One of those days

[coachg]

My daily Bible reading truly fits my past 2 days . Found a 5 year old cow in labor late yesterday, didn't really think anything about it , her 3 rd calf . Left that pasture and went to the big pasture and found a dead cow . No obvious injuries or reason for her being dead . Got significant rain over the weekend and grass has green back up . So back to check on the first one . No sign of her . I looked everywhere. Pulled a Houdini on me . Not much sleep last night so went up early. Deep in the woods below the pond ; still no calf so I drive her to the catch lot . Call the vet and he has a full morning of surgeries , so bring her and he'll work me in . Loaded no problem . Drove 30 minutes to his office . Surgeries all had canceled . So he starts on her . Calf upside down and in a weird head between its leg position . Doc worked for 45 minutes and finally got something to pull . No luck . Finally start to remove parts , head , legs but can't get other legs to pull . Worse pull I've ever been a part of .
Doc says it may be his worse ever . After almost 3 hours he looks at me and says he's sorry but he can't get it . I understood. He worked his tail off to get the calf . I was resigned to bringing her home and putting her down but he has talked me into waiting on her . He says sometimes they will mummify a dead calf and I could sell her in the weigh pen if she makes it in a 2-3 weeks .
And to make a bad day even worse one of our farm ponds has had a turnover oxygen depletion and the fish are dead and dying . Not buying lotto tickets anytime soon .

 

[A.J.]

I'm sorry to hear of the troubles you've run into there all at once. That can weigh heavy on you with multiple things right after the other. I hope your cow does ok and you can get some salvage out of her. I wouldn't have thought that would be a possibility. I'm thankful for God's word to go to in times like that, and that is a great verse as a comforting reminder. I hope you've gotten the bad stuff out of the way for now, and better times are ahead for a while.

 

[bird dog]

Geez and I was cussing about another drought induced water leak. Here's hoping it turns around for you.

 

[TCRanch]

Oh dang, I hate to hear that! Your vet is more optimistic than me. My best friend and her dad had to remove a calf, piece by piece, and babied the cow for weeks. Still didn't make it. Sending the best of luck. And prayers.

 

[MurraysMutts]

Best of luck my friend.
Keep an optimistic outlook. It'll come about OK.

I've had a couple losses myself this year. Some were self induced.

 

[Buck Randall]

Calf upside down with the head down is about the most difficult presentation you can get. I don't envy your vet.

 

[Travlr]

My daily Bible reading truly fits my past 2 days . Found a 5 year old cow in labor late yesterday, didn't really think anything about it , her 3 rd calf . Left that pasture and went to the big pasture and found a dead cow . No obvious injuries or reason for her being dead . Got significant rain over the weekend and grass has green back up . So back to check on the first one . No sign of her . I looked everywhere. Pulled a Houdini on me . Not much sleep last night so went up early. Deep in the woods below the pond ; still no calf so I drive her to the catch lot . Call the vet and he has a full morning of surgeries , so bring her and he'll work me in . Loaded no problem . Drove 30 minutes to his office . Surgeries all had canceled . So he starts on her . Calf upside down and in a weird head between its leg position . Doc worked for 45 minutes and finally got something to pull . No luck . Finally start to remove parts , head , legs but can't get other legs to pull . Worse pull I've ever been a part of .
Doc says it may be his worse ever . After almost 3 hours he looks at me and says he's sorry but he can't get it . I understood. He worked his tail off to get the calf . I was resigned to bringing her home and putting her down but he has talked me into waiting on her . He says sometimes they will mummify a dead calf and I could sell her in the weigh pen if she makes it in a 2-3 weeks . View attachment 19772
And to make a bad day even worse one of our farm ponds has had a turnover oxygen depletion and the fish are dead and dying . Not buying lotto tickets anytime soon .

Last calf I had that wouldn't come through the birth canal came just fine cesarean, though dead. I was surprised at the cost too. The vet in Belle Fourche only charged me $160. Cow never bred back and she made good eating, so overall not nearly as expensive as losing both cow and calf. I'd have to do a little research on outcomes with a mummified fetus before I'd go that route.

 

[farmerjan]

I am at a loss why he would not do a c-section. Maybe I am just used to vets doing them because you see it more in dairy cattle... they do DA's so much and have been there for several c-sections over the years.
Sorry for you and sorrier for the cow. Hope there will be some salvage down the road.

 

[Redgully]

I am at a loss why he would not do a c-section. Maybe I am just used to vets doing them because you see it more in dairy cattle... they do DA's so much and have been there for several c-sections over the years.
Sorry for you and sorrier for the cow. Hope there will be some salvage down the road.

My thoughts exactly. We had one like that, vet said he feared it was upside down as felt all wrong but couldn't be 100% sure. Straight to cesar, he was right, upside down with one leg back. Was the cows sixth calf. I decided to cull her but she had been such a good cow who you only had to walk past with an a.i. gun and she was i calf. So curiosity got the better of me and put a straw in her, took and she calved out no issues. Now i was no longer curious sent her on her way.

 

[Cattlelow]

My daily Bible reading truly fits my past 2 days . Found a 5 year old cow in labor late yesterday, didn't really think anything about it , her 3 rd calf . Left that pasture and went to the big pasture and found a dead cow . No obvious injuries or reason for her being dead . Got significant rain over the weekend and grass has green back up . So back to check on the first one . No sign of her . I looked everywhere. Pulled a Houdini on me . Not much sleep last night so went up early. Deep in the woods below the pond ; still no calf so I drive her to the catch lot . Call the vet and he has a full morning of surgeries , so bring her and he'll work me in . Loaded no problem . Drove 30 minutes to his office . Surgeries all had canceled . So he starts on her . Calf upside down and in a weird head between its leg position . Doc worked for 45 minutes and finally got something to pull . No luck . Finally start to remove parts , head , legs but can't get other legs to pull . Worse pull I've ever been a part of .
Doc says it may be his worse ever . After almost 3 hours he looks at me and says he's sorry but he can't get it . I understood. He worked his tail off to get the calf . I was resigned to bringing her home and putting her down but he has talked me into waiting on her . He says sometimes they will mummify a dead calf and I could sell her in the weigh pen if she makes it in a 2-3 weeks . View attachment 19772
And to make a bad day even worse one of our farm ponds has had a turnover oxygen depletion and the fish are dead and dying . Not buying lotto tickets anytime soon .

I'm so sorry to hear of your situation. If there can be anything positive, consider the information you've shared here as valuable to a lesser experienced member. As I fit that description, I offer my gratitude and prayers for things to improve.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

You are so right. Some things may be "normal" abnormal happenings for many on this board, but it is good to share our abnormal events for others to learn.
Last year, we had a weird calving. Nephew went in because there wasn't any progress. Could not figure out what he was feeling. Finally figured out it was a set of twins. One was positioned sideways (going left to right). The other one had it's head over the back of 1st twin, and legs under 1st twin. Luckily, cow had tons of space. He pushed them both back and worked on getting one out at a time. Both were live & healthy.
You should have seen nephew's face while he was trying to figure out what he had in there. Not bad for a city kid!!! LOL

 

[Silver]

I had a set of twins coming with all four front feet this spring. Bigger challenge than one would expect to figure out what belonged to whom. As with Jeanne's cow, lots of room so pushed them back in as far as I could then started over.

 

[coachg]

I have a great working relationship with my vet . I can't tell you why we never considered doing a c- section other than he decided the calf was dead , probably 2-3 days . He had worked so long to get legs to pull and couldn't get the calf through the birth canal . So then he tried to pull the head , which didn't work either . He was up to his shoulder trying to turn and get it in a better position. All to no success. Just one of those that didn't have a good outcome . She is still with us . Grazing and staying with the herd . Praying she doesn't suffer more than she already has . I'll put her down if I see her getting bad .

 

[Silver]

It's not a good idea to deliver a calf that has been dead for very long via c-section.

 

[Travlr]

It's not a good idea to deliver a calf that has been dead for very long via c-section.

The last one I had done by cesarean was a big calf and had been dead long enough that the hair was falling off. It may be a bad idea but what's the alternative? I'd rather a bad idea that saves the cow than a chancy good idea where the cow dies.

 

[TCRanch]

The last one I had done by cesarean was a big calf and had been dead long enough that the hair was falling off. It may be a bad idea but what's the alternative? I'd rather a bad idea that saves the cow than a chancy good idea where the cow dies.

It's a flip of the coin. Our only c-section was an oops calf and a 17 month old heifer. Vet did discuss the very real possibility of infection and we may lose the heifer, but the calf had only been dead less than 12 hours. Heifer pulled through but our vet recommended we sell her. It's all bad.

 

[wbvs58]

The last one I had done by cesarean was a big calf and had been dead long enough that the hair was falling off. It may be a bad idea but what's the alternative? I'd rather a bad idea that saves the cow than a chancy good idea where the cow dies.

You didn't tell us the outcome.

Ken

 

[Travlr]

You didn't tell us the outcome.

Ken

Wouldn't breed so she went in the freezer.

I was curious to see if there would be a scar and maybe some meat that was ruined so I delivered her and watched until she was on the rail. No scar that I could discern and she made great beef.

The processor in Piedmont SD was the best I've ever been to. They did an excellent job. The processor in Newell was so bad that I opened up a package labeled New York steak and found something with a part of a knuckle in it. Just thought I'd throw that in... LOL

 

[coachg]

Well the outcome I expected happened today . Found her dead . I was surprised to see she had delivered the calf remains . Couldn't tell if she had prolapsed her uterus or if it was placenta. Got her buried in a peaceful spot . Always hurts to lose one . Losing 3 is a gut punch

 

[MurraysMutts]

Well the outcome I expected happened today . Found her dead . I was surprised to see she had delivered the calf remains . Couldn't tell if she had prolapsed her uterus or if it was placenta. Got her buried in a peaceful spot . Always hurts to lose one . Losing 3 is a gut punch

So sorry to hear that!!
Keep ya head up. Nothing wrong with mourning the loss either.
We all do