Lost a cow and calf last night

[SchenkAngusFarm]

Well, I am posting this on here just to reminder people that cows are animals and stuff happens.

Had a ten year old pregnant cow for which everything seemed fine with her. I've been using her as a recip and knew she was due any day. I've had the flu pretty bad but checked her before I went to bed (went to bed earlier than usual for obvious reasons). No signs of calving yet but knew it would be soon.

Found her in the morning first thing and she was dead. Cut her open to see what happened and calf was badly breached. I don't think I would have been able to do a C-section even if I had caught it.

It's never fun to lose a cow and calf but sometimes things happen. I only post this for the new people to remember that cows are animals. Sometime they just die now matter how well you treat them. Things can and will happen but don't get discouraged.

After that happened, I sat down a minute, looked over the hill and counted my blessings on how lucky I am to be able to work with such great animals and many great people in this business. I am not trying to sound like a philosopher but there is oftentimes a blessing in disguise in a terrible incident. In this case, I am lucky to sit back and realize the friends and family I am surrounded with and that I am glad I get to share this business with my family.

Anyways, I just wanted to tell those beginners to never get discouraged. Things happen and keep pushing forward. Take the good with the bad and keep your chin up.

 

[MRRherefords]

Sorry for your loss. Thank you for the reminder to count those blessings including the great people of this business.

 

[Farm Fence Solutions]

Keep your problems outside the yard fence, and you have no problems.

 

[pdfangus]

A wonderful attitude and a positive outlook....

I am guilty of often not seeing the silver linings...

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

I tend to fret over the one I lost rather than rejoice over the 100 that are born.

 

[Coosh71]

Real sorry for your loss. I appreciate you sharing with us.

 

[Son of Butch]

yup +1

 

[Nesikep]

Always really sucks losing animals, especially the better ones.. It does help when you can look out and see healthy young ones playing though!
My bet heifer slipped her calf.. Sucks, but on the bright side I have a milk cow and she's settled into that role pretty well

 

[snoopdog]

Sorry partner , it happens ,and always makes us second guess ourselves . Had a fall heifer stuck in a hay ring, day before yesterday , had it on her, pinned . She's alright but sure made a big lump in my throat when I saw her.

 

[farmerjan]

Thank you for posting that. Yes we do tend to focus on the "bad things" and sometimes take for granted the good things.
My "lone" longhorn cow that I bought at a sale for $500 with her calf a year or so ago, just had a dead calf. Looks like it was born dead. Brought her in the barn and was going to try a new bottle calf I had just gotten on her. But I also had a nearly 3 week old bottle calf there and as we brought the cow around to go through that pen to the alley, the 3 week calf latched onto to her and said YOU ARE MY MOMMA. Followed the cow right into the small catch pen and just went to sucking. The cow is fairly quiet and she just stood there and ate the grain we had given her. Put water in a tub and they are together. In another 2-3 days, I will turn them out if she continues to accept the calf. So although I salvaged the cow, I was thankful for little successes like that one.
I also had gotten a "new to me" jersey to use as a nurse cow. She fit in pretty good and learned the routine and was pretty accepting of the calves. After about 6 weeks, she started to get very slow acting and found that the quarter that had mastitis and was not functional, burst and she must have gotten a real blood infection into her system. Before we could do more than get the first round of antibiotics into her, she died. Vet said her age was against her, and that it might have been in her system longer than we realized by the time it burst open. So here I am with 3 calves and no momma. My other nurse cow with older calves came in the same pen and when I let her in, the 3 "littler" calves went on her and she readily stood there. So I delayed letting the 3 older calves in until the 3 smaller ones got their fill. So the tragedy of losing the one cow has a small silver lining that the other cow will be doing a second round of duty with these smaller calves. I did lose one of the calves but the other 2 are doing good and I do not have to bottle feed so many.

It hurts to lose one, and sometimes there is nothing you can do. I am sorry you lost both the cow and the et calf.