Why did my heifer abort ?

[Countrygal]

I am a newby raising cattle and still have alot to learn.Yesterday I discovered that one of my 2yr old Angus heifers aborted her calf. What would cause her to do this ? Even though she seems to be fine, should I be concerned ? Is this common among young heifers? Will she have any problems calving in the future?
Thanks in advance to everyone for your help.
:help:

 

[I luv herfrds]

Did you call out the vet?
Was a post done on the calf?
What vaccines has she had?

Need more info on this. I would call the vet and have her examined.

 

[dun]

It could be a disease, could have been something wrong with the calf, could have been the heifer getting banged around or falling, could be....................
Have the vet check the calf AND the heifer.

 

[bandit80]

If you have many cows, you will likely see an abortion every now and then. It is important, however, to call the vet and have him/her check the cow and the calf. You want to make sure the cows did not "retain" either a part of the calf, placenta, etc.

We had a cow abort a calf about 2 months early back in January, and the cow got an infection. Had we not given her some antibiotics, we may not have saved her. Follow the advice given others have given.

 

[randiliana]

There are so many reasons for an animal to abort. Disease, falling down, some sort of developmental problem with the calf, stress, feed problems, and the list goes on........

You can have the calf posted by a vet, and he may, or may not be able to tell what happened. If you do get it done, you will at the very least know what DIDN'T cause the abortion.

We rarely get one done, especially if we know the cattle are up on their vaccines and if there is no more than one or 2 in a given time period. Plus, a lot of the time we don't find the expelled fetus.

So it is up to you, if the heifer is acting healthy, just watch her for a while to make sure she cleans out and does not develop an infection. Chances are she will be healthy.

 

[msscamp]

I am a newby raising cattle and still have alot to learn.Yesterday I discovered that one of my 2yr old Angus heifers aborted her calf. What would cause her to do this ? Even though she seems to be fine, should I be concerned ? Is this common among young heifers? Will she have any problems calving in the future?
Thanks in advance to everyone for your help.
:help:

There are way too many possible causes for anyone to be able to even hazard a guess based on the information you have provided. Possible causes for the abortion are bangs, lepto, vibrio, neospora, moldy feed, banged around by another cow, natural causes, defective calf, poisionous plants, deficiency of mineral/vitamin/nutrient, the list goes on and on and on. If I were a newbie, and this happened to me I would definitely be very concerned - not only about the lost calf, but also about the other girls who have yet to calve. Your lack of experience/knowledge could be (please note I said could be) manifesting itself in your health program, your feeding program, your mineral program, or your management program. If I were in your shoes, I would - at the very least - talk to my vet about this, and I would definitely strongly consider having the calf posted, just to be on the safe side as far as the rest of the girls are concerned.

 

[Countrygal]

Thanks to all for your helpful answers. I did speak with a vet and he suggested to me what shots I should give to all the cattle. I did not do a post on the calf but the heifer seems to be doing fine. I am leaning toward moldy hay as a possible reason for the abort. Even though the moldy outside was cut away, I am guessing now that the mold must have been thru out the round bale.
It was also suggested to me to remove this heifer from the rest of the herd since she will probably be ready to breed again in about two weeks. And to hold her out for about a month and then place her back with the bull.

Again thanks to everyone for your help ! :tiphat: