12/24/2024
Not every story ends happily…
Adelaide’s first calf was due December 15th, and she finally calved a week later on December 22nd with a stillborn heifer.
We’re guessing that she was born between 10am–noon yesterday, and Ben found her when he went to the barn to start afternoon chores.
We believe that she had passed before birth and here’s why:
➡️ We’ve found that when a calf passes during or after birth, rigour mortis sets in quickly; when they pass before birth, they remain floppy.
Her body was obviously cold and stiff when Ben found her 4-6 hours later, but still flexible.
➡️ We examined her closely for any broken bones or signs of trauma (like we might find if she was accidentally stepped on or laid on) but there was nothing that raised alarm bells.
➡️ There were no indicators of a prolonged or stressful calving.
Only one side of the calf was licked dry, but when we flipped her over, the other side was clean with no meconium staining.
Adelaide was alert, bright-eyed, and walking around. In addition, all of our cows wear a special activity collar that tracks things like eating, rumination, and movement, and when we looked at the report and graph there were no signs of distress or any red flags.
🌟 Anytime you’re faced with an undesirable outcome like this, you question, “Would me being present for the birth have changed anything?”
There’s no way of knowing for certain, but Ben and I both agreed that there is a very high possibility that being present for the birth wouldn’t have changed the final outcome.
In a healthy cow, stillbirth is extremely rare, but it’s always disappointing…especially when it’s a heifer calf.
If you are thinking of buying a milk cow and calf sharing so that you can milk once a day, this is just one example of something that can happen that’s completely outside of your control.
♦️If you own a milk cow, you have to be prepared to milk your cow twice a day!!♦️
Grafting another calf on the cow may not be an option either. You may not be able to find a calf, or she may not accept the calf that you bring home.
