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Post by Sherry on Jan 22, 2008 0:04:50 GMT -5
A few weeks ago our Euro had a little heifer. The calf was dead when she was found, and was at a minimum, 3 weeks premature. Euro, the cow, is now doing fine, but had a time dropping the afterbirth. After a few days and still nothing, we gave her 5cc of lutalice (sic) and then another dose the following day. She finally passed the afterbirth and she has done fine. Her eyes stayed bright and her eating did not go down. Have any of you found problems of premature births and holding the afterbirth?
Sherry
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Post by Mark on Jan 22, 2008 21:28:24 GMT -5
This is the second incident that we have had with heifers calving for the first time. We bought a cow last year that had a perfectly formed calf, but was found dead. We have another smaller breed that we are considering breeding with the heifers for the first time so that they should have a smaller calf and increase the chances of a live birth. We are not sure if we have just had bad luck with our first time heifers or if there is a precedence to breed the heifer with a smaller breed of cattle for the first time. As far as Euro, one of the things we noticed with the calf was that one of it's back hooves had not formed properly. The shape was there, but it was flesh instead of hardened.
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Post by christinat on Jan 24, 2008 12:40:37 GMT -5
We have been calving 30-40 heifers per year and it is normal to get 1 in 6 calves as stillborn. We have noted 1 in 12 is closer to our herd average. A calf should be fully formed before 3 months of gestation. We have noticed that keeping pregnant females in groups and not changing the group members in the last 6 weeks of gestation is very important. Females are territorial and will have disputes with new females to determine rank. As a calf's head is often located on the right side near her flank it is vulnderable to injury and death to dominance disputes. Even females that have been grouped together sometimes dispute who's boss. If a full term calf is found dead, it typically would have died 2-3 days previously, it takes that long for them to labor and expell the calf. I'm sorry you have had bum luck, I hope your luck is better this year! If you give the cow a dose of Oxytocin as soon as you can after they calve like 5 cc then 1cc/day after that they should be stimulated to release the after birth. It is also known that around 1 in 100 heifers release their afterbirth too soon and this causes a calf to die of suffocation. It is a hormonal mistake, and will not usually happen twice. Feel free to call if I can answer other questions for you...
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Post by Mark on Jan 24, 2008 14:30:36 GMT -5
Thanks for the information. The statistics aren't as great as I would like them to be, but they are not bad either. Since we have a small herd currently the odds are worse against us, but we are working on that. This was the first calves for both heifers and I realize that the odds of issues are always greater. We still have two calves due in the next few weeks and are hoping for better results. One of the cows due to calve is one of the ones we mentioned in our post, but from last year. The other heifer is calving for the first time. Next year should be a better year for us. Thank you again for your reply.
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jwest
New Member
Posts: 4
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Post by jwest on Mar 13, 2009 17:16:37 GMT -5
For Christinat:
You state that it is normal to get 1 in 6 stillborn, and your herd average to be 1 in 12. I'm flabbergasted at that. Are your referring to just your heifers or both cows and heifers? Across 8 years of calving, I have had exactly 2 calves stillborn. I do agree it's best not to mix cows in the last few weeks that are territorial, though I don't think I've lost any to that kind of mixing it up, mostly they head but one another until the matter is settled. The stillborn statistic you state is disturbing!
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Post by larry on Mar 23, 2009 10:16:58 GMT -5
I agree with Jimmie that your stillborn rate is too high. Over the past 1,000 births, I have averaged around 1 percent stillborn. I have noticed that sometimes an animal that may appear dead before birth is really born alive. Backwards calves born without assistance may appear to be stillborn after the cow has cleaned them. Also, some years the sac is tough and does not break, leaving it over the nose of the calf at birth. Again, if you are not right there at the time and the cow licks the calf, you may assume the calf was stillborn.
If you do have 1 in 6 stillborns, I would contact my vet immediately and look in to the situation.
Larry
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