too late now

[D.R. Cattle]

A first for me this AM. One of my heifers had a stillborn a couple of days ago. Thought it was odd. Didn't notice any signs of struggle or difficult birth. Heifer was up and moving along well and had cleaned her calf. We buried the calf. This morn found the heifer lying in a pool of her own blood, near dead. Judging the amount of blood I reckon I'll be dragging her off by noon. Anybody care to share on this type of problem? This has been the worst calving season by far for me, between stillborns, abandoned calves and now a dead heifer. Herd is well vaccinated, calves are not overly large.

 

[Farminlund]

D.R. - do you think there is another calf in there that didn't get out the other day? Blood from the virgina - I assume? That really doesn't explain lots of blood but given the hassle I have with twins (had another set Monday) - I always think of dead calves as a function of twinning - I hate twins (stole that one from Jeanne).

 

[Medic24]

Sorry to hear of your plight DR, will say a prayer for you, please keep us posted as to the suspected cause and as well as the rest of the herd.


Good luck! :cboy:

 

[D.R. Cattle]

I suspect some kind of hemorrhage, that just didn't show it's nasty face for a few days? Win some and lose some, but our average has been horrible this season. 15% calf mortality and a dead heifer. Part of that mortality includes a calf that had to be pulled with a truck and chains. Wierd Spring. I've seen a lot of wierd occurences since the weird hurricane season. Is the Big Boss trying to give us a hint?

 

[Scotty]

I had a similar situation a few years back. Calf lived though. Cow died. Vet aid calf might have torn some of the lining of the vaginal canl and cow just didn't clot.


Scotty

 

[D.R. Cattle]

I suspect some kind of hemorrhage, that just didn't show it's nasty face for a few days? Win some and lose some, but our average has been horrible this season. 15% calf mortality and a dead heifer. Part of that mortality includes a calf that had to be pulled with a truck and chains. Wierd Spring. I've seen a lot of wierd occurences since the weird hurricane season. Is the Big Boss trying to give us a hint?

New news. Dead heifer seems to have had another calf resulting in her demise. We first thought this stillborn was from our last heifer waiting to calve, but she appears to still be safe in calf. So the dead one had a stillborn, waited a couple days and had another stillborn then died herself? She was torn pretty badly. Sheeeez.

 

[Medic24]

When it rains it pours huh. :cboy:

 

[D.R. Cattle]

When it rains it pours huh. :cboy:

It's better than the original thinking. At least we still have another safe in calf. I'm gonna throw a party when this season is over.

 

[jscunn]

D.R.,
We had a cow have twins(bulls) again this year, she had a set of heifers last year. Anyway we had to pull this set both of them 71# and stillborn. The vet said that sometimes the second one can puncture the wall of the uterus(?), and she will bleed to death. This cow had a large amount of blood but she is still fine 1 month later. I agree about the hurricanes, we only had 1 (IVAN) but we had an abortion 2 days after the storm, 2 sets of twins (3 out of the 4 calves dead), and a 40# stillborn that looked to be full term out of a cow. We have had 3 sets of twins in the last 2 calving seasons, but before that it was probably 10-12 years since a set of twins. I will be glad when we are finally done.

 

[Crowderfarms]

Man do I hate to hear of luck like that. Sounds like the calving season from hell we had last year.Hope yall have better luck real soon.

 

[Farminlund]

Like I said "I hate twins" - sorry for your loss.

I have had many many dead calves but have avoided the dead cow. Since the beginning of the yr, I've had 3 sets of twins out of 9 births - ain't that something? Only one set came alive!

 

[Workinonit Farm]

D.R., Sorry to hear of such a lousy time for you. I certainly hope next season is better. When I read your first post of the thread, I wondered if it was another calf inside. Maybe the rest of the season won't be so bad.

Katherine

 

[TheBullLady]

DR.. so sorry to hear about your horrendous calving season. It is a tough thing to go through.

The first year we moved to Texas was a nightmare of calving for us. Hubby was gone most of the time, we had heifers bred to a Limousin bull which was a big mistake. I pulled 9 out of 11 calves, lost calves, lost heifers, had heifers that wouldn't get up... etc. etc. I broke out into a cold sweat when I saw something fixin' to calve.

But when all is said and done.. sometimes (#&&^$% just happens. No matter how careful you are, or how well you vaccinate or care for you cows, they just have a bad year. It WILL pass!

Hang in there!

 

[TLCfromARK]

Sorry to hear of your problems. Some years it seems so easy, some years it so tough. But as my brother says," If you don't want to lose any livestock the best way is not to have any because if you've got some you're going to lose some".

I hope the rest of your year is better.

;-)

 

[Medic24]

We have only seven more calves to go. The fingers stay crossed, especially due to all this weird weather, and the coyotes that now know that newborn calves are easy prey.

We are watching two of our cows that have had problems in the past, but seems that as of today, only one starting to spring soon.

If only they will wait 3 more weeks. ;-)

 

[Kathleen]

I'm a dairy farmer from PA and was struck by the amount of twins being born recently. In our little community we've probably had 6 sets since November--they are always problems. I had two myself, both of them heifers, which is a bonus for a dairy farmer. Both cows almost died. We have also had a lot of problem cows due to calving, way more than usual. Does anyone have any theories??

 

[jerry27150]

had a dairy in central north pa most of my life, only had one cow that had trouble with twins. she had two sets in two years & it put too much strain on her system. what kind of trouble with calving?

 

[Kathleen]

Where in Northern PA did you have your dairy, Jerry? We are in Tionesta.

The cow that calved in December with twins just had magnesium deficiency and severe ketosis, but she got very weak and had to be in a box stall for several weeks. The second one with twins had pretty much the same syptoms but was equally weak. We usually have to supplement magnesium, but usually if we get some into them at calving they do super. These two dragged around for weeks and required extra nursing. And now this heifer with the pinched nerve. I tried the electrolytes and that got her to drink more water, and today she is eating some. We're going to try to lift her this morning--yesterday we were able to get her to at least stand on one of her back legs.

We have a lot of Amish here and I keep extra meds on hand in case of emergency. The last week there were 3 cows pretty much down in the neighborhood that required IV's. Maybe it's because of the extra long winter--we could sure use a dose of sunshine and warmth right about now!!