stillborn calf

[dieselbeef]

last night hiefer had a still born. 3 hr labor. went well. she was calm. penned by herself on 5 acre past. saw the calf kickin a few days ago. dropped last nite under a full moon.
the umbilical cord looked like it was ripped from the navel. it was actually gone and the navel was a hole. wasnt bleeding or anything and when we got there the hiefer just got up and slowly wandered about 20 ft away and waited til we hauled it off. she seemed okay this mornin . bag passed. didnt see it anywhere so i couldnt tell if the cord was in it.
just kinda sucked...lost a hiefer and the calf this summer and now this calf....when ya only got 10 cows thats a big hit.

 

[dun]

How close to her expected calving date was she? The lack of blood in the naael makes me think the calf may have already been dead when it was finally born. BTW, 3 hours is way too long for actual labor.

 

[dieselbeef]

maybe i shouldve said it was about 3 hrs after the bag broke. vet said to pull it if it went more than 4 hrs so i was watchin. she wasnt struggling. wife thinks it was dead before birth too cuz of not being a bloody mess. the navel thing just struck me as odd.
i run my bull all yr so i dont really know when the due date was. we knew she was close by watchin her though and when the bag started out we just walked her thru the gate into the the past to calf...she seemed to do okay for a hiefer cept for the still born.
hope she cleaned out okay though. not that the cord is still attatched somehow insdie her or somethin wierd.
yall really git to helpin em after em after the first hr?. you pull em w/only an hr of contractions??

 

[dun]

Read the attached lnk, I don;t know if it addresses it, but if there is no progress for about 15 minutes after the water breaks you need to intervene.
http://extension.missouri.edu/explore/a ... g02007.htm

 

[dieselbeef]

she never seemed to be in distress and since it was her first i wasnt gonna rush her. wanted to make sure she could stretch them bones enuff to get it out. i didnt see it come out so i cant be pos if it was doa or not but it sure seemed like it had when i got there. seemed pretty normal birthin to me. i think my stockmans handbook even says 4 hrs...i might be wrong there though.
thanks for the heads up on the 15 min progress. ill check out the linky dun.

 

[dieselbeef]

says more than 2 hrs poss in hiefers..course right or wrong it didnt help me last nite

 

[dun]

says more than 2 hrs poss in hiefers..course right or wrong it didnt help me last nite

But there has to be steady progress. A calf isn;t born with a toe sticking out and 2 hours later the whole thing pops out. It's a gradual process, every 15 minutes there should be more of the calf out. On older cows it's not that strange to see the feet and one good push have the calf out, but heifers and most cows don;t work that way

 

[jilleroo]

Nothing was your fault, Dieselbeef. These are just the standard things that happen with cattle.
From years of watching heifers calve, I have learned that they don't abide by any rules! As a general rule of thumb, I go by four hours from when they first think about calving.

 

[Workinonit Farm]

the umbilical cord looked like it was ripped from the navel. it was actually gone and the navel was a hole. wasnt bleeding or anything and when we got there

Possible that the calf was a malpresentation, backwards. It is possible for them to deliver the calf on their own when the calf is bacwards, not often, but they can. A backwards calf often results in a dead calf because the cord breaks before the calf gets its head out and therefore cannot breathe and subsequently dies.

Just my thoughts on this one.

Katherine

 

[rockridgecattle]

For us with hiefers, if there is no progress after 1 hour from the breaking of the water we check her. Maybe not pull, but check to see if it is backwards, feet down or what is up. After two hours we take the calf as gentley as possible. Mostly just putting pressure on her and trying to let her do the work.
Any how sorry for the bad experience, good luck with the rest