lost a month old heifer calf

Help Support CattleToday:

Texas Gal

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 20, 2005
Messages
548
Reaction score
0
Location
Montague County, TX
Yesterday afternoon, we found a month old heifer calf dead in the pasture. I saw her up running around on Saturday morning then dead on Sunday. No clue what happened. I was home from work the day she was born, January 15th, and saw her get up and nurse right away. The cow is good momma in great condition with lots of milk,born and raised here, with 3 daughters in the herd. I did note last week that the calf had not grown and filled out as much as the other calves born that week but she was just as active. Now I wonder if the heifer calf had some sort of congenital issue - like maybe weak heart, etc. Whatever it was, I hate to lose any of them.
 
We don't have Blackleg around here that I am aware of - but I "believe" it is a Southern problem. Others will know.
We all hate to lose one, but the "not knowing" sucks. We all like to know so that we avoid it happening again.
 
Do you give Selenium shots to your calves? Not sure if Texas is deficient, but calf can be bouncing & great one day & dead the next if it has White Muscle Disease (SE deficiency). You can use BoSe, MuSe or Multimin, but all has to come from vet. I wouldn't think of not giving it to newborns.
I "harp" on SE a lot, but it is more of a problem then most realize.
 
I'm of the school of thought that she had a congenital heart issue. A number of years ago, I had a beautiful little 1/2 Jersey heifer. Her dam was one of my nurse cows. She was a spunky thing, but a bit "behind" in growth from her peers, as yours was. One morning she was running around like a little wild thing, playing with the other calves. I looked again about an hour or so later, and she was dead as a door nail. Talked to the vet about it, and vet was confident that the calf had a congenital heart defect.
 
Darn, you think you get them to a month and they should be fine. Do you feed loose mineral? We have some deficiencies in our part of Texas and were seeing some defects before we started a better mineral program.
 
blackleg is everywhere there has ever been horses, you may get along for 50 years without vaccinating for it, but when the conditions are right it will come back & kill your biggest calves, not small ones & usually around 3 months. seen it in northern pa jeanne
 

Latest posts

Top