Potbelly calf

[BFE]

Had to pull her this morning. Normal presentation. Simmental bull simangus cow.

 

[gcreekrch]

Hadn’t absorbed its yolk sack yet......

 

[TCRanch]

Hadn’t absorbed its yolk sack yet......

Educate me.

 

[TCRanch]

Wow, I've never seen one like that. Sorry for your loss.

 

[Buck Randall]

Educate me.

Nothing to do with a "yolk sac". It's hydrops fetalis, most commonly caused by a heart defect in the calf.

 

[TCRanch]

Nothing to do with a "yolk sac". It's hydrops fetalis, most commonly caused by a heart defect in the calf.

Interesting, thank you. If I recall, Milkmaid posted pics of hydrops in cattle while she was in residency and I looked it up.

 

[BFE]

Wasn’t sure what it was thank you. It’s belly was like a sack full of jello. I bought the cow as a bred heifer, in ‘13 I believe. First time she’s missed.

 

[gcreekrch]

Educate me.

I was being tongue in cheek.....

We had one very similar yesterday that was born alive but died at about 6 hours old.

 

[BFE]

Nothing to do with a "yolk sac". It's hydrops fetalis, most commonly caused by a heart defect in the calf.

After we pulled the calf, the cow passed the afterbirth and behaved normally. Any concerns out of the ordinary for the cow?

 

[Ky hills]

We had a registered Angus cow that had a Hydrops situation 5-6 years ago. I thought for a while before the cow calved that she was getting unusually big just figured she might twin. She got freakishly big. When she started to calve We tried to pull it but could not, neighbors came by to help and tried to as well as they had more experience. We soon got a vet and he ended up doing a C section. That calf was swelled up a lot more than it’s belly, it was all over the body. The vet said the calf would weigh well over 200 lbs and and it was Hydrops. He said it was not genetic just a random thing. The placenta was almost as much as the calf and had the texture of a rubber ball. The next morning the cow was dead too.

 

[Buck Randall]

After we pulled the calf, the cow passed the afterbirth and behaved normally. Any concerns out of the ordinary for the cow?

That form of hydrops is generally harmless to the cow, unless you have to pull the calf so hard that it causes an injury. If it's going to be a hard pull, I reach in with a knife (very carefully) to open the calf and let the fluid off.

The forms where the cow accumulates extra fluid in her uterus, like Ky hills described, are much more dangerous to the cow. The abrupt loss of that much fluid can cause electrolyte imbalance and death. I've saved some with drenching and IV fluids, but the best course of action is to end those pregnancies as soon as possible.

 

[JParrott]

Looks similar to one I lost a few weeks ago. Pot belly, never stood up or tried to nurse. Tubed it when I found it at about 4 hours old and then watched it die at about 24 hours old.

 

[Lee VanRoss]

Never had that situation. Is there a genetic cause or chemical cause? Can it be avoided? Can it be diagnosed from external symptons
before labor?

 

[BFE]

The old girl followed up almost a year to the day,nice bull calf. She’s ugly as sin but glad I gave her another chance.

 

[MurraysMutts]

Great to hear a follow up!
Thanks for posting.

 

[BFE]

We’ll see how he turns out. I may register him, he’s 3/4 angus 1/4 sim if I’m not mistaken. Have to look up mommas number. Her top line has always been funky but she’s 11 with a tight udder and teats about the size of my pinky finger. Only time she’s not raised a calf was last year, apparently no fault of her own. That trumps looks in my book.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Anyone know the answer to LVR's questions?
I miss Milkmaid!! What a great gal.

 

[BFE]

In my singular experience there were no external indicators of anything abnormal.

 

[puzzled in oregon]

I don't know the answer to LVR's question. But I have seen quite a bit of this in lambs, we referenced it as "water belly'.
The ranch I was working on was running 3000-4000 hd. of sheep and at the time were having problems
with chlamydia, and they felt the chlamydia was causing the problem.

 

[sim.-ang.king]

Never had that situation. Is there a genetic cause or chemical cause? Can it be avoided? Can it be diagnosed from external symptons
before labor?

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1728027/"Genetic causes accounted for 35%(of cases)."
That was a study of human cases, but I doubt it's much different for cattle.