A really bad start to calving

[sues]

Hi - our first calf of the season decided it wanted to come backwards and although we got the calf out very quickly it was born dead. Then our second calf was born on wednesday, a really healthy bull calf that was up on it's feet and drinking very quickly, we brought the cow and calf in as the weather was awful. Both were doing really well and yesterday lunchtime I thought about turning them both out but changed my mind as the forecast wasn't very good so decided against it. When I checked them at 6pm the calf was lay flat out and looked really sick. I gave it some Nuflor and milked the cow and tubed fed it, but by 10pm it was dead. I have never seen anything like it, someone said the calf could have been stood on but they are in a big barn and the cow is so quiet that I am not sure this is likey. Has anyone got any ideas??

[Broomcroft]

What bad luck. The first one's umbilical no doubt broke whilst well inside but with the 2nd, maybe it got an infection through it's naval? Was it breathing heavily? Did it have a temperature?

When we started with Dexters, we lost 4 calves out of not very many and we were devastated. Thinking back, we can still only understand one and since then we've had a couple of hundred and lost just one (so far!). So hope it turns round like that for you.

You must feel dreadful. So sorry. Hope you've got some more on the way. We've just had a nightmare with 48 lambs drowned in a well, so know how you feel. Keeping livestock is a pleasure but not always!

[LISA]

Clive, We are very sorry to read about your lambs. Philip told me the story from the Farmers Weekly, but did not realise that it was you. Must have been totally horrific for you and your wife,and the lambs (and their mothers) very best wishes to you all.

Lisa and Philip Bell

[domsmith]

I often find the instinct is to keep cows and calves in, when actually the are meant to be out. how oftne i mess about with cows or ewes with lambs and it does nothing to help only upsets them all. But what ever you do you are damned if you do damned if you dont.

put it behind you.
we lost a calf on monday morning, an angus cow calved in the night and calf just dead. 15 calves outside with not a single problem, one inside goes and dies. i had a spare dexter calf so twinned it on. the smallest dexter calf we have had in ages walking around in an angus skin, even when trimmed it almost touched the floor all round. anyway she went for it and it was sucking away. that little calf for one reason or another has had 3 lots of colostrum! they are a pair now but what a sight.

Dominic

[Broomcroft]

the smallest dexter calf we have had in ages walking around in an angus skin, even when trimmed it almost touched the floor all round.