Post by zephyrhillsusan on May 10, 2015 12:27:32 GMT -5
poplinfarmdexter, I'm so sorry you lost your first expected calf. What a sad disappointment for you.
We have never had a problem with abortion in our Dexters, and from my reading I would say they are quite hardy and definitely not prone to abortion as a breed. For an individual cow, that could vary, of course.
The first thought that occurs to me is that this might have been a naturally defective calf and this is nature's way of taking care of things. To know that you would need to have a necropsy done on the fetus, if you still have it. Most cattle herds, according to this link, have an abortion rate of 1-2%, so you might have just been in the unlucky percentage this time.
There are also diseases that can cause abortion in cattle. Did you have your cow tested before you bought her? It is possible to have her tested now. Abortion can be caused by BVD, brucellosis, campylobacter, chlamydia, EBA, IBR, leptospirosis, neospora, sarcocystis, and trichomoniasis. Some of these can be tested for routinely and some can be vaccinated against.
If she happened to be given a live, attenuated vaccine instead of a killed one before you got her, this could have caused an abortion.
I know many breeders, me included, do not like to have heifers, especially, palpated for pregnancy. I routinely use biotracking now, either with a blood draw for heifers or milk for a cow. It's so quick and easy and much less invasive.
According to this article, bumping from other animals is a low risk cause. Before we bought our first cow, she did abort (would have been her fifth calf). Her owners thought it was because she got horned in the side by some rough steers. She had no trouble breeding back and has had multiple calves since then. The only reason I could think of the trailer ride affecting her would be if it was very early in the pregnancy or perhaps very late, causing her to calve early.
Hopefully these suggestions will give you an avenue to pursue in finding out why, if you can. Please follow up and let us know how things go.
We have never had a problem with abortion in our Dexters, and from my reading I would say they are quite hardy and definitely not prone to abortion as a breed. For an individual cow, that could vary, of course.
The first thought that occurs to me is that this might have been a naturally defective calf and this is nature's way of taking care of things. To know that you would need to have a necropsy done on the fetus, if you still have it. Most cattle herds, according to this link, have an abortion rate of 1-2%, so you might have just been in the unlucky percentage this time.
There are also diseases that can cause abortion in cattle. Did you have your cow tested before you bought her? It is possible to have her tested now. Abortion can be caused by BVD, brucellosis, campylobacter, chlamydia, EBA, IBR, leptospirosis, neospora, sarcocystis, and trichomoniasis. Some of these can be tested for routinely and some can be vaccinated against.
If she happened to be given a live, attenuated vaccine instead of a killed one before you got her, this could have caused an abortion.
I know many breeders, me included, do not like to have heifers, especially, palpated for pregnancy. I routinely use biotracking now, either with a blood draw for heifers or milk for a cow. It's so quick and easy and much less invasive.
According to this article, bumping from other animals is a low risk cause. Before we bought our first cow, she did abort (would have been her fifth calf). Her owners thought it was because she got horned in the side by some rough steers. She had no trouble breeding back and has had multiple calves since then. The only reason I could think of the trailer ride affecting her would be if it was very early in the pregnancy or perhaps very late, causing her to calve early.
Hopefully these suggestions will give you an avenue to pursue in finding out why, if you can. Please follow up and let us know how things go.