf, birthing process is just too long, it wouldn't matter if everything else was perfect. Not all calving problems can be prevented but those caused by the calves being too large could have been fixed nine months ago by selecting an appropriate bull.
That's two possibilities. If it's not either of those you might start looking at others.

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

Man, it just hurts to see animals turn up dead like that. Please take all precautions and keep us posted.

 

[wbvs58]

I think Regolith summed it up pretty well. Keeping a close eye on things and a helping pull when things are not progressing might be advisable.
Ken

 

[hillbillycwo]

Do you vaccinate your herd against leptosis? We have had issues with that over the years in central Kentucky.