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NE Iowa | Have had 7 calves here (out of 48 born so far) where the sack never broke over the calf's head this year. We have a new camera system this year and just HAPPENED to have caught all of these, and were able to react quickly enough to get to the calving barn within seconds/minutes and break the sack before they suffocated. Maybe they would have broken in time and calf been OK, but in at least a couple cases, they were almost lifeless and did a LOT of gurgling and coughing before clearing out their lungs/throats. Not sure if this is anything new this year (if it is - no idea why) - or if it's happened in past and we are just more aware of it now because of the cameras and watching them so closely. After it happened on the first couple, we've been paranoid and watching super close - heading to the barn anytime we notice a calf about ready to be born "just in case". Occasionally in past we've found a calf lying dead for no apparent reason, and wondered if they'd suffocated before cow got it licked off their nose. Seems like every time the cow jumps up they first start licking the a$$ end - whatever is closest to them. Each one that this has happened for us this year was a quick, easy birth - wondering if they are calving 'so easy' that there isn't enough pressure or restriction to break that sack during the birthing process in these cases? At a loss why so many - or like I said, if we're just more aware of it happening. | |
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Calves born dead?
