dead calf

[nuttalls]

hello all, yesterday perky one of my red shorts, had cleaning there acting strange so in the wet we hunted for a calf, but 3 hours later heavy labour with cleaning not moving we investigated only a tail and no chance, vet came, he struggled, sweated,swore, persevered with strong men eventually it came,2 hours later.been dead a couple of days a lovely red heifer, she,s had few calves before, oh well life goes on.lost my prize texel tup last week. cow looking a bit better today. anyway hope you all enjoy xmas and hope for a drier new year xx

[Duncan MacIntyre]

Sorry to hear of this, this has been a true "breech" presentation, where the calf is backwards and the hind legs flexed so only the bum is at the entrance to the passage. Sadly because the bit of calf presented is so blunt it often does not enter the birth canal properly and the reflexes telling the cow to push are not triggered - so the cow stands and looks around as though nothing much was happening. It is one of the easiest complications to miss until the calf is dead simply because the cow does not give you the usual signals. As a vet I try to reassure clients that they are not to blame for not realising what was happening. Torsion of the uterus has the same effect, though not often seen in Dexters - more a Holstein problem though it can occur in other breeds.

Duncan